The Packal Workflow

Developed in conjunction with Packal.org is a Workflow that interfaces with Packal to update the Workflows that you have downloaded from Packal.org. It also provides opt-out reporting statistics about what workflows you have installed whether enabled or disabled. These statistics will be shown to the Workflow authors themselves and will provide the data that will support a "popular" Workflows section on Packal.org itself.

The updating mechanism queries Packal.org for potential updates. If there are any available, then you have the option to update ones individually or all of them. Migration of hotkeys and keywords is done along with stripping out "default" settings in the same manner that Alfred2 does when you update a Workflow. Also, all updates are code-signed to ensure that the new files haven't been tampered with. If you contribute Workflows to Packal.org, then the Workflow will not try to update your own work on your computer. You will have the option to have the Packal Workflow take control of the updates of any of the Workflows that you already have installed (providing that they are on Packal.org), and you will be able to "blacklist" any Workflows that you don't want updated through Packal.

Since themes are handled through a different mechanism, and since they pretty much come "as-is," updates won't be available for themes.

Since the setup for the Workflow needs so much data, it has its own GUI to make things easier to interact with. However, once you have set everything up, you will be able to update the Workflows without needing the GUI.

The Workflow is 90% complete, and a beta will be released as soon as the last critical bugs have been worked out. Below are a few screenshots of the GUI, just to pique your interest.

Stay Tuned.