Beta Testers Needed: NetDiagX

[SpaceMagic]

Hey all,

Just put the finishing touches to this build of my network app. If you can remember as far back as 18 months ago, this is a remake of my old app - hopefully much improved.

It's only a 1.2mb download and all I want you to do is just SAY what's wrong with the app and what features you'd like to see in a Network app. Remember this is just a development version, I've given it to a few people before now, but I want you MacRumors friends to check it out!

So ANYTHING at all, say here on this thread! Thanks

SpaceMagic Website - Download here.

UPDATE 4/09/05: Version 0.1.2 now available. Thanks to MR members..

Version History:

Version 0.1.2 - MacRumors Internal
• Added "Open..." in the File menu
• Grow button now shrinks/grows between mini and main window c.f. iTunes. Requested by: HexMonkey, Mkrishnan.
• Airport Base stations should work.

Version 0.1.1 - MacRumors bug fixes
• Renamed 'Preferences" menu item to "Preferences..." to indicate new window.
• Removed resizable options in the Preference window and About Box.
• Improved the spacing between controls, realigned some text.
• Bonjour browser now easier to read. Alternating colours c.f. iTunes.
• Made the green font colour to something a little darker, which is easier to read.
• Now automatically detects router name and address on first run.
• Other spelling and grammar corrections
• About box now thanks MacRumors members

Version 0.1 - Initial MacRumors build

 

[mduser63]

Works fine on the PowerBook in my sig running 10.4.2. Pretty handy little app, I think I'll keep it around . You might add a "Configure Router" button that opens up a browser with the router's IP address pre-entered. Also, I think it'd be good if you made it so that the app can automatically determine the router's IP address without the user having to manually enter it in Preferences.

 

[edesignuk]

I've set my routers IP in prefs but is comes up with a little red x.

The computer connects to an AirPort Extreme though ethernet via a hub, I can ping the router from this machine.

 

[SpaceMagic]

Two perfect replies.. this is just what I want! Constructive coments.

mduser - will look into auto determing router.

edesign - APEX is your airport express? And you can connect to it via your ethernet hub? And you can ping it using, say, terminal. Hmm... I'll mimic the set up here and look at my code.

Thanks guys,

Hopefully see more feedback to come...

 

[G5Unit]

Posting this from a PC. I can't wait to use it!

 

[SpaceMagic]

Posting this from a PC. I can't wait to use it!

OK - calm down it's only simple! I want it to become something special though. So do download it .

 

[HexMonkey]

It's looking good! I've come up with a list of possible improvements, mostly interface issues, plus a few bug reports and feature requests, so check your PMs (I won't bore everyone with the details).

 

[superbovine]

I'd suggest you look into some software call filestorm. It nicely bundles software packages in a dmg which you can set the background etc. also, it lets but a license agreement in, and several features concerning the size of the dmg. it is quite cheap $20.

http://www.mindvision.com/filestorm.asp

In the overview tab, the alignment doesn't feel right, and the font size is a bit large for me. the ":" should be aligned from top to bottom then everything to the right of that left justfied from the colon. i would also change the green yes, to a green ball similar to ichat.

In the Bonjour Browser, i would make the font size smaller and alternate the color with each line with blue and white, or perhaps a light grey and white.

perhaps some more verbose help in the application would hurt as well. i didn't test out the e-mail functions though.

just my two cents.

 

[SpaceMagic]

I'd suggest you look into some software call filestorm. It nicely bundles software packages in a dmg which you can set the background etc. also, it lets but a license agreement in, and several features concerning the size of the dmg. it is quite cheap $20.

http://www.mindvision.com/filestorm.asp

In the overview tab, the alignment doesn't feel right, and the font size is a bit large for me. the ":" should be aligned from top to bottom then everything to the right of that left justfied from the colon. i would also change the green yes, to a green ball similar to ichat.

In the Bonjour Browser, i would make the font size smaller and alternate the color with each line with blue and white, or perhaps a light grey and white.

perhaps some more verbose help in the application would hurt as well. i didn't test out the e-mail functions though.

just my two cents.

Unfortunately the build size of this app is quite big (I'm using realbasic! - could be the answer ) so tar.gz compresses it best. I may choose .dmg in the end as OS X's handling of it is good. For these dev builds, I'll stick with tar.gz as all Tiger machines can open them (and perhaps Panther.. I can't remember).

Thats two comments about the alternating colours in the Bonjour browser - I'll be impleamenting that right now!

Thanks to everyone so far, I'm now hard at work (before my real job starts at 11am) in fixing these bugs/features.

Cheers,

SpaceMagic

 

[edesignuk]

edesign - APEX is your airport express? And you can connect to it via your ethernet hub? And you can ping it using, say, terminal. Hmm... I'll mimic the set up here and look at my code.

APEX is the name of my AirPort Extreme.

