Ketarin re-tooling

[Omniferum]

Ketarin is a brilliant program, it saves me a lot of heartache and checking. Plus if there is a problem it is a simple fix, so kudos.

 

The only other program I know i've been wanting for a while is a website update checker. Something to basically go "Oh look, this page (or this specific part of a page) has updated! I shall notify the user and give him a pop-up so he can open all pages changed since last check"

 

I've recently discovered Update Scanner for Firefox but it is not ideal as it obviously requires firefox to run at all times and I maintain quite a few computers, some that run chrome/i.e.

 

Ketarin can now scrape the page and return results, brilliant. Can even execute code to go "This page is different! I'll load your default program"

 

Only trouble with that is Ketarin doesn't have a scheduler and some pages are updated with minor things like a RSS stream vs. main content. To use variables to check for changes would require checking that variables previous value (something i'm not sure Ketarin does already, never tried the feature). You could specify after what part do you want changed with regex or textual content.

 

On the note of textual content hxxp://users.telenet.be/littlegems/MySoft/WebVersions/Index.html is a program that automatically finds the optimal textual content if you just highlight what you want and it will fill in the before and after easily. Perhaps something you are interested in?

 

 

Ketarin is already more than halfway there really, and what i'm aiming it is infinitely simpler than Ketarin's current purpose.

 

Download site initially, download it every user defined period

Check new vs. old, does it meet the character threshold for notifying? (just to stop minor changes like number of visitors)

Popup if it does and allow a one click box to open all that has changed in whatever is set as the default browser (or allow a manual entry field).

 

It does not SEEM too extreme a change and doesn't actually have to be a separate program. But i'm sure if you did it as one would be just as popular as Ketarin. Shit most of the web users are just people checking pages they already like for updates. If it were browser independent and as portable as Ketarin is now then it would be an easy winner.

 

Christ i'd happily fund this extension myself to be perfectly honest. It is the last thing i'd need to really allow myself to be away from my computer without worrying and constantly checking everything.

[Tomorrow]

Hmm.Intresting idea.Shouldn´t this be in Feature Requests tho?

 

I use Firefox and Update Scanner daily so i know exactly what you mean.

How about using RSS on these other computers?.I mean yeah it´s not ideal either but still.

Or maybe ask Update Scanner developer to make the code opensource or to make a standalone app?

 

My main problem with this is that if this feature were integrated fully into Ketarin then how do i distinguish between apps and websites?.They can be sorted yes but it would still be a mess imo.

[floele]

1. Do you know this? http://www.btinternet.com/~markwell/webmon/ I've used it myself for quite a long time.

2. If you use a "variable as indicator for changes", you can monitor specific parts of the website. Not much of a problem for Ketarin.

[Omniferum]

At first glance it seems to be exactly what is necessary. Only real problem I have with it isn't very portable. It is also a little finicky for me. For example you can specify where to start/stop monitoring changes but it would be easier if it just had a character limit.

 

Aside from not being portable, it stores/reads its .dat file from %appdata% and that i'd have to manually rummage through each page's code instead of applying a threshold it works fine.

 

I just can't use it because it isn't portable, I swap too often between my desktop/laptop and my other desktop and when I travel internationally I use it on work computers etc. etc.

 

Portable is a BIG part o' my life

 

Now i'm just wondering if perhaps there is a way to do a lotta batch code for Ketarin and perhaps a text... eh, no that would just be a massive patch job.

 

If you don't have much interest in doing it floele I understand, it just doesn't seem to be too much beyond the current abilities of Ketarin to achieve is all.

[floele]

So are you only missing a scheduler as far as I can see?

[shawn]

I think this would be great, especially now that Google Reader has abandoned webpage monitoring. I think Omni is more after forking Ketarin to provide this functionality as an alternative tool, not doing this (webpage monitoring) in the core Ketarin. I know I would keep them separate in every way, even with the portability - they just don't belong in the same app.

 

I've not used WebMon, but I'll check it out.

[Omniferum]

Well yes my initial suggestion was more for a re-tooling, not to fork it. I just wanted to point out that it isn't so different that it could even just be a slightly tweaked "Add application" button really.

 

It would be better if it was just Ketarin dumbed down for webpages, call it Ketamon with these features.

 

What is essentially missing for it to be Webmon (but better):

 

Scheduler

Limited character change identification (more of a preference for simplification but this isn't essential)

Pop up notification that goes "click here to open all found updated webpages with your desired program"

 

Now I know ALL THREE of those things could be handled by external applications. But by then it would become somewhat a pain in the ass. However if you ahve no interest in doing that it is most likely what i'm going to end up doing.

[floele]

Ketamon! I like that

 

Well, I believe that - since Ketarin is getting more and more flexible anyway - adding these features is certainly possible. You won't get them all tomorrow, but I will look into it.

[andreone]

About monitoring a web page, do you know http://page2rss.com?

I use it associated with google reader. Very handy.