EDIT: just made you a member of the Code Team already

1) will the naming  convention remain the same, with underscores etc.

2) I noticed on you naming convention thread that versions were using the "." convention (IE 6.08.2 etc), but some of the "704" releases have an extra digit, eg 7041, I will summize the extra digit is something like an update or bugfix  after the main release etc. Am I correct?

Regards

Les

I have so far:

1) created the GUI.
2) Provided an output window which lists all the found DP`s automatically, along with filesizes and versions.

To Do:

A)Hook up the compressor and get it to scan for *.inf`s for output to another column in the output window with   totals for each pack

(This seems like a good idea to me at the moment so we can verify the output file totals to the originals for errors, but if you think it is superfluous tell me and I`ll drop it ok)

B) Extract the VID`s etc from the packs and complie into index

C) Get the transforms code from bashrat and hook that in

D)  Redirect the paths in the index to the CD ready for burning

At this stage I plan to test it for conformity and then release it for beta testing (after testing it myself of course)

While that is going on I am planning further sprucing it up by working on the following (among other things):

E) Integrate the update feature into the GUI

F) Tightening up the code

G) Maybe providing an output window as mentioned earlier (vendor, model, version etc) If people want such a thing

BTW The AI help file I printed out was nearly 800 pages! YAY - good job I`m a bookworm

There goes another 6m leptons! (he he)

Overflow. If you would care to be a bit more specific with your ini pack query, I may be able to work on it ok

Bashrat, I cannot find an your email address, can you please email the transforms code to me at les95@hotmail.com (you may have done this already but I can`t see it amongst my mail)

Thank you

And yes I would like the HW transforms code if you would be so kind, you can send it to les95@hotmail.com
cheers

Since you haven't mailed me, I suppose you don't need/want my "HWID transform" function?

A DP update/comparision function will be builtin along with a download function

apart form the obvious is there any function anyone would like to see on this GUI?

for example output options for various file formats (.xls?)

I am thinking about providing a tabbed area in the GUI for output results for the different packs to provide info such as Vendor, model, version, release date, OS etc along with a save function for each/all etc. Would this be worth providing?

Les

Thanks for the feedback guys, Ive looked at the perl script and it may be useful to us but as Bashrat is using Autoit I may use that instead for integration, compatability and continuity issues.

My brain is in super persuit mode now! in the time it took me to write this sentence I burnt 6m leptons!! (he he)

Will keep you posted with progress reports ok

Remember to e-mail me when you need that "HWID transform" function of mine, so you don't have to write it again (Only PCI/ is supported by it, but that's at least SOME code you don't have to write then. You'd still have to extend it to support USB/, ACPI/, etcetera. But they're all similar so that'd be drop dead easy.

My brain is in super persuit mode now! in the time it took me to write this sentence I burnt 6m leptons!! (he he)

Will keep you posted with progress reports ok

#/usr/bin/perl

use Data::Dumper;
use File::Find;
use CGI qw(:standard);

my $q = new CGI();

$| = 1;

my $ROOT = 'C:/dev/infs';
my $DEBUG = $q->param('debug');

#
# Find all .INF within $ROOT subdir
#
my @FILES = ();
sub wanted { push @FILES ,$File::Find::name if $File::Find::name =~ /\.inf$/i; }

if ($q->param('subdir') eq 'no') { @FILES = glob("$ROOT/*.inf"); } 
else { find(\&wanted, $ROOT);}

my %INI = ();
my $regex = qr/^\[([^\]]+)]+\s*?\n    # [Section Header]
               (.*?)\n         # Section body
               (?=^\[|\Z)      # [Next Section Header or EOF]
              /xsm;            # multiline support

my $regex2 = qr/^([^=]+)=([^\n]+)\n/xsm;   # key=value
 
foreach my $i (@FILES) {

   printf "\nParsing $i...\n" ; #if $DEBUG;
   local $/ = undef;                       # \n treated as normal char
   open (FOO, "<$i") || die $!;
   $_ = <FOO>;
   close(FOO);

   %INI=();
   $INI{"\U$1\E"}{tmp} = $2 while /$regex/g;

   foreach my $key (sort keys %INI) {
   	  print "KEY = [$key] :\n" if $DEBUG;
   	  #1 while $INI{$key}{tmp} =~ s/\"//g;         # wipe out quotes
   	  1 while $INI{$key}{tmp} =~ s/\;.*//g;       # wipe out comments
   	  1 while $INI{$key}{tmp} =~ s/^\n$//gxsm;    # wipe out empty lines 
   	  %temp = ();
   	  $temp{$key}{$1} = $2 while $INI{$key}{tmp} =~ /$regex2/g;
   	  while(my($k, $v) = each %{$temp{$key}}) {
   	     $k =~ s/^\s+//; $k =~ s/\s+$//;
   	     $v =~ s/^\s+//; $v =~ s/\s+$//;
   	     $INI{$key}{$k} = $v;
   	     print "  $k => $v\n" if $DEBUG == 2;
   	  }
      delete $INI{$key}{tmp};
   }

