TCB Pad Master

Pad Master is a TCB program that assists programmers in creating a P.A.D. (Portable Application Description) document. It can be used with PADManager (described below) to submit descriptions to reviewers. Pad Master fully implements the TCB concept of making most functions in a process just a single click away instead of navigating multiple nested menus to find a function. Pad Master displays a screen that is divided into 2 main sections. On the left top of the screen are window function buttons and a help button that displays this document.

The first section contains software product information needed to "publish" the software. The entries are self-explanatory and are in scroll windows. Beneath the products data section is a set of seven database control buttons. To the right of the last database control button is the "PAD" box. It is a protected window and is loaded with the PAD file named in "PAD Location." That's right, the entire PAD file can be carried within the database!

The button to the right of the PAD box is a button that loads the PAD box. Next to that button is one that invokes a dialogue that let's you save the PAD information to a file. Double-clicking the PAD location window causes the PAD file in PAD location to be opened for editing. The "PAD" button opens the PAD Manager program to validate and submit your PAD file. For your own purposes, find the file padmaster.prc in the prcs\ folder, open it with Notepad and change the last line in the file to reflect where to find your copy of PAD Manager and save it.

The Release Date should contain the date the software was actually first released or published. It is a protected field and you select a date by right-clicking in the box, select a date and press the Enter key and the data is inserted into the box.

The bottom section of the PM window contains information about software distributors. It contains the usual data boxes and labels and a data grid. It also has the usual data control buttons near the top right of the data grid. If you select a distributor in the data grid and then right-click, the record is placed in the data view/edit area.

To the left of the left-most data control button above the data grid is a large green and yellow graphic button. Clicking this button toggles the display between a Products data grid display and the Distributors data grid display. Selecting a Product record in the Products data grid and then right-clicking, places the record in the data view/edit area

Right-clicking on any url will cause PAD Master to try to open the URL if there is a connection to the internet. In order to accomplish this, PAD Master needs to know the location of your default web browser. This is easily accomplished by using Notepad as above and altering the next-to-last line to reflect the location of your browser on your system. The next version of PAD Master will not require this change.

This setup makes it easy to keep track of software projects and distributors. Having all the information at hand and being able to cut and paste info, makes it a snap to submit a software to 10-15 sites in about a half an hour.

The PM screen is generated by a TCB process. The PM process is run by the tcb.exe program. What this means is that you, the end user, can tailor the PM process to be just about anything you want. Pad Master is a TCB process that is easily user-modifiable, user-extensible, and user customizable!

You can clone it then modify it to create new "programs." You can change EVERYTHING about the PM process, including window size and location, look and feel and the number, sizing and placement of objects can be changed. You can alter the behavior of an object as well as their attributes. Objects are everything you see on the PM screen, EVERYTHING. If you are going to play, the name of the PM process file is padmaster.prc located in the prcs\ folder. Copy it or otherwise preserve it if you want to change the Pad Master process itself. The program, tcb.exe runs processes. When it is run by itself, it looks for a process called "main.prc" in the prcs\ folder. This procedure was altered to simply run PM then exit. You can change it do do what you want.

PADManager :: A Software Submission Tool


PADManager is an advanced PAD (Portable Application Description) editing and managing application.

Portable Application Description or PAD is a standard developed by the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). It is designed to replace the old non-formal file_id.diz and other textual program descriptions with an XML-based and strictly specified format.

There is a very basic PAD generator, PADGen, sponsored by the ASP. While it is OK for a shareware hobbyist or beginner, professional shareware developers may need something more powerful. PADManager is a completely free application, yet it provides a lot of advanced features.

PADManager fully complies with the PAD specification. It produces correctly formatted 100% compatible PAD XML files. In addition, PADManager allows you to manage the data that you put into your PAD files. You can create as many company and product profiles as you need and easily switch between them.

PADManager has a built-in FTP uploader. It remembers the FTP path and allows you to upload your XML files with a single mouse click.

The program automatically checks for available updates. With PADManager, you are always sure that you are using an up-to-date version of the PAD specification and the most recent versions of the PAD extensions. PADManager automatically downloads and installs them for you.

PADManager supports the DynamicPAD technology. This technology allows you provide customized PAD files for each software archive and to gather accurate statistics of downloads generated by them.

PAD is an essential part of the software submission process. PADManager will help you maximize the results of your submissions to download sites. More listings, better visibility, higher positions in search engines result pages...

Why is it free? PADManager is supported by Submit-Everywhere.com, a software submission service for shareware developers.












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