Feature requests

[Shintaro]

Thanks for the app. It is really getting very good .

Just a couple of feature requests if I may:

Old driver After, could you possibly please add a drop down box that has all the release dates of OS's and OS's plus SP.
Win XP xx/xx/xx
Win XP SP1 xx/xx/xx
etc....

Output options and Files to save, have a "Select all" / "Deselect all" checkbox.

One final request and I think I may have already mentioned it in a PM, but rather than output to notepad or the default text editor, have a built in editor.

Cheers.

 

[writhziden]

The hardest part of having an output to a built in editor as you had suggested is retaining the hyperlinks in the formatting. I think it is better to leave it as BBCode unless others know how to set the richtextbox font properties to retain the hyperlink, the bold, and the color formatting so it will also be retained in the BBCode for pasting into the forums. I also need to know how to do it for segments in the editor based on the BBCode. It's definitely not trivial. I'm sure given enough time, I could figure it out, but that is going to probably take months of small code bits here and there to sort out. Looking at the code involved, it is rather complicated to have multiple formatting types for the same segments; much easier to only have one format such as bold or color or hyperlink; I do not know if it is even possible through code to provide all three with the method I am currently using. For instance, this is the output of wanting to have the driver name part of the hyperlink red just pasting into the WordPad program

http://www.carrona.org/drivers/driver.php?id=ASACPI.sys​

As you can see, it only retained the bold, but not the red color. BBCode is much more robust and less prone to mistakes.

[URL="http://www.carrona.org/drivers/driver.php?id=ASACPI.sys"]http://www.carrona.org/drivers/driver.php?id=[COLOR=#FF0000][B]ASACPI.sys[/B][/COLOR][/URL]
http://www.carrona.org/drivers/driver.php?id=ASACPI.sys​

Additionally, the files opening up when finished is a means that many use to know when the apps are finished and the everything is then available for simple copy an paste. To be honest, the more I look into how to do what you have asked, the less information I find on how it would be done with c++ coding, and I am not going to learn C# just to re-design the apps for one feature. Keep in mind that I am one person and not built up of a team of programmers.


What is the reason for the dates of OS's? I have no problem implementing it, but it would be helpful to know so I can design it in an easy to use fashion, i.e. where should it be placed in the GUI: within the menu bar, near the Old Driver After area, a new tab, etc.?

The select all/deselect all is easily doable. Should be able to implement that within the next few iterations.

 

[Shintaro]

Yea, I know that the built-in editor would be a big job, so I completely understand.

The reason behind the release dates of the OS's and OS's plus SP, is that if you are analyzing a vista problem it would be handy to know which drivers haven't been updated since the release of Vista, Vista SP1....
Or If a piece of software requires a driver, post SPx, it would be handy to have. Not a huge advantage, but just a bit of a convenience.
As for placement, where the current "Old Driver After" would be fine. Just remember I no artistic ability at all. Interface were always my downfall at University.
Maybe also still be able to put in an arbitrary date as well.

Cheers mate.

 

[writhziden]

I didn't want to replace the ability to input the date; I think versatility is always the best method when distributing something like this with many users who have different preferences.

I have added it as a reference for the time being. If this is not enough, I can allow clicking on the date to input the date for you, but I personally think the reference should be enough. The more functionality I give the program, the slower the load time will be for the GUI. More objects = more load time. The load time has already increased from less than a second to more than three seconds on my systems from the additions over the past month or so. I would prefer not to increase it more unless absolutely necessary.

Please find 2.0.0.6 here: BETA: Sysnative BSOD Apps 2.0.0.6

It has two of the three features requested. I will look into the formatting output, but I can't promise anything. I fear making the load time horrendous by adding such a feature...

 

[jcgriff2]

​

OS timestamps - https://www.sysnative.com/0x1/Windows_OS_Driver_Base_Timestamps.html

W8 RTM needs to be added. You'll get to know those dates fairly quickly.

