.fdi files and HAL

[Owen Fraser-Green]

Hi,


On Mon, 2004-06-07 at 20:52, Jono Bacon wrote:
> I might be able to create some form of web interface to this. It would
> be great if people could use a web form that automatically generated the
> XML. The challenge would be testing the files and ensuring that they
> work well. It would also be cool if regular people could find
> instructions on how to find the relevent hardware information to fill
> the form in.

I think in the ideal world, the user should plug the camera in, then
something pops some kind of "New hardware found" wizard. If it's obvious
what the hardware is exactly (which could be either from the properties
of the hardware itself or because of extra information contained in
installed fdi files) then the wizard would advise what it found and give
the user the chance to accept or alter. If the latter's chosen then the
effect would be the same as the hardware not really being recognized and
the user could be asked if the on-line database should be searched. If
the user chooses "no" or the hardware isn't found in the database then
the user is prompted to choose the capabilities and any other
appropriate settings. From this an fdi can be generated which can then
be automatically submitted to the on-line database.

The problem occurs when a user disagrees with that returned from the
database (e.g. if someone supplied incorrect information). The client
tool should presumably allow the user to not accept this choice, enter
their own values, generate a new fdi and then what?

Well, some kind of scoring system on the server side probably helps to
separate wheat from chaff.

But anyway, the point is, this would save the user from ever having to
deal with vendor/product IDs and the like and hopefully be an efficient
way to build a large database quickly.

Cheers,
Owen



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