Giveaway Manager

[FordGT90Concept]

Many of you regulars have probably heard this application mentioned in the various giveaways on this forum. I've decided to release it into the wild so everyone may use it. It is designed specifically for TechPowerUp and most of its features revolve around the many game giveaways on this forum; hence, why I'm posting it here. It will work for non-games but the autocomplete won't be helpful and a lot of fields will be blank unless you manually populate them yourself.

It is a fairly complex program so I highly recommend clicking on the "ReadMe" button and following the guide it provides for first time users.

Note: It automatically downloads applist.json for Steam data and it automatically saves everything to the same directory as itself upon close. I recommend creating a folder for it in Program Files before running it so those files are out of sight.

If you don't like the UI, you can edit the XML files it spits out directly then run the application when it is time to pick winners. The XMLs should be fairly self explanatory.


Thanks go to @rtwjunkie, @jboydgolfer, @manofthem, and @...PACMAN... for testing.

Attached is version 2.0.4:

 

[RCoon]

Looks complex but is relatively easy if you use the ReadMe.

One thing though, the Message Body field under the Private Messages doesn't seem to work - no message body is filled in when it opens the PM tab on Chrome.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

That's by design on TPU's end (consulted @W1zzard about it) but, there's a work around: when you click the button that opens the PM tab, it is copying the message to your clipboard as well as opening your default browser. All you need to do is paste it in to the message body and send it.

 

[jboydgolfer]

nice work @FordGT90Concept I appreciate You taking the time, and initiative to develop this.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

So apparently Valve isn't giving the ContentLength HTTP header on applist.json anymore so -1 makes for some weird progress progression. I fixed it by disabling the progress bar and making it say "downloaded bytes so far." I also changed the working directory to roaming appdata. This means the program will no longer make a mess of the directory it runs from and, more importantly, should no longer require administrative powers to run (Microsoft doesn't like programs writing outside of appdata). If you were having problems with the typing suggestions, hopefully the combination of these two will fix that.

If you want to keep your old data, you'll have to move it to the roaming appdata folder for this version to find it:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\GiveawayManager2

Download is in OP.

 

[W1zzard]

Try now

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Working, thanks!

 

[rtwjunkie]

So, it's an updated version now?

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Yeah, this is 2.0.3. You probably had 2.0.2. When I tried using 2.0.2, first thing I noticed is it demanded admin password. Second thing I noticed is the -1 for download size. As if that weren't enough, I noticed the suggestions from applist.json weren't working. All of those issues should be fixed in 2.0.3.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Excellent! Thanks very much!!

 

[FordGT90Concept]

2.0.4 is in the works. Changes so far:
-Giveaways tab is first instead of third. The main reasoning behind this is so that it is selected by default. Most of the activity occurs in that tab so...makes sense. Just remember to fill in the metadata for games.
-Removed the "Game Table" option under Formatting/Output. It just doesn't look good in some situations because browsers can stretch the table. I highly recommend using "Game Images on One Line" because browsers will automatically line break it where necessary.
-Added "Games w/ Entrants List" to Formatting/Output. An example of this can be seen in the OP here.

I would really like to add more options to Formatting/Output and I am open to suggestions.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Another change in the coming 2.0.4 update:
-ctrl+c, ctrl+v, ctrl+x, and delete now work for entrants and donors. This allows you to quickly copy entrant(s) from one game to another or add a second donation from a user.
-Expanded ctrl+v to include pasting text from outside of the program. For example, pasting an entrant's username.

Still looking for more ideas to put in Formatting/Output.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Just when I got the hang of it! Really, the changes sound great.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

They're mostly usability changes. The core functionality of it isn't changing.

-Added "Game Images w/ Entrants List" to Formatting/Output. I doubt anyone will use this one because it can be confusing but figured I'd add it anyway.

I think I'll push 2.0.4 out the door after I close my giveaway adding one or two more winner formatting/output options in the process.

 

[stinger608]

I see that W1zzard got ya fixed up on editing the original post?

Great deal @FordGT90Concept

 

[manofthem]

Sounds awesome @FordGT90Concept, thanks for your continued hard work!

Now all I need is a little extra fundage for games to be able to employ the utility.

 

[stinger608]

Actually when I went to fire up the program, it gave a false positive in Avast free.

I reported to Avast that it was in fact a false positive so hopefully no one else will get the virus pop up from Avast Free.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

2.0.4 added to the OP:
-Giveaways tab is first instead of third.
-ctrl+c, ctrl+v, ctrl+x, and delete now work for entrants and donors. This allows you to quickly copy entrant(s) from one game to another or add a second donation from a user.
-Expanded ctrl+v to include pasting text from outside of the program. For example, pasting an entrant's username.
-Added "Games w/ Entrants List" to Formatting/Output.
-Added "Game Images w/ Entrants List" to Formatting/Output.
-Added "Winners List" to Formatting/Output.
-Removed the "Game Table" option under Formatting/Output.