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I n t r o d u c t i o n
The Problem
-----------
The need for this program arose because many of my guild members using Windows XP or similar operating systems have difficulty installing LUA AddOns for World of Warcraft.
I understand this difficulty, because Blizzard (the authors of World of Warcraft) have followed Microsoft's (the creators of Windows XP) guidelines for application installation, and (by default) install WoW in the “Program Files” folder which is usually hidden from users by Windows XP. The AddOns folder is withing the WoW installation folder as it should be, and the “hiding” feature is there to prevent users from accidentally modifying applications on their system. Which is exactly what Blizzard want you to do with AddOns.
Additionally not all Gamers are familiar with Zip archives, and many of the Zip archives containing WoW LUA AddOns require extraction at different levels of the WoW installation directory structure. Though for a technically adept user it's not to difficult to figure out where they should go, and any user who has got their head around a couple of AddOns will get the general pattern, for a new user this can be very confusing.
Documentation for the AddOns is usually in the Zip file, and as WoW LUA AddOns are compatible with WoW on both Windows and Mac PCs, not to mention Linux for which support is possible but not advertised, the documentation needs to be in a form which works with both systems. Hence it is often provided as .txt files with Unix formatting, which is readable in Write on Windows, but the .txt extension is associated with Notepad which usually misreads this formatting information.
The Solution
------------
The primary purpose of this program then, is to overcome the issues by taking a Zip file (the usual method of distributing AddOns) searching through it for WoW AddOns and if any are found asking the user if they want it installed to WoW, and performing the installation without the user having to navigate hidden folders or figure out Zip file extraction.
Secondarily the program should make accessing the documentation of any AddOn easier for Windows users.
U s a g e
General
-------
Simplicity is the aim. I'm not fond of wizard interfaces though this isn't far from it. At each point where user interaction is required, a dialogue will be displayed with 1 or 2 choice buttons. The options are typically “OK” or “Yes” and “No”. There is no more complex input required at any stage.
If an error occurs the dialogue window will contain the systems usual red “Stop” icon. (The appearance of which varies just slightly from Windows 2000 to XP to Vista) If you are about to make a serious change, a yellow Exclamation icon is shown, indicating that you may want to take this decision more carefully than others.
Starting
--------
The program requires a single Zip package file to be passed to it and will inform you if this is not the case. Unlike many programs, clicking it off the Start menu or Quick Launch is not sufficient. File browse dialogues are quite confusing, but if you can cope with them you can probably install an AddOn manually.
There are many ways you can correctly start the application, the two most simple ones are to Drag a Zip file and Drop it on the Quick Launch or Desktop icon for “Install WoW AddOn” or to use the context menu (usually a right click) of the Zip file, and select “Install WoW AddOn”.
^^ Above extracted from Documentation
BTW Package is released under GPL with full source code, and contains various other GNU tools to achieve it's ends. Please see the Documentation for more details.
The Problem
-----------
The need for this program arose because many of my guild members using Windows XP or similar operating systems have difficulty installing LUA AddOns for World of Warcraft.
I understand this difficulty, because Blizzard (the authors of World of Warcraft) have followed Microsoft's (the creators of Windows XP) guidelines for application installation, and (by default) install WoW in the “Program Files” folder which is usually hidden from users by Windows XP. The AddOns folder is withing the WoW installation folder as it should be, and the “hiding” feature is there to prevent users from accidentally modifying applications on their system. Which is exactly what Blizzard want you to do with AddOns.
Additionally not all Gamers are familiar with Zip archives, and many of the Zip archives containing WoW LUA AddOns require extraction at different levels of the WoW installation directory structure. Though for a technically adept user it's not to difficult to figure out where they should go, and any user who has got their head around a couple of AddOns will get the general pattern, for a new user this can be very confusing.
Documentation for the AddOns is usually in the Zip file, and as WoW LUA AddOns are compatible with WoW on both Windows and Mac PCs, not to mention Linux for which support is possible but not advertised, the documentation needs to be in a form which works with both systems. Hence it is often provided as .txt files with Unix formatting, which is readable in Write on Windows, but the .txt extension is associated with Notepad which usually misreads this formatting information.
The Solution
------------
The primary purpose of this program then, is to overcome the issues by taking a Zip file (the usual method of distributing AddOns) searching through it for WoW AddOns and if any are found asking the user if they want it installed to WoW, and performing the installation without the user having to navigate hidden folders or figure out Zip file extraction.
Secondarily the program should make accessing the documentation of any AddOn easier for Windows users.
U s a g e
General
-------
Simplicity is the aim. I'm not fond of wizard interfaces though this isn't far from it. At each point where user interaction is required, a dialogue will be displayed with 1 or 2 choice buttons. The options are typically “OK” or “Yes” and “No”. There is no more complex input required at any stage.
If an error occurs the dialogue window will contain the systems usual red “Stop” icon. (The appearance of which varies just slightly from Windows 2000 to XP to Vista) If you are about to make a serious change, a yellow Exclamation icon is shown, indicating that you may want to take this decision more carefully than others.
Starting
--------
The program requires a single Zip package file to be passed to it and will inform you if this is not the case. Unlike many programs, clicking it off the Start menu or Quick Launch is not sufficient. File browse dialogues are quite confusing, but if you can cope with them you can probably install an AddOn manually.
There are many ways you can correctly start the application, the two most simple ones are to Drag a Zip file and Drop it on the Quick Launch or Desktop icon for “Install WoW AddOn” or to use the context menu (usually a right click) of the Zip file, and select “Install WoW AddOn”.
^^ Above extracted from Documentation
BTW Package is released under GPL with full source code, and contains various other GNU tools to achieve it's ends. Please see the Documentation for more details.
