I've been away from the LS world for some time now (can you believe my theme is still on the top 10 downloaded list!?), and I _will_ return and update AmigaHLE "when I get the time".

But towards that end, it's not always easy to make sure I have the latest versions of every module and LS build, so is is possible to get some module that will check that for me, sort of like Miranda's Wazzup module? That is, check for updated modules and new LS builds (possibly via RSS feeds), and download them for me to a directory I specify, or even install the modules automatically (unload current version, replace file, reload)...
Maybe it's a bit "wild" but I think it's a great idea, and since I try to make my themes use all the latest stuff at the time of release, it'd make it easier for me to stay up-to-date.

(the top 10 downloaded list is the one on lsthemes.com, by the way) (-:

It couldn't automatically install the module since not all updates preserve backwards compatibility (see taskbar3 for example).
Nevertheless, netloadmodule is an interesting candidate for this job.

i had the same delema.... what is netloadmodule?
where can you get it?

http://loose-screws.com/comment.php?type=mod&id=191

NetLoadModule can do half of the job. You give it a name and a version for a module and it loads it, automatically installing from the net or a zip if necessary.

I have a vision of something that would hook into a newsfeed from someplace like loose-screws and allows you to update the nlm lines and upgrade your modules with a few clicks and a recycle, but otherwise it's still less effort than a completely manual install.

I'll have a look at it, sounds interesting (but more so to the end user than to me as a themer). I'm not very interested in having the modules automagically installed. I just want to download all updated modules to a sort of repository on my HD where I can check them out and install what I need.

yeah i cannot figure out which ones are current.... in 24.6 the !about would tell me but now 24.7 beta 3 doesnt tell me the versions!!!!! how else can i tell the versions???

starfire: Well, atm the only benefit for a themer is that you don't have to include modules with your theme. I'll keep in mind that it's useful to be able to download and optionally install without actually loading the module. It shouldn't be too difficult to add that capability.

TeleFragger: I don't know. If you were using nlm, you could just look at the *NetLoadModule lines in your step.rc, and they would tell you what version you're loading. Maybe I'll make a tool to identify module versions by md5 sum so you can easily convert to nlm, but I don't think it would be useful quite yet.


I should probably mention that I have reports that NetLoadModule does not currently work with .24.7, so don't bother yet anyway. I hope to fix this before too long.

@RabidCow: Sounds great! If I could get whatever modules have been updated since whenever I last checked, it'd make it a whole lot easier for me to get started in maintaining my themes again (it's been over six months since I did the last update, I believe).

TeleFragger: Load AboutEx - it's spiffy :)

General reply: Why not a script that reads the version numbers via RSS (there's a litestep reader now), does text matching, then changes the module version in theme.rc with netloadmodule, then recycles.

It would work with what is available.


Now; word of caution: New does not neccessarily mean better: Some newer versions break the old syntax and therefore the theme, so I don't think currently that an auto-updater is a good idea.

Quick and dirty manual way (just did this myself): Edit your theme's rc files and change the version number of each module to the latest (xLabelLite-1.0 to xLabelLite-2.9 , for example) - Recycle after each change.

After you go through, you are all set. :)

Oh, and quick note to RabidCow: I have had no problems with netloadmodule, and I'm on .24.7. I have seen a forum post or 2 which points to problems with IE settings and that module.

I can't remember the issue - possibly wrong proxy settings?
Point is that the person didn't use IE, and therefore never realized - it solved his and a couple of other people's issues.

If IE can't connect; apparently neither can netloadmodules.
Hope that helps :)

This is an old thread. NLM has worked just fine on .24.7 for a long time now.

NetLoadModule uses IE's proxy settings. More specifically, NetLoadModule uses a very small piece of IE to actually do the downloading. It would take a substantial amount of work to change this for very little benefit.

And I'd recommend getting the new version with !NetInstallModule, then reading the docs so you can tell what settings need to change before switching over. Also make note of when you're asked to select a dll file, that means you need to use the "load" option in theme.rc