[wp-hackers] Summer of Code: Plugin Installation from Web Interface [Mid-term update]

[DD32]

Evening Folks,

As some of you are aware, I've partaken in Googles summer of code again
this year, Writing up a plugin installer to allow you to install a plugin
directly from the Web Admin of WordPress.
Initially, It was hoped it could be put in 2.6, But as deadlines drew
close, It's been decided to push it back to 2.7 (2.6 Is out in a week, So
i hope i can get it in early in the trunk cycle).
So far, 90% of functionality *appears* to be working, Until its working
off a Live API Service (Its currently using a local database - which
search indexes of appear to be dodgy) I'll not know for sure how its
search results are like.

Working:
   * Search by Term/Tag/Author: Wording is still yet to be decided upon, I
like those 3 options, But some peopel find "Term" confusing.
   * View more info about a plugin
   * Installing plugins from the more info dialogue
   *

Not working:
   * Live API (currently running on localhost) - But the code is mostly
there, Just needs to be uploaded to api.wordpress.org, This is the main
reason i've not released much code yet, Its impossible to test the code
when theres no API for it to use available.

Needs work:
   * Styling
   * Wording & Grammer/Spelling(most likely)
   * Error conditions where the installation should abort, Or where the
plugin doesnt support the wordpress version


Theres a progress video available here:
http://dd32.id.au/2008/07/06/progress-video/ The Flash streaming video is
kinda shoddy quality ( Couldnt find any hosts that take high res data),
but the attached 3.7MB file is of good quality - Note that some styling
has changed since that video.

Progress can be followed via http://dd32.id.au/2008/?tag=gsoc

Cheers
DD32 / Dion