[Jay_M]

Hitcher I agree, the devs don't have time to write up everything there is to know about XBMC. I would like to help with documenting XBMC anyway I can. I don't have much coding experience but I do know English real good.

To start the conversation, how would this page look? Obviously it will go on the wiki. What I see is that there should be a page that categorizes and lists every addon in existence. With the addons will be some detailed info, such as type, very short description, date created, last modified, current version number, maintainer...But each addon it should be linked to a page of it's own that will give a more detailed explanation of the addon.

[procrastinator]

[...] To start the conversation, how would this page look? [...]

You've already mentioned

• Addon Type
  
• Description
  
• Date created / last modified
  
• Version number
  
• Maintainer
  

In addition to those I'd also (personally) like to see

• Link to Source for Download (repo and/or addon zip)
  
• Addon Icon
  
• Tags
  

Just to explain this a bit more:
The source for download is useful for obvious reasons!
The icon would be there primarily as a tool for a visually pleasing addon, which someone might make in the future. You might not want to include the actual picture, a link would be sufficient (example: unofficial repo list)
The tags could provide a quicker way of telling what the addon handles than reading the full description, e.g. news, TV programs, films, etc.

[Jay_M]

I am ready to get this start, unfortunately I do not have permission to create new pages in the wiki. I have created a link in the XBMC Online Manual, in the Appendices section. If a moderator can create this page we can begin filling it with content.

Most of the information that needs to be put into the list is already in the xml files of the individual addons listed in the repo's. Would it be possible for someone to write a scrapper to pull all of the information from the addon.xml file of each addon and put it into a single file? This would make inputting the data in the wiki much easier.

[amet]

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Lis...BMC_Addons

[amet]

Would it be possible for someone to write a scrapper to pull all of the information from the addon.xml file of each addon and put it into a single file? This would make inputting the data in the wiki much easier.

I will do it now, give me 30 min

[KiSUAN]

I will do it now, give me 30 min

5 Mins to deadline!!!

Stop attacking that POP and get back to coding

[amet]

5 Mins to deadline!!!

Stop attacking that POP and get back to coding

heh, ok.. then you can do it

[KiSUAN]

Of course, I think in a year I'll finally have the time to learn python and all the other little things I need to know, so no problem, I'll do it, just grab that POP again, see you in a year.

[KiSUAN]

@ Jay M

The only purpose for listing Repo of given addon is to find it, not for categorizing an addon. The addons should be brake down by type only.

You could brake them primarly into Plugins - Scripts - Skins - EventClients as listed in the wiki addons

Then you can brake each cat into subsection like Plugins: Audio / Games / Image / Programs / Video

[amet]

Code:

#usage: python list_addons.py

import os,sys, urllib2
import xml.parsers.expat


def Main(addons):
    p = xml.parsers.expat.ParserCreate()
    p.StartElementHandler = start_element
    p.Parse(addons)

def start_element(name, attrs):
    if name == "addon":      
      print "Addon: name:     [%s]\n       ID:       [%s]\n       Provider: [%s]\n       Version   [%s]\n" % ( attrs["name"], attrs["id"], attrs["provider-name"], attrs["version"])


req = urllib2.Request("http://mirrors.xbmc.org/addons/dharma/addons.xml")
response = urllib2.urlopen(req)
addons = response.read()
response.close()
Main(addons)

gives me this if run against our plugins

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19359762/list_addons.py

[Jay_M]

@ Jay M

The only purpose for listing Repo of given addon is to find it, not for categorizing an addon. The addons should be brake down by type only.

You could brake them primarly into Plugins - Scripts - Skins - EventClients as listed in the wiki addons

Then you can brake each cat into subsection like Plugins: Audio / Games / Image / Programs / Video

I think it may be important to distinguish official supported addons from those of third party developers ( no offense please guys). The clearest way to do that would be to have them in separate sections. Can I get some opinions out there?

[KiSUAN]

If the listing repository is not the official one you already know isn't officially supported so there's no need to break them into this categories. In case you don't find simple logic sufficient you can always put a warning/advise at the description of the page, example: "all addons listed other than official repository are not officially supported".

I've made some modifications to the page, take a look.

[stoli]

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Lis...BMC_Addons

I tried adding an entry and have no idea why it is showing up twice...

[KiSUAN]

I tried adding an entry and have no idea why it is showing up twice...

Hi, seems there is something weird with the wiki structure, you have to put the info on top of the "brake down".

I'm looking into it, if it is a mistake of my own or what.

But I was the one that moved your entry to the top in order to appear up and not down, skin category.

[Jay_M]

It is my understanding, and please let a dev correct me if I am wrong, but the entire point of making the addon system is to get away from the scripts, plugins and eventclients. To make every extensions of XBMC generically an "addon".

To start a list of the XBMC addons by categorizing them by "type" is starting out backwards. The categories should be the same as the XBMC addon browser.