Seeking an opinion on a program I wrote...


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Mods: if this should go in programming, could you please move it for me? Since it was for FireFox, I wasn't sure where it should go...

I'm writing a program in VB.Net 2005 (trying to learn the language for work) to manage my FireFox profiles. I know, there's probably already a tool out there that does EXACTLY what mine does, but I wanted the experience (and joy!) of writing my own program.

Here's the screenshot:

post-4902-1165717007.jpg

I know, the UI is rubbish. I'm not to skilled in design and layout, but it's functional for me. The bottom dark band is the status control that displays the various statuses during use. The screenshot above is the UI if you have "Use Date/Time for filename" selected. Here's what you get if you don't:

post-4902-1165717039.jpg

And finally, here's what you get on the "Restore" tab:

post-4902-1165717078.jpg

Overall, what do you guys think? This doesn't make any changes to your profile...I'm still thinking whether or not I want that on another tab (something like "clean profile"). It makes a copy to a temporary folder, does the operations you choose and then uses 7-zip to create an archive of your profile, then cleans up after itself by deleting the temporary folder it created.

It does accept a command-line, "-qb". After you've saved your settings, you can use "-qb" to do a silent backup using your saved settings. Works great for a scheduled task!

Requires the .NET Framework 2.0...I know, it's big, but I have to learn it for work, so that's why I chose it.

Constructive criticism is VERY MUCH appreciated!

By the way, I have e-mailed FOOOD about permission to use his icon...if I don't receive it, don't worry...it'll be removed from the program.

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Well personally speaking, I can't tell much about a program with just looking at screenshots. That concept works for Microsoft, not for me. If you could post it so we could try it out, we could give you a better opinion on your little program.

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I know it's very limited, and hard to make an opinion by looking at screenshots...but I can't post it for download until I get permission to use FOOOD's icon (with full credits, of course).

This is very, very alpha. Since Vista puts things in a different location, I'm nearly certain it won't work on Vista (haven't ported it yet to check for Vista and make the necessary adjustments), so give me time to get that sorted out.

Other than that, it does what you see in the screenshots. It copies the default profile in your "%systemdrive%\documents and settings\%username%\application data\mozilla\firefox\profiles" to a temporary folder in your "%temp%" path, does the modifications if you chose any (remove skins, extensions, cookies, etc.), then saves it to a 7-zip package in the folder you chose, using the filename you chose, unless you told it to use the current date as the filename (good for using this as a scheduled task for backups).

Very, very simple...and very, very crude...but it does work for me. I'll post an alpha once I hear from FOOOD.

Edit: Oh, forgot to thank everybody for the comments! Keep 'em coming!

Edited by Kasandoro
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  • 3 weeks later...

Alright, after a LONG time for the holidays (I was on vacation out of state), I have gotten this to a usable state. It's still ALPHA...not sure if it'll ever be anything more.

I did receive permission from FOOOD to use his wonderful icon for this application, so Thanks FOOOD!!!

Use it if you like it, don't if you don't.

I would like some further constructive criticism, however, as I'm still learning VB.Net 2005 for work. This is working for Windows Vista at this point, so try it out!

Still only works for the first profile found, so if you're using multiple FireFox profiles, you'll probably only get a backup of the first one in the folder.

Requires .Net 2.0 and 7-zip installed in its default location (%programfiles%\7-zip)

Thanks!

setup.zip

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