PADmap : Java Glossary

I love PADmaps. If you write software you must create PAD (Portable Application Description) files to describe them. You then must individually submit them to hundreds of PAD submission sites, a tedious job, or you must use a PAD Submission program which usually costs money. The advantage of PADmaps, is when you embed the PADmap code in your PAD files, you only have to submit one of your creations, and the PAD site automatically learns about all of them. Unfortunately, not all padsites support PADmaps, so for them, you must submit each creation individually.

Another advantage of PADmaps is there is no question of whether you must resubmit or whether you must not resubmit when you issue a new version of your program. Submission is a one time thing. The PADsites have all they need to know to rapidly discover new PAD s, changed PADs and discontinued PAD s.

Note the spelling: PADmaps not PADMaps or PADMAPs.

PADmaps have replaced the older, more verbose, less-easy-to-update PADRING scheme.

Unfortunately, none of the PAD editors set up PADmaps for you. You must do it manually with a text or XML (extensible Markup Language) editor. It is probably easiest to understand by looking at one of my PAD files e.g. http://mindprod.com/pad/csv.xml and at my complete list of PAD-described creations at http://mindprod.com/pad/allpads.txt. You need to create an allpads.txt file like mine and link it in each of your PAD file with a section that looks something like this, customised for your website:

It is XML, so order of the sections does not matter, but it is probably best to put it at the end just before the </XML_DIZ_INFO>.

In the lists of PADsites I have compiled, I mark sites with PADmaps if they support PADmaps. First submit to the hassle-free sites with the automated mini PAD submitter, then do ones that support PADMaps, then do the ones in the top 10.

If you use PADmaps, either as a PADSite or a developer, put that green PADmaps logo on your site both let people know you are making PAD submission convenient for others, and to help spread the word. Developers love PADmaps because they save so much work. They will encourage submissions, especially from developers with a large catalog.