My Network is like this:

Cable Modem -> AirPort -> Hub -> iMac (all over ethernet).

And yes, I can ping APEX @ 192.168.1.1 through the terminal.

 

[mkrishnan]

Hi SM, nice work so far.

I have an experience is similar to edesign's -- my setup is

Cable Modem -> AEBS -> iBook (WiFi)

After I enter the router information in, it sort of hangs -- doesn't crash, but the progress wheel never stops spinning, and it never provides anything next to "Connection to AEBS" in the problem finder side of the window. Oddly, your program itself can see this AEBS and identify it's IP in the Bonjour tab.

Also, I noticed that if I turn my airport off, so that I am not on any network, the progress meter also never seems to stop -- if I set the auto-re-scan prefs setting, it will retain the now defunct IP address and "Internet Available = Yes." But if I start with the AE card off and turn it on while it's running, it will correctly re-scan the IP address and presence of a connection, and indicate both.

I don't know to what extent both of those are by virtue of limited feature implementation at this point in your building, or by virtue of some idiosyncratic aspect of my setup and your program, so I'm not sure how much they help?

Do you plan on using the Bonjour browser to include things like printers? I will try the bonjour browser at school, where I can see more than just my router and USB printer via Bonjour, and tell you what I see.

 

[SpaceMagic]

Hi SM, nice work so far.

I have an experience is similar to edesign's -- my setup is

Cable Modem -> AEBS -> iBook (WiFi)

After I enter the router information in, it sort of hangs -- doesn't crash, but the progress wheel never stops spinning, and it never provides anything next to "Connection to AEBS" in the problem finder side of the window. Oddly, your program itself can see this AEBS and identify it's IP in the Bonjour tab.

Hmm... anyone else thinking it may be Airport routers ... I don't have my Extreme anymore, since i didn't need it - I'll have a good look into it!

Also, I noticed that if I turn my airport off, so that I am not on any network, the progress meter also never seems to stop -- if I set the auto-re-scan prefs setting, it will retain the now defunct IP address and "Internet Available = Yes." But if I start with the AE card off and turn it on while it's running, it will correctly re-scan the IP address and presence of a connection, and indicate both.

I don't know to what extent both of those are by virtue of limited feature implementation at this point in your building, or by virtue of some idiosyncratic aspect of my setup and your program, so I'm not sure how much they help?

No! All info is a great help! Thank you!

Do you plan on using the Bonjour browser to include things like printers? I will try the bonjour browser at school, where I can see more than just my router and USB printer via Bonjour, and tell you what I see.

I was thinking of allowing users to add their own Bonjour services, currently its just a list I've implemented. So you'd like more services.. ok.. I'll add a huge list which can be found on the net... then i'll also let users add their own services later on.

Thanks Mkrishnan - tell me how it goes at school !

 

[mkrishnan]

Hmm... anyone else thinking it may be Airport routers ... I don't have my Extreme anymore, since i didn't need it - I'll have a good look into it!

The thought had definitely crossed my mind... it may be a service that you are using, to which the router does not respond because it is viewed as invasive...the Airports tend to be very private about giving out information, except through the admin utility, and through Bonjour, to other devices. But I thought it was strange that you could see it via Bonjour but not whatever you're doing to assess whether the router connection is okay.

BTW, what *are* you doing to assess if the router connection is okay? Is it something similar to what the Network Diagnostic tool does, or is it very different?

And actually, I wouldn't say I'm hugely in need of a lot more items in the Bonjour browser, unless it was something that did more for me than the printer dialog does at the moment in terms of picking out the right printer. Printing is really pretty much the only thing I personally use Bonjour for. Although if there were more mac users around, I might do some kind of ad-hoc connection stuff with it too.

Actually...what would help beta testers, I think, is if you sort of said what your vision of what this program should accomplish is, again? I loosely remember from when you announced that you were starting the project, but now that I think about it, I am not so sure.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

nice app. No bugs to speak of yet, hopefully i wont find too many

 

[iMeowbot]

My router (wired) is showing up fine.

The Bonjour browser is showing two copies of every service on the local machine. Remote services are appearing normally (once each).

 

[SpaceMagic]

My router (wired) is showing up fine.

The Bonjour browser is showing two copies of every service on the local machine. Remote services are appearing normally (once each).

This is because you have two active connections. e.g. Airport and Ethernet. Bonjour has a service on each connection. I can't change this... unless you really want me to?

 

[SpaceMagic]

Ok people! New version!

UPDATE 4/09/05: Version 0.1.1 now available. Thanks to MR members..

