leo2 Wrote:I disagree.

The current XBMC Programs module is half-finished... it doesn't do anything (without "Launcher" plugin)
The games-library branch is one step forward to make it complete even without the "Library Mode".
It will give an ability to launch applications & games and to create useful plugins based on it.

I don't see a reason to keep it out.

spiff Wrote:easy for you to say - you don't have to deal with the repercussions when bug reports and a gazillion feature requests starts popping up. i much rather have no support than half-done support. the former makes it clear this is nothing we're working on, the latter opens the cans of worms.

sho Wrote:I would say that the capability to run executables would be a bare minimum requirement to have a programs section.
Without it the Programs section is absolutely useless for the majority of users, but yet it has to be enabled to allow users to run plugins such as the Repo installer. (Thus creating unnecessary confusion as to why this is there and what it does).
In your opinion is the current implementation not up to doing just that in a rudimentary, but usable fashion?

You could compare it to the pictures section, which is more or less just a dumb filebrowser that can display images, without that capability the pictures section would be just as useless as the programs section is today, or the videos section from before you implemented the Video Library.
Granted, that does not hinder people from asking for a pictures database, but they can at least settle for what they have today (or move on to another application).

Admittedly I have no idea how much work is involved to get the bare minimum executable launching that apparently has already been coded working with current SVN, but I implore you to reconsider that opinion for the follow up release to 9.11, even though you may not be willing to put any effort to that means.
(Then again, if someone was really interested in making that happen, it would probably be done by now )

• Files - Regular files that are invoked by the system default executable for a given file item and have no extended information
• Application - A given program executable with a minimum of extra information (web browsers etc.)
• Game - Games that could be a ROM or a executable. If no launcher is given just pass the file so the operating system can take care of it.
• ArcadeGame - Divorced from games, as MAME and similar ROMs often will use different sites for scraping and maybe some small differences in how the graphical art is presented in the GUI. Would use the same table as a game in the database
  

• TITLE
• PLOT
• DESCRIPTION
• MAXPLAYERS
• VOTES
• RATING
• REGION (won't be used for arcade games)
• BOXART_URL (used some general naming since it might be "front cover" for usual games, but might be "cabinet" for arcade games)
• ALT_BOXART_URL (There's made room for alot of artworks since many (included myself) thinks that a big part of a great front-end for game collections. I also think this will interest people over at xbox-scenes emulator forum
• EXT_BOXART_URL
• ACTIONSHOT_URL (action and intro screenshots are somekind of a standard for rom collectors)
• INTROSHOT_URL
• YEAR
• THUMBURL
• IDENT
• SORTTITLE
• PERSPECTIVE (Could maybe be merged into genres?)
• GENRE
• DEVELOPER
• PUBLISHER
• THUMBURL_SPOOF
• BOXART_URL_SPOOF
• ALT_BOXART_URL_SPOOF
• EXT_BOXART_URL_SPOOF
• ACTIONSHOT_URL_SPOOF
• INTROSHOT_URL_SPOOF
• PREVIEW (A precompiled video of the game. Pretty much the same as a movie trailer)
• FANART
• PLATFORM (Windows, Dos, Super Nintendo...)