Request: Download manager intergration; Mockup provided

Paradox52525 · Post by **Paradox52525** » March 2nd, 2004, 11:42 am

We aren't talking about default behaviors here, these are all ideas for an extension. Default behavior IMO should stay the way it is (although I'd like my seperate progress windows back, but that's a totally seperate issue).

AnonEmoose · Post by **AnonEmoose** » March 2nd, 2004, 11:49 am

Tycho: i think your idea is great...i was just pointing out that the downloader one uses is the important factor regarding parsing & redirection (as well as threads referrer info etc. , BTW i believe wget does support some form of redirection, could u provide a link for me to test....).... i was just using wget as a proof of concept...i agree the approach u have presented is better...but until then... :-)

TheOneKEA · Post by **TheOneKEA** » March 2nd, 2004, 12:24 pm

I believe that something like this should appear in 1.0. I personally think that this is just way too useful to be left out.

gdeka · Post by **gdeka** » March 2nd, 2004, 8:24 pm

how are you going with this paradox, have you found a way to change the download dialog box? also how would it get the download managers and would this extension have any compatability with other o/s's

TychoQuad · Post by **TychoQuad** » March 3rd, 2004, 1:43 am

gdeka wrote:how are you going with this paradox, have you found a way to change the download dialog box? also how would it get the download managers and would this extension have any compatability with other o/s's

the downloadwith extension has a list of known download managers you can download and add to your install, and it's cross-platform.

Dave88 · Post by **Dave88** » March 3rd, 2004, 3:10 am

Cool idea TychoQuad cant wait for it.

TheOneKEA · Post by **TheOneKEA** » March 3rd, 2004, 3:51 am

TychoQuad wrote:
gdeka wrote:how are you going with this paradox, have you found a way to change the download dialog box? also how would it get the download managers and would this extension have any compatability with other o/s's

the downloadwith extension has a list of known download managers you can download and add to your install, and it's cross-platform.

When you put it that way you make it sound like it should be part of DownloadWith.

TychoQuad · Post by **TychoQuad** » March 3rd, 2004, 4:06 am

Downloadwith is a good example of a project half-completed. The developer has no interest in implimenting anything futhur than he has already done. Having said that, I believe that anyone attempting what I suggested would be very well off using Downloadwith as a starting point, to take advantage of the already existing download manager support.

When i say download manager support, for most managers it is simply a refrence to where the program is, and where the URL goes. but it's better than starting from scratch, and the creator doesn't have to download a bunch of managers to check for compatibility.

Due to the fact that you only get the mentioned dialog whenever a download tries to open by itself, (i.e, whenever you DON'T right-click>Save link to Disk) it makes sense to use DownloadWith, because it handles every situation where you have to use the context menu to get the file.

rue · Post by **rue** » March 3rd, 2004, 9:52 am

Tycho:
Rather than playing with photoshop, why not disassemble Downloadwith and learn how to further its code. If you're feeling unmotivated, check out Eben Moglen's <a href="http://media.law.harvard.edu:8888/ramgen/jolt/spring_04/2004-02-23_ae_0630-0830.rm">outstanding speech</a> regarding Open Source as a platform for knowledge.
.
JavaScript has a short learning-curve, and existing extensions provide all the insight you could want.

TheOneKEA · Post by **TheOneKEA** » March 3rd, 2004, 10:17 am

rue wrote:Tycho:
Rather than playing with photoshop, why not disassemble Downloadwith and learn how to further its code. If you're feeling unmotivated, check out Eben Moglen's <a href="http://media.law.harvard.edu:8888/ramgen/jolt/spring_04/2004-02-23_ae_0630-0830.rm">outstanding speech</a> regarding Open Source as a platform for knowledge.
.
JavaScript has a short learning-curve, and existing extensions provide all the insight you could want.

rue's right, Tycho - you know you want to.

Paradox52525 · Post by **Paradox52525** » March 3rd, 2004, 10:36 am

Has the devloper actually said he's not going to do this? I remember pitching a similar idea awhile back and he said he'd "look into it." I wouldn't discount that just because he hasn't come up with anything yet, he probably just doesn't have an absurd amount of free time like I do. Speaking of which, I looked through the DownloadWith code this morning, and it's apparently very easy to call a command line with parameters, so if I can just get these d*mn overlay issues worked out, I should be able to get at least some BASIC functionality pretty easily.

TychoQuad · Post by **TychoQuad** » March 3rd, 2004, 5:19 pm

The problem is, I know what I'm doing in photoshop (Or MS Paint in this case)

All I know about Javascript, is that it's totally different to Java. I wouldn't even know where to start on modifying XUL windows.

gdeka · Post by **gdeka** » March 4th, 2004, 8:06 am

same as Paradox here, i am more than willing to do it, its just working out how to overlay that window.
I have found the xul for it, but would the extension modify the xul file its self or go about it some otherway
please assist me here

Paradox52525 · Post by **Paradox52525** » March 7th, 2004, 9:51 am

Alright, well I've got what hopefully constitutes a working test version. You can grab it here, but comcast sucks so you'll have to save it to disk and install from your HD (don't have time to add an install trigger for it to my website just yet):

http://home.comcast.net/~jkeis10/xpi/do ... th-MOD.xpi

It *is* a downloadwith modification ATM, not a standalone extension. The choices in the menu on the new dialog are read directly from the DownloadWith prefs, so to add new download managers there, just add them to downloadWith through it's options window. ATM I believe it is also Firebird only (the overlay should work in Mozilla too I believe, I just haven't had the time to test it yet, so it doesn't try to add the overlay in Mozilla).

EDIT: Also keep in mind that the dialog I'm overlaying here only appears on "prompt" downloads. If you have any downloads set to save automatically, this dialog will be bypassed completely, so if you have any downloads set to save automatically you will have to change them if you want to use the new dialog with those filetypes.

TheOneKEA · Post by **TheOneKEA** » March 7th, 2004, 10:08 am

I would like to try this, but I'm leery of breaking my Firefox install - does it work reasonably well?