Keep in mind that 3rd party drivers can of course use the same dates, like we've seen with sptd.sys (14 July 2009).

 

[jcgriff2]

One final request and I think I may have already mentioned it in a PM, but rather than output to notepad or the default text editor, have a built in editor.

You're asking for your default text editor to open instead of Notepad, correct?

i.e., the same output that would display in Notepad..?

@ Mike... when you open Notepad, can you instead allow file ext assoc to open the default app for TXT?

 

[writhziden]

Shintaro asked that all the text be parsed out with the BBCode converted to the appropriate formats. He wanted it to appear as it would in the forums. I can do this, but...

@Shintaro: Can you provide a list of all BBCode you use and its appropriate html conversion? I need some help from you if you want the functionality.

For instance... [url=][/url] becomes <a href=></a>

 

[niemiro]

Shintaro asked that all the text be parsed out with the BBCode converted to the appropriate formats. He wanted it to appear as it would in the forums. I can do this, but...

@Shintaro: Can you provide a list of all BBCode you use and its appropriate html conversion? I need some help from you if you want the functionality.

For instance... [URL][/URL] becomes <a href=></a>

I did something similar to this in the old ParmsEditor, encoding straight into RTF. It was an absolute nightmare, but I still have the code for it tucked away somewhere. It wasn't anywhere near as advanced as what we now need though, so I don't personally think that it will be of any help. If you ever need help with the RTF format though, I do know a little bit about it, as I had to read through tons of documentation to get it to work at all.

 

[writhziden]

Thanks Richard. I actually have RTF working just fine. It's the formatting from BBCode to font format that is desired. I think html is the best way to accomplish this since BBCode and html code are fairly similar. It will also make copying and pasting into posts work flawlessly. I just need to know what BBCode is desired. The simple ones like indenting, underlining, bold, colors, etc. I should be able to figure out on my own. I can even do the url BBCode to html conversion pretty seamlessly. If other bbcode is desired, though, that will take a lot of time and work on my part, so I would appreciate if others would provide me with the conversions.

I've already started with the color formatting. So far, it is working almost as intended.

 

[Shintaro]

You guys are great.

Unfortunately I don't know anything about HTML, sorry.

For the OS release dates I was thinking, (see attachments). It saves on the interface real estate.

With the Day, Month Year. Could you possibly use system locale. Because USA etc use Month, Day, Year. But here in Australia we use Day, Month, Year.

Cheers.

 

[writhziden]

I do not think it matters what order the month, day, year is in since it is clearly labeled in the apps. I provided the format as is because that is how the timestamping is done for the kernel debugging with the Windows debugging tools. I also do not feel up to changing the info. I already did a ton of work to get those dates. You'll notice my list is very thorough including even XP SP2b and SP2c. I also did a lot of work today to get your formatting figured out for website links, bold, italic, underline, and colors.

I cannot provide code box, font size, and other BBCode support due to different forums using BBCode differently for those formats. As it is, the apps have grown 20% in size in one day, and anticipating every possible BBCode layout would probably increase it easily another 25-50% in size.

To be honest, I was a bit insulted by your opinion of the apps in the first place, but I still went out of my way to try to provide you with the functionality you asked for. I hope you appreciate it, though based on the requests, I wonder whether you're aware of how much work went into the apps as they were last night and how much additional work went into them today to provide that functionality.

Provided is a link to the apps with the font formatting functionality. They are off by default. You can turn them on and turn off the .txt files opening if you like, or you can have both open so you have the full BBCode available. I provided a choice to do whichever you'd like. The font formatting is the final option under Formatting and Miscellaneous Options.

BETA: Sysnative BSOD Apps 2.0.2.0

 

[Shintaro]

I am incredibly sorry, I never meant to insult you.

But I think there has been a miscommunication here.

And I do understand the work (Time and effort) that goes in to your app. That is why I never had any expectation of anything happening, because what I was asking for was just minor compared to more important things that you most likely needed to do.

