Auto PAD Submit
February242007Changes in version 2.2.0.1
- Added ability to skip domains
- Adds the ability to designate as many domain names as blacklisted. Submissions from these domains are simply skipped over.
- Submission errors saved
- this version offers better control over URLs that create submission errors.
- Optimized to run smoother
- Added ability to delete items from list while running.
- Fixed several bugs and improved program flow.
- you know, the usual improvements...
One of the toughest parts of starting a decent software site is having enough content and the ability to consistantly grow. A few services out there can sell you a fully populated database, but I feel that they are cost-prohibitive and offer no promise of continued growth. Now, considering that the list of PAD XML is free - you should be able to get a pretty good site by listing a few select categories (for example, make an iPod software site). The sad truth is, it would take a very long time to import even a hundred PAD XML files manually (at first, this is what I tried - and trust me you don't want to go there, let my program do the tedious work for you).
The Power of Programming
"Auto PAD Submit" was written specifically to populate a PADKit enabled website databases. It programmatically goes through a list of PAD file URLs, automatically submitting them to your PADKit website.
The program is written so that each window is given its own thread. Due to the latency for each submission, a large list would process much faster if broken down into smaller files; you can use the program's "Split File" function to break large files into as many smaller files as you want. Depending on your internet connection and possibly your webserver bandwidth, you could import from well over 30 windows at a time. Read more on how to prepare your PADKit website in How To....
This program was the only tool used to initially populate our http://betterwindowssoftware.com site. See for yourself how many programs we have listed today. We initially imported over 25,000 titles in the first couple days. After several months of having our site online, we now have over 40,000 titles listed (there are some duplicates due to sneaky developers changing their program title, or company name).
Occasionally a PAD file fails to import because it doesn't match a category. If a category is not detected in a processing PAD file, the program gives you the option to either pause processing, or move that PAD file's address to a separate list for later processing. Specific validation errors will not stop the flow of the program, but rather move the failed PAD URL to a list to be processed later (configurable values, examples: "The webpage cannot be found", "Internet Explorer Cannot Find", "Transmit Problem", ...).
Depending on your internet connection and available bandwidth, you may first want to hack some of the code in your site so that submissions are quicker. An obvious thing to turn off for importing would be any site graphics or stylesheets. Other things that you may want to remove would be any links that bring up banner ads. Of course, you should shut down your site before you make any of these changes. Having said that, there is no real reason to shut down your site while you are running the "Auto PAD Submit" program.
Free 15 days of Submissions / $25 for Unlimited Registration
This program is free to try as many submissions as you want for 15 days.If you like this product and how easy it makes getting PAD files imported into your PADKit enabled website, you should consider purchasing the unlimited registration for this program for only $25.
Repository Scrape
This program scrapes the results of XML files directly from the repository search page and saves this as a text file.
If you didn't already know, there is a database of PAD XML which outputs search results in a web page: Association of Shareware Professionals: PAD Repository. Our website has a similar service BetterWindowsSoftware New PAD Files - which sets a cookie for "date of last query" in order to minimize repeated imports. Both of these repositories are integrated into the program so that you can get fresh lists of PAD URLs. Registered users of this program could simply import from the monthly email updates that we create (filtered for your needs).
These lists can sometimes be very large. To import quicker, you should use the program's "Split File" function.
Even if you already have your own way to import large lists of PAD files, you may still value our monthly email of new PAD files for the same one-time $25 fee.
I love the "Undo Close Tab" option - it is pure genius!!
