About

This page is about the improvements that are in place for Pallet during GSoC 2010. It contains both ideas, and progress info, as well as a roadmap (when that will be complete).

Proposed Changes

• Fix the framework to work flawlessly
• Variants Selection (when Installing a Port)
• Show Build/Lib/Runtime Dependencies
• Growl Support
• Implement Queueing of Operations
• Logging Support

Framework

Since we are adding features on Pallet, some work will have to be done on the framework. Most importantly, since the framework currently appears to be broken, i will also have to fix the bugs that occured due to MacPorts' changes.

GUI

First of all, there will have to be a redesign of the Icons, which are currently unacceptable for a Mac program. There will also have to be changes in the list of available ports to select variants. Since we will be adding Growl, there will need to be some redesign of the preferences window to add info on growl. For the queueing of operations, the idea is to create a drawer (or a pop-up window if the drawer is hard to implement) where operations are added, and when we are ready to go, we simply press start.

Roadmap

• Growl Support (Pallet) - May 30 √
• Queueing of Operations (Pallet) - June 20 √
• Variants Selection/Installation (Pallet/Framework) - July 23 √
• Build/Lib/Runtime Dependencies (Pallet/Framework) - July 26 √
• Fix the framework glitches, and make it compatible with MacPorts 1.9.1 (Framework) - August 4
• Logging Support (Framework) - August 4
• Cleanup/Implement minor fixes - August 16

I have also added numerous GUI improvements, for the sake of usability. More specifically, i have changed the Icons, added a Main Menu where the user can perform any of the operations available through the Toolbar, and also added key bindings for all of the operations.

In regards to the changes being done on the GUI for the sake of Variants and Dependencies, i have replaced the Install button with a push-down button that lets the user perform an "Install" or "Install with Variants" for now, and i have also added a Drawer where the queued operations can be reviewed.