   #[Version]
   #Provider=%CANON%   --+
   #[Strings]            |--> Provider = "Canon" (=Manufacturer)
   #CANON="Canon"     <--+

   #[Manufacturer]
   # "Canon" = Canon,NTx86.5.1 									=> change to Canon.NTx86.5.1 for [Canon.NTx86.5.1]
   #[Canon.NTx86.5.1]
   #"Canon S9000" = CNMS9000XP, LPTENUM\CanonS9000EEDB, Canon_S9000
   map { $INI{MANUFACTURER}{$_} =~ s/,/\./ } keys %{$INI{MANUFACTURER}};
   
   $provider="";
   
   if ($INI{VERSION}{Provider} =~ /%(\S+)%/) {    # $1 = CANON
      if (exists $INI{STRINGS}{$1} ) {            # => "Canon"
         $provider = $INI{STRINGS}{$1};
         print "Strings [$1] = $provider\n" if $DEBUG;
      }
      elsif (exists $INI{MANUFACTURER}{$1}) {
      	$provider = $INI{MANUFACTURER}{$1};
      }
   }
   else { $provider = $INI{VERSION}{Provider}; }
   
   print "PROVIDER : $INI{VERSION}{Provider} => $provider\n" if $DEBUG;
   ($manufacturer) = values %{$INI{MANUFACTURER}};                 # Canon.NTx86.5.1 => CANON.NTX86.5.1
   print "MANUFACTURER : $manufacturer\n" if $DEBUG;
   print "CLASS : $INI{VERSION}{Class}\n" if $DEBUG;
   
   if (exists $INI{ uc $manufacturer }) {
   	  print "DEVICES : ", Dumper \%{$INI{ uc $manufacturer }} if $DEBUG;
      map { $dev = (( /^%(.*)%$/ ) ? $INI{STRINGS}{$1} : $_) ;        #  %MN130.DeviceDesc% => "Microsoft(R) PCI Adapter MN-130"
      	    printf "%10s\t%10s\t%15s\t%20s\t%20s\n", 
   	               $provider, 
   	               $INI{VERSION}{Class},
   	               $INI{VERSION}{CatalogFile}, 
   	               $INI{VERSION}{DriverVer}, 
   	               $dev;
       } sort keys %{$INI{ uc $manufacturer }};
   }
}

1/ Install ActivePerl : http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/

2/ Run it (ouputs html) :
perl parse_ini.pl infroot=c:\my_inf_files > index.html

3/ it's "out of the box", so not perfect.

also my guess was a little off 1.7 Gig uncompressed  about 500 cabbed and  310  7-Zip format (method 2).
so it also is a disk space pickup!

an easier way would be to have the drivers setup method 1 style on a cd/dvd - if desiredyou may use oempnp path pointing to the cd/dvd but probably not needed since the cd/dvd will be searched anyway by new hardware wizard.

then drivers would only be copied to disk if "new hardware found" installatin wizard found them on the cd/dvd.

in the post below SKIP the batch files and just Copy the OEM\$1\D folder from the slipstreamed source to a CDRW

IE run the install "method one" to a temp windows install folder then copy only the "\d\" driver folders to your cd/dvd. Probably will have to be a dvd as in this format the driverpacks are around 600 meg.
                 
full directions here for making a disk that DOES copy drivers from this cd to windows
(you dont have to run [or even create] the Batch files)
http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?id=960

The method suggested by les (and of which I have thought myself too already, of course, but "just" haven't implemented yet) would be faster in 2 ways:
1) By using an index, it will find the correct driver faster than Windows itself. (Note that windows caches parsed driver .inf's! See the INFCACHE.1 files. But we're creating an index, which can be used right away, which is obviously faster.)
2) By using that index, we can selectively extract files. This is the main benefit: now we have to decompress less drivers (decompressing = CPU intensive) and hence we only have to write a fraction of the normal amount of files to the HDD (writing the files = HDD intensive).

@les: the DriverPacks BASE and the Finisher were written in AutoIt. But of course, since you'd be writing it, you're free to use the language you'd like to use. No Java or C# though please, since they have too specific requirements for the program to be useful at all stages.
And by the way, I already have the code that transforms HWIDs into their "different levels of precision" (I think you know what I mean), it's in use by the Finisher, and thus it's written in AutoIt.

then drivers would only be copied to disk if "new hardware found" installatin wizard found them on the cd/dvd.

in the post below SKIP the batch files and just Copy the OEM\$1\D folder from the slipstreamed source to a CDRW

IE run the install "method one" to a temp windows install folder then copy only the "\d\" driver folders to your cd/dvd. Probably will have to be a dvd as in this format the driverpacks are around 600 meg.
                 
full directions here for making a disk that DOES copy drivers from this cd to windows
(you dont have to run [or even create] the Batch files)
http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?id=960

Only thing that remains to decide is which PL do I use? any suggestions anyone?

Well that depends on what lang you're comfortable with.