I was very impressed and thankful that you even considered my requests. I honestly expected you to just ignore them.

That combo box in the pics were for the GUI. Nothing else. Nothing to do with the back-end or how the text files are produced. Just eye candy.

And I don't understand what you are talking about "To be honest, I was a bit insulted by your opinion of the apps in the first place," I re-checked my PM's etc to see if I had been rude or negative towards the app and I cannot find anything. I'm sorry I truly don't know what you are talking about.

 

[writhziden]

My apologies to you for misunderstanding. I think I was just misinterpreting what you meant in your messages. It seemed like you were saying the apps had a bit more improving to do before they'd meet your standards, but it would seem I was just reading too much into it.

I'll look into the click to date functionality. I'd like to keep the drop downs as they currently are; I think they look cleaner and fit into the program better instead of through the drop down list. It would probably take very little time for me to program the click to date functionality with the current lists into the software, but I have some other work to get done at the moment. I should be able to get the click to date functionality working by next weekend.

In the meantime, let me know what you think of the font formatting output in the new BETA release.


Appreciate your understanding. I am truly sorry for mincing words.

-Mike

 

[Shintaro]

Mike,

It is always difficult to ascertain what people are really saying sometimes from posts. Especially considering my writing style is rather terse.
My wife says I have all the subtlety of "A brick through a window".

But anyway, I don't think you give yourself enough credit for the work you do.
It is no small task what you are doing here.

Keep up the great work!

 

[writhziden]

Thank you for the kind words.

I understand that it is not always easy to convey what one really thinks through posts in a forum. I am glad that we were able to clear up the misunderstanding.

:lol: "A brick through a window" I"ll have to remember that one.

 

[writhziden]

I've attached an .html document with the bbcode parsed for code boxes and indent.

Code Boxes: The problem is that different sites use different methods of wrapping the code boxes. If you paste that same code box here, the box disappears.

Indent: The problem is that different sites use different margins for the indent, so it would not work universally.

Also, font sizes cannot be included since some sites use pixel size, some use percentages, but most use a similar format to here with sizes ranging from 1 to 7. Still, it cannot be made universal due to the few that do things differently.

I think the bbcode as it currently is parsed in the apps is how it will have to stand. Color, bold, italic, underline, and urls all seem to be handled the same way at each site. Thoughts?



EDIT: Also, there is a new version of the apps in the beta testing area that resolves sizing issues with the output: BETA Sysnative BSOD Processing Apps 2.0.2.7

 

[Shintaro]

Wow mate,
That looks really cool!

Just looking at the HTML view. The Code Box is fine the way it is. Actually, its very very easy to look at. So if I was looking at a crash dump for a user, the way I would use the code box, is to cut and paste the contents of the code box to a forum, then add the tags like "

or

" after the cut and paste.

I don't know how other people use your app, but bringing up HTML view(s) of the analysis pages is the preferred way I would use it. I don't tend to give too much analysis information to the user I am trying to help, it just confuses them or make them think I am a smart a$$. It's the old "kiss" principal.

With the highlighting etc, it make it very easy to see, quickly, what is a possible cause of the crash.

Mate, I don't think the HTML view needs to work for every forum. If people want to cut 'n' paste, I would think that they would switch back to the BBCode view and cut 'n' paste from there. What you have done so far is great!

 

[writhziden]

Thanks, glad you like it. I am going to go ahead and parse out a few more BBCode options:
[FONT= for font types, [SIZE= for sizes 1-7, [LIST=1, [LIST=a, [LIST],

, [INDENT]

Should be available in the next release in October. If you would like it sooner, let me know.


[B]EDIT:[/B] The latest BBCode parsing can be found within [url=https://www.sysnative.com/forums/showthread.php/3531-BETA-Sysnative-BSOD-Apps-2-0-4-2?p=25990&viewfull=1#post25990][color=red]BETA[/color] Sysnative BSOD Processing Apps 2.0.4.2[/url]