Version History:

Version 0.1.1 - MacRumors bug fixes
• Renamed 'Preferences" menu item to "Preferences..." to indicate new window.
• Removed resizable options in the Preference window and About Box.
• Improved the spacing between controls, realigned some text.
• Bonjour browser now easier to read. Alternating colours c.f. iTunes.
• Made the green font colour to something a little darker, which is easier to read.
• Now automatically detects router name and address on first run.
• Other spelling and grammar corrections
• About box now thanks MacRumors members

Version 0.1 - Initial MacRumors build

Still loads missing though. Like:

Icon goes black below 32x32.
Icon in About Box isn't transparent.
Airport base stations are proving a pain - they may work in this version, but i doubt it.



Mkrishnan - vision for this app is to make something people want and need. So basically anything to do with networking i'm going to try and do. So, do you want anything?

 

[iMeowbot]

This is because you have two active connections. e.g. Airport and Ethernet. Bonjour has a service on each connection. I can't change this... unless you really want me to?

There's only a single Ethernet connection.

 

[Billicus]

Hi,

I also had a look at NetDiagX, and I just have a few comments as well. First, I noticed that after I did a lookup in the Bonjour Browser that the scroll bar at the right hand side of the screen did not appear until I pressed the down arrow to select an item farther down the list. It would be better to have the scroll bar appear right after the Lookup was completed if there are too many items to display

Also, I would like to be able to resize the window so that I could see more Bonjour items, etc.

Finally, I'm not sure what the File -> Open... Command is intended to do, but it does nothing on my system at least.

Otherwise you're off to a great start,

Billicus

 

[mkrishnan]

Nice continued work! A couple of comments:

- Is it possible to map the green (Zoom) ball to changing between the mini and normal interfaces? This would be very nice -- it's what iTunes also does.

- The alternating colors style is a nice add to the Bonjour page.

- The default router on first usage occurred for me, only if I searched for and deleted the prefs file. And now it doesn't hang, but it claims it cannot connect with my AEBS (red X). It does use the right IP address, too.

- Just out of curiosity, why do you use a text prefs file instead of a .plist? If you use a plist, don't you have the benefit of a lot of API prefs management tools?

 

[SpaceMagic]

Nice continued work! A couple of comments:

- Is it possible to map the green (Zoom) ball to changing between the mini and normal interfaces? This would be very nice -- it's what iTunes also does.

- The alternating colors style is a nice add to the Bonjour page.

- The default router on first usage occurred for me, only if I searched for and deleted the prefs file. And now it doesn't hang, but it claims it cannot connect with my AEBS (red X). It does use the right IP address, too.

- Just out of curiosity, why do you use a text prefs file instead of a .plist? If you use a plist, don't you have the benefit of a lot of API prefs management tools?

That grow/shrink thing like iTunes was asked for by HexMonkey too so looks like I'll be impliamenting that.

I could use .plist but the way i'm saving prefs at the moment is fine.. it makes an ugly prefs file but no one usually looks at theirs so it'll stay .

These AEBSs are a pain, they wont accept connections on port 80 (http) and impleamenting Ping is costly (cant do it natively with realbasic, have to buy a plugin class). Does anyone know a port open on the Airport Express/Extreme? Perhaps I should include a port scanner in this app .

 

[mkrishnan]

From *inside* my network at home, with nothing particularly set up strangely on my AEBS (WPA2 only), I see the following, by virtue of Apple's Network Utility. Hope it helps?

Port Scan has started ...

Port Scanning host: 10.0.1.1

Open TCP Port: 	53		domain
Open TCP Port: 	5009
Open TCP Port: 	10000		ndmp

 

[SpaceMagic]

lol! Great Mkrishnan! I was just gunna ask you to do that! The thing is, as this app can only be run internally, it doesn't really matter about ports being used.

Well there's a new version out! Find it back at the site NetDiagX.


Version 0.1.2 - MacRumors Internal
• Added "Open..." in the File menu
• Grow button now shrinks/grows between mini and main window c.f. iTunes. Requested by: HexMonkey, Mkrishnan.
• Airport Base stations should work.

 

[Billicus]

lol! Great Mkrishnan! I was just gunna ask you to do that! The thing is, as this app can only be run internally, it doesn't really matter about ports being used.

Well there's a new version out! Find it back at the site NetDiagX.


Version 0.1.2 - MacRumors Internal
• Added "Open..." in the File menu
• Grow button now shrinks/grows between mini and main window c.f. iTunes. Requested by: HexMonkey, Mkrishnan.
• Airport Base stations should work.

Hey Spacemagic,

I was just pointing out earlier that I didn't know what "File -> Open..." was for. It was in your previous build, but like this one it doesn't *do* anything.

I would still like to be able to expand the window instead of having a fixed size.

Keep up the good work,

Billicus

 

[SpaceMagic]

Hey Spacemagic,

I was just pointing out earlier that I didn't know what "File -> Open..." was for. It was in your previous build, but like this one it doesn't *do* anything.

I would still like to be able to expand the window instead of having a fixed size.

Keep up the good work,

Billicus

The file.. open.. works if the window has been closed (command-w or osx red x close button). I need to grey this out while the window is open, so people don't get confused.