Publishing Contributed Libraries (for a geographic mapping library)

jreades

Publishing Contributed Libraries (for a geographic mapping library)

in Library and Tool Development • 1 year ago

I notice that on the Contributed Libraries page (as well as in the various library wiki pages) there's no information on how to take the final step to actually publish a new library once you've finished development.

I assume that this is because there's some QA/QC process in place for determining that the library isn't malicious and adheres to the latest standards, but it would be helpful if there were some information on this last step.

The reason I ask is that I finally got around to polishing (and testing as best I can) a library to allow users to load and display ESRI Shape files and geo-coded CSV files within in a sketch in a fairly painless fashion. I'd like to first ensure that I've got everything right with respect to hosting it at http://www.reades.com/MapThing(.zip/.txt) and then to see how I get it distributed.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

jon

Replies(7)

PhiLho

Re: Publishing Contributed Libraries (for a geographic mapping library)

1 year ago

I moved the topic from Contributed Library as you did the development yourself.
I have no experience in the field (of publishing a library), but I think there is no QA/QC process at all, the Processing team just doesn't have the resource for that. Somehow, it is a community process... Like for any Java library you can find on the Net.
Processing lists a number of libraries (list isn't exhaustive), but that's the only service it provides. You can contact the maintainer of the site to see if he can include your in the official page. You still have to host the file yourself, and to provide the information pages around it. It seems you did this step, but your link is broken.
Look at some libraries listed to see how they distribute themselves.

jreades

Re: Re: Publishing Contributed Libraries (for a geographic mapping library)

1 year ago

1) Moving library: sorry about that, I was looking at old information from the previous web site and missed that such posts should now be going into Libraries / Tools.

2) Broken link: it looks like the Zoho web site tried to be smart about my link -- what I was saying was that I had followed the guidelines and created the Zip and property files at:

http://www.reades.com/MapThing.txt

http://www.reades.com/MapThing.zip

3) Publishing: the next step is still unclear to me since the latest documentation here points me back to the closed forums for announcing the existence of the library. I can presumably create an 'Announcement' in the forum.processing.org site, but the documentation here seems to suggest that I should be labeling this a 'Contributed Library' and doing something more to ensure that it's seen by others.

dimiro

Re: Publishing Contributed Libraries (for a geographic mapping library)

1 year ago

he reason I ask is that I finally got around to polishing (and testing as best I can) a library to allow users to load and display ESRI Shape files and geo-coded CSV files within in a sketch in a fairly painless fashion

ok that sounds super fascinating :)

jreades

Re: Re: Publishing Contributed Libraries (for a geographic mapping library)

1 year ago

Well, if you'd like to play with it then it's available right now from: http://www.reades.com/MapThing.zip

If you unzip it into the Processing libraries folder then it does import properly and there's a sample MapThing.pde file to get you started.

Usability and documentation feedback would be most welcome (while I try to sort out the other apparent publishing issues)!

jon

PhiLho

Re: Publishing Contributed Libraries (for a geographic mapping library)

1 year ago

1) Not a problem, it wasn't obvious anyway. I just explained why I moved it.
2) " I can presumably create an 'Announcement' in the forum.processing.org site" Well, somehow, you already did this step! Change the title and the message type (to Discussion), and you are done (or create a new topic, that's OK, that would be cleaner).

jreades

Re: Publishing Contributed Libraries (for a geographic mapping library)

1 year ago

Thanks phi.lho, all done now.

The thing that seems strange to me is that the new Library format (requiring a .zip and a .txt file in the same directory at some arbitrary address) seems designed to automate the publication of new libraries and their inclusion in some kind of listing... but the last step seems to be missing! I can't figure out how anyone would find the MapThing.zip file (or how Processing would link back to it to check for increments to the version int in the .txt file).

Ah well, maybe it's something in the works for 2.0.

Anyway, thanks again for the help!

jon

prisonerj..

Re: Publishing Contributed Libraries (for a geographic mapping library)

1 year ago

Hi Jon,

You are right, there is a last step missing! And that last step is to e-mail me with the links to your library or tool so that I can look them over and add them to the Processing directory of contributed libraries.

Adding these instructions to the processing.org site is on my to-do list, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. For now, the best thing to do is to reach me by e-mail or private message to let me know about your library.

I've added yours to my list, I will send you a message shortly once it's reviewed.

Thanks!

-Elie

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