XBL GamerCard Support -- BETA1.5 Released!

[mrasmus]

BETA1.5 Release:
Well, just finished BETA1 (I lied about the WoW priority thing, I guess). This update features a fix to the problem of Rep Scrolling on a 20 (5) star rep (full). Easy enough fix. I also added Multi-tag support... it's not perfect, but I think you can all deal with the small bug for now. Here's from the ReadMe:

Pertelian GamerCard Viewer BETA1.5 by Matthew Rasmussen
=======================================================
Small update getting rid of scrolling Rep issue that was in BETA1,
adding multi-Tag tracking support. To track multiple tags, simply add
more lines to the tags.txt file (one tag per line).

NOTE: I have not thoroughly tested this version, and what I did try
resulted in my finding a simple, small bug when there are only two
GamerTags specified to track (when you try to go "beyond" the last
tag on the list, it allows you to do so once but displays the last
tag's information. Basically what this means is you have to press
"up" twice to get back to the first one.)

Installation notes: Same for BETA1, but if you're "upgrading" feel
free to only copy the .dll file, as your old tags.txt will still
work.

Enjoy!

Original BETA1 Release:
Well, I've finished the BETA1 of my GamerCard Plugin, which isn't particularly customizable (it's got a set update time of 60 seconds, iirc... it's late, I want to finish this and go to bed), but it should do the trick for now. [url=hexicon.net/GamerCardB1.zip]Here's the link,[/url]

From the ReadMe file:

Pertelian GamerCard Viewer BETA1 by Matthew Rasmussen
=====================================================

1. Summary: GamerCard Viewer is a simple Pertelian plugin to view Xbox
Live Gamercards with Score, Zone and Rep. In it's current form, it is
a single screen application and is capable of displaying a single
GamerTag's information, as well as launching that gamertag's info page
on live.xbox.com.

2. Installation: Copy GamerCard.dll and tag.txt to your plugins folder
in the Pertelian directory. Edit tag.txt to contain the name of the
XBL Gamertag you wish to track. Restart the Pertelian tray client and
confirm that the plugin is enabled under your Plugins tab.

4. Use: Simply navigate to the plugin (CTRL-ALT-3 to cycle plugins by
default). The standard Selection Key (CTRL-ALT-Q by default) launches
a web browser with the gamertag page.

5. Notes:
a. Failure to place the "tag.txt" file in the plugins folder
will cause the program to fail, and as this is a beta there are no
safegaurds in place. While nothing should happened, such operation
is not advised.
b. Reps are on a 0-20 point scale (on the five-star system, this is
4 points per star), but if the gamertag you track has a full Rep (20
stars) this may cause scrolling. This will be fixed in the next
release.
c. Other future improvements may include: Configuration Window
support (no more tag.txt file), Multiple Gamertag Support, Details
view with games played, and more.
d. Please remember, this is a Beta release, so bugs may happen. If
you come accross a bug not mentioned, please make note of it and
post information about it on the Pertelian Forums. Thank you,
I hope you enjoy the program.
e. The Folder included is the full C# Source code. Feel free to
edit the source and re-compile, as well as re-distribute this
download, however, all I ask is for the original files to be
included, unaltered, in a re-distribution, as well as proper
credit. And I should probably say that XBox, XBox Live, Gamertag,
GamerCard, and much else is all copyright Microsoft Corp. As is
.NET. Pertelian and related terms are all copyright ForeSight
Systems LLC. I take no responsibility for whatever happens to
computers this plugin is installed upon while it runs (nothing
should, really, but I need to cover my bases). Etc.

--Matthew Rasmussen
[EOF]

It's really basic right now, and I won't work on it for probably another week (I'm prioritizing my WoW addon now that this is done), but it has some functionality and I might come back to it early just to fix problems like the Configuration menu (when I figure that stuff out).

I don't care if this goes in the CDC or not (it works, as far as I can tell), except I don't want the beta to be on there once I make other changes... so Alex, feel free, as long as I can erase it later.

Enjoy!

EDIT: Oh yeah. If anyone sees anything improvable in the source code, feel free to mention it here. You'll notice that about half of the code is ripped right off of the HelloWorld example... Whatever works, right?

And don't complain about uncommented code. I know what it means, and that's what matters to me. Especially at 1:30 in the morning.

[Alex]

Hey Mrasmus,
Don't worry about bugging me to update files and such, that's just one of my jobs and I'm getting used to making it by without sleeping now. I haven't seen a CDC submittion email from you yet so send it over and I'll get it up. You know, this is the first cross-device program for Pertelian so-to-speak so congrats are in order.

[mrasmus]

Hey Mrasmus,
Don't worry about bugging me to update files and such, that's just one of my jobs and I'm getting used to making it by without sleeping now. I haven't seen a CDC submittion email from you yet so send it over and I'll get it up. You know, this is the first cross-device program for Pertelian so-to-speak so congrats are in order.

Don't quite see how it's a cross-device program (it's simply checking the online service MS provides, like most other plugins do with other online resources), but if you want to call it that go right ahead. I'll be sending off the e-mail shortly.

[Alex]

Well, what I meant is for the first time, Pertelian does something of value related to a device outside the computer itself. meaning with X-Box. Pretty sweet.

[mrasmus]

Well, what I meant is for the first time, Pertelian does something of value related to a device outside the computer itself. meaning with X-Box. Pretty sweet.

Thanks for the compliment, anyway. Still formulating that e-mail.

EDIT: E-Mail sent.

[Pokesomi]

Well done. The only thing I would change is instead of use the star system, use a numeric value followed by the word stars. Just my opinion.

[mrasmus]

Well done. The only thing I would change is instead of use the star system, use a numeric value followed by the word stars. Just my opinion.

Interesting... Might make that display toggle-able. I consider CTRL-ALT-D (BUTTON_FF) open to plugin usage, so maybe pressing that would do change between *'s to 2.5 Stars and back again. I'm looking into displaying presence data (online status), but I don't see an easy way of doing so without actually logging in to the website. It'd be cool to have an online indicator (as well as a message indicator), but I'm not sure if this would be possible (or how to go about doing it). I'll look into it, certainly.

Glad to see you enjoy the program. Just accepted your friends request, anyway.

Just to remind you, I won't be doing much (if any) development on this until I get at least a partial working version of the WoW plugin done. I'd love to flesh this one out, but my WoW addiction takes priority (Not to mention I think that might have a better chance of winning the competition. Can you say two displays for my guildmates?)

--Matthew Rasmussen

[Pokesomi]

no problem. I will most likely be on tonight. I am curious as to how sites like mygamercard.net get the presence data.

[mrasmus]

no problem. I will most likely be on tonight. I am curious as to how sites like mygamercard.net get the presence data.

Yeah, same here... I'm almost tempted to look into the possibility of getting the data through one of those services, and then basically saying "extended functionality provided by ____". I may end up doing that, might not.

[Kaota]

Matt,
You may want to look at Core.Utils.Xml* for some hints on using XML files and the Configure button. I still haven't made the link just yet, but maybe you'll have better luck.

[Pokesomi]

he is trying to find the variable for that function. I don't even know where or what the variable is.

[mrasmus]

UPDATE: BETA1.5 is now available from the CDC. This post will continue to be my announcement thread, as well as carry the latest version, but if for some reason my link goes down, the CDC also has it.