Creating a better mac user experience

[TheMoniker]

So I downloaded the Mac Technic Launcher the other day and I was very dissapointed. All you get when you click the download button is a java .jar file. It has no icon (just the default java icon) and you can't add it to the dock. You just hide it somewhere and then have to navigate to it every time you want to play, unless you don't mind an unsightly java launcher on your desktop.

So I decided to bundle it into a mac .app with an icon and then create a installer.

I think that user experience is an important aspect of any software.

After creating the installer, I was able to double click and it then installed like any other mac application and then I added it to the dock. It works great an looks good.

I guess what I'm getting at is, is there a reason that all Technic offers is a .jar? Could they offer either a .app or a .pkg (installer) as a download instead?

I believe that offering an installer (or even just a zipped .app) would provide a much better user experience. I don't know who I should talk to, to make this happen, or if there's a bigger reason why this hasn't been done already. I am willing to create this if necessary, and I could use whatever icon that Technicpack.net would prefer.

I hope I posted this in the right place, if not, could someone please direct me to the correct location.

[Al3xthegre4t]

could you give me a download link for this technic app file? I hate the .jar file coming up, i cant actually find the windows icon on google images to paste onto the jar file

[Maxis010]

The reason behind a lack of installer is that the launcher IS the installer, as for not bundling it as an app, I blame Jenkins

Jenkins is an auto build which will pull from a source then attempt a compile automagically

Did some quick research and Jenkins does not appear to have support for .app files (I could be wrong) and because of that the best they can do is roll out the .jar for mac users

[TheMoniker]

@Al3xthegre4t Here is a link that will download the .app. I'm new to the mac, so if something doesn't work as it should, feel free to let me know and I'll give it a fix.

Removed URL

I didn't know you could paste an image onto the jar file, I'm going to have to look into how to do that. I didn't use the icon that comes with the windows .exe because its such a low resolution (not that the one I found on google is all that much better) and would look pretty terrible on a mac. If you have another, or a better icon, let me know and I'll add it to it.

I'd love to hear some feedback if you download it and it all works successfully.

[TheMoniker]

@Maxis010 I'm not all that familiar with the mac, so bear with me.

I understand that the .jar launcher is the installer. Is there a way to launch Technic after its been installed without the .jar? Or does a typical user need to double click the .jar every time they want to play?

As for Jenkins not being able to bundle it as an .app (if thats the case) could they use some human intervention to do it? I'd never even heard of bundling a .jar as an .app until I googled it. It took me maybe 15 minutes, and I had no clue what I was doing. I bet with a little experience, the process would take no time at all.

They have an amazingly coded website with some very advanced html5 features, they know what they're doing.

Why can't we have an .app?

[Maxis010]

As for Jenkins not being able to bundle it as an .app (if thats the case) could they use some human intervention to do it?

Then you misunderstand the purpose of Jenkins, it is autonomous, thereby removing the need for human intervention

If you don't like the fact that the devs are not taking more time out of their day on top of actually working on the launcher, and the packs, and this site, to please the mac community then I suggest you start donating your time to rollout an app file for each launcher update, if it only takes 15 minutes as you claim then I don't see the problem here

Before you respond with anything along the lines of "The devs should do it because it's their launcher" then be aware, telling volunteers to do more work that you have proven yourself fully capable of will get you nowhere

[TheMoniker]

I am willing to create this if necessary, and I could use whatever icon that Technicpack.net would prefer.

I don't know who I should talk to, to make this happen

Like I said above, I am willing to do this. I am volunteering to do this. I just don't know who I need to get in contact with or how to contact them. I would love to do this for the devs if they wanted me to, to make it better for everyone.

they use some human intervention to do it?

And I apologize, didn't really mean for them to do more work. All I was getting was what I was trying to figure out the reason for distributing the .jar

I would be great if you could point me in the right direction, if not then thanks for your input

[Al3xthegre4t]

It works just as good as the jar file, even better without the org.spoutcraftlauncher highlighting on the dock, it just says Spoutcraft. Thanks so very much!

[SXScarecrow]

I don't want to be devil's advocate here, but isn't this app copyright theft? You have taken something the Technic Team made, modified it and are now distributing it. I'm sure they won't mind, but have you at least asked them? If I'm wrong, just ignore me.

[TheMoniker]

Yeah, that's a good point, I've removed the the link and I'm trying to get in touch with the devs.

[miniboxer]

I don't want to be devil's advocate here, but isn't this app copyright theft? You have taken something the Technic Team made, modified it and are now distributing it. I'm sure they won't mind, but have you at least asked them? If I'm wrong, just ignore me.

Even if it was, the technic team wouldn't care. The launcher is open source. I highly doubt that they care that someone packaged the launcher into an app file.

[TheNinjaFruit]

This is probably not the time or place for this, but if the .jar file icon looks ugly to you, I made an .icns file. I'm not sure how to permanently set it to your launcher's icon, but here is a method to make it so at least until the next launcher update. Hope it helps with the whole "improving the experience" bit.

MAC (which i'm on, and from research I believe is the only one with this inconvenience):

- Go into the icns file (included) and hit "command + A" (it's high res, the mac should auto adjust)

- Command + C

- Right click the launcher jar and select "get info"

- Click on the icon in the upper left, afterwards it should be highlighted blue.

- Command + V

Presto chango! The included file should contain multiple different resolutions, but the highest resolution image should auto adjust to a smaller size if necessary. If you somehow need an even higher res picture, I've included the original PNG as well.

TechnicIcon

TechnicIcon_MaxRes

[pixlepix]

Not copyright theft at all, assuming you keep it under the GPL. The license the technic pack is under permits distribution of modified copies, as long as modified copies stay under the same license.

OFF-TOPIC: As for jenkins, jenkins is not the software that actually 'does' the building. Jenkins just invokes the actual build script, often written in ANT. That being said, I believe it is technically possible to have jenkins invoke a shell script after the ANT script is finished to package an .app. That being said, I do understand the concern of: 'we have better things to code than something that will be used by 10% of the user base'

[31trainman]

I think jenkins might have a plugin to build a .app but im not fully sure as I dont have a jenkins build server. Perhaps one of the technic devs who owns a mac could look into creating a .app.

[TheNinjaFruit]

So I made a simple Xcode app to launch the jar (embedded within the app) and terminate. I've referenced the License agreement and acknowledged the original owner within the code. I'm not going to post this, but:

If a Moderator reads this, I would be more than happy to send them the .app file.

My email is [email protected]

[Ysharma]

Some stuff is very broken in the mac launcher. If you do make a mac app contact me for the patched jars and sources.

[chami]

So I made a simple Xcode app to launch the jar (embedded within the app) and terminate. I've referenced the License agreement and acknowledged the original owner within the code. I'm not going to post this, but:

If a Moderator reads this, I would be more than happy to send them the .app file.

My email is [email protected]

If you guys do release this before the port to 1.6, is it possible to make it run the Technic Launcher in Java 1.6? It would solve a lot of the problems with packs crashing due to LWJGL.

[Ysharma]

If you guys do release this before the port to 1.6, is it possible to make it run the Technic Launcher in Java 1.6? It would solve a lot of the problems with packs crashing due to LWJGL.

Yeah and create huge incompatibilities with mods. Lets leave launcher dev to the launcher devs. Another project with another launcher is guaranteed to create problems that confuse everyone.

[chami]

I was unaware that there were mod incompatibilities with making the Launcher and Minecraft run in Java 6 instead of 7. Regardless, there's supposed to be an LWJGL fix incoming anyway so it shouldn't be a problem.