Suggestions for Posting in Source Code Forum

[Cliff Nichols]

After many, many painstaking days of gathering information, I am almost ready to post to the source code forum some code that I believe can be useful to others. But in this case I have a problem of just WHAT to post.

In this case, I have what I would consider a lookup table of sorts, comprised of (guessing about 1,000 files), each having anywhere from 1 line of text to many lines of text (Each a listing of a device), so you can see why posting the whole thing could be a pain.

I would hate to call it a database, but it is the closest definition I can think of at the moment.

I thought about posting the code, and 1 or 2 files for demonstration purposes. But since I took the time to gather all the info, I thought it would be nice to post all the info somehow.

The short answer would be to post code, and a sample "database" to demo the code, and then zip the full project and host on my own site of choice. But I also thought of Bin-Bas to pass the info, but then of course its back to the user to waste the time making compile-able code again etc.

Any ideas I have not thought of? or is my idea of "Post a sample, link to real" the best answer in this case?

And yes, for anyone wondering if this is along the lines of other posts I have done. This is a compilation of code and data I have done, in this case others have wondered the same as I have, and I have a partial answer.

More specifically, the code I have in mind does the following:

1. Enumerate USB, Serial, and Parallel devices
2. Get VID, PID, and any "User-Friendly" info on these devices found (kinda like the control panel, but more in "Plain English"
3. Elaborate a bit more on "Just what is this device" by looking up VID and PID to find a "User-Friendly" description on what the device is. (If I have it in one of my files, which needs work, but a heck of a nice start).

Anyways, before I try to post, I thought I would ask for ideas. Since in this case "Making it work" is easy, "Making a Post" would be too painful both for me, and for anyone wanting to use the code

Any ideas, let me know

[Mel Bishop]

Why don't you zip 'em up, send the file to PB and have them post it in the downloads section? You can then just write a small post advertising the files availablity.

[Cliff Nichols]

Good point Mel,
but I didn't want to waste their time if not worthy (although may be worthwhile)But probably the best route since I know my luck with computers, at some point in the future I can not rely on my link being valid anymore. But I think users will want to download the full source and judge themselves if they want it or modify or dump it

[Michael Mattias]

Cliff, don't worry about links going dead in the PB files fourm. They converted the last bunch just fine... besides, I seriously doubt PowerBASIC Inc really wants to go through another forum software conversion anytime soon. (I think Mr. Rossell would have a more informed opinion on this than do I).

If you are concerned that the software may not be All It Should Be (OK, let's Howard Cosell this and "Tell it Like It Is"), i.e, ucontains as-yet undiscovered bugs - why don't you ask for volunteers to test it for you before posting?

You could either email them a source-executable ZIP package on request, or if you have access to a web site, post a link to such a file and let people give it a try and provide some feedback.

I'm personally not interested in this software, but if you need web space I will provide space on one of my sites if you email me a source-executable package.

[email protected]

[Mike Trader]

Perhaps posting it in several places would help insure link continuity. Jose Roca's site supports attachments...

[Cliff Nichols]

I did some work to bring my old website back up, so for the moment I will post there. But Thank you to MCM for his offer of space, and may even contact Jose about space too, but for the time being I did not want to waste anyones space on what I thought was near complete, and now find "I got more work to do".

Anyways, I still have some more "Database" cleanup, and more overcommenting to do, but this will give you a basic idea of what I was trying to do.

List Devices, Vid, Pid, Revision, etc

It is a work in progress, so I welcome any ideas, suggestions, errors I made etc, so that eventually I can make a INC to offer.

The "Database" of sorts is far from complete (as I learned today), but getting closer, so I welcome any VID,PID, and other info possible that anyone can offer on a device they have and this sample does not show "User Friendly" names for.

If you find it useful, or can offer some input, or have questions, let me know