Splash Screen Strategy

[Sarah Reichelt]

> I am using the "splash screen" Architecture for deploying an app. The
> splash screen stack checks for updates and then launches the "Main"
> stack.  This part is all based on Chip's "altSplash" engine.
>
> I want the "Main" stack to manage installing additional stacks and or
> files.  My current strategy is to load those additional stacks and
> files into custom props in the Main stack.  Then when a new version
> of the main stack is downloaded it will spit out all of the stacks
> and files that are loaded into it's custom functions into the
> appropriate places.
>
> I thought that this would be easier then managing multiple downloads
> from the internet for each additional stack and or file.
>
> I am interested in hearing some opinions about this strategy. Does it
> make sense to do it this way?

I would say that the answer depends entirely on how often you plan to
update and how much needs updating each time. However I would
recommend keeping the files separate.

I have a splash-screen program with about 20 sub-stacks, some of which
get updated quite frequently. If I did it in one file, that would be
about 2MB each time, whereas doing it individually means that
sometimes the downloads are only a few K, depending on which stack has
been updated. Some of the stacks are updated frequently and others
have never been updated, so I wouldn't want to ask for the whole thing
to be downloaded after every change.

Cheers,
Sarah