Is this important part of every open source platform has ever going to be fixed and working??

Can't get new mods "packages" to upload for install.

Please dont reply with the FTP option

While I don't use it, my understanding was it was an ftp client built into Dolphin.  FTP is as old as the internet, or almost as old, and fairly simple as internet protocols go.  Most likely there is a configuration problem somewhere.  I have no idea if this has been set up on the demo site or not for testing.

I've used it in the past, and it does seem to work, but depends on the server configuration and (most importantly) how the ZIP is packaged - most vendors don't package their stuff in a way the uploader supports.

So...  FTP option.

There is a reason for that. A couple of reasons actually.

1) The feature never worked in the past, so module developers never packed the zip files so that they worked with that feature. Which Nathan Paton just mentioned above.

2) This feature has a draw back. The feature expects only one version exist in the archive that you try to install with it. And that would be the version that is compatible with the version of dolphin your trying to install it on.

Reason 2 is the big one. Unless boonex re-designs the market to allow multiple separate versions to exist in a single market entry and to be downloaded separately based on what version of dolphin the user has, then vendors most likely will not support this feature because we the vendors do not want to abandon the older versions. Not everyone upgrades to the latest version of dolphin. And by dropping the older versions so we can support this feature means we loose out on many potential sales. We will not do that. We are not boonex. We don't just stop supporting older versions of dolphin.

 no comments on that 

OH, so I was wrong, it is not just an FTP client.  Well, maybe that is the solution, to make an FTP client where you simply connect to the local directory on your hard drive, choose the files that need to be uploaded, and then hit submit.  Of course in this case one may need to make the destination folder in the modules folder.  A special purpose FTP client designed just for module uploads and the user can choose from several versions in the same download package.

The thing is, Dolphin really is a developer's application.  Even if a person used a prepackaged installation from Softaculous, they usually have some access to some FTP client, even if it is the Java based one in cPanel.

Right. It's not just a FTP client.

The feature allows you to upload a zip file containing the module, unpacks it and install it all in one operation.

But it requires the zip file be packaged properly. Basically a zip containing just the folder in the vendors directory, not including the vendors directory.

This also means the zip file can only contain one version of the module. But because the market does not allow vendors to upload multiple versions or for the members to download what version they want, the feature is not suitable for the vendors to use. It's to restrictive.

The feature itself is not really the problem. It's the market and it's lack of multiple version support. I would be happy to repack my modules in the proper format if boonex is willing to setup the market to support the upload and download of multiple versions of modules for different versions of dolphin. But until they do this, i will not support it.

There is also another draw back. The feature requires that the module be self contained within the vendors module folder. But some modules require source changes or other manual changes be done to complete the install. This method does not allow for that, so will never reach a point where all modules in the market can be supported by this feature.

I have said it in the past and i will say it again. The feature should just be removed. I don't think it will ever reach a point where it will fully support all modules and what needs to be done to get them properly installed. That is unless boonex wants to tie the developers hands and prevent them from releasing modules that are not 100% self contained. But doing that will kill the market and cause a loss of hundreds of modules currently available.

To many people are comparing dolphin to other far less advanced scripts. Sure, we can designed modules that fit within the restrictions of a automatic install. But the module will have far fewer features. There is only so much that can be automated.

im confused about Reason 2 above 

don't really sound like a valid excuse when you have many other platforms out there that update their platforms on average around once every three months yet don't pose a problem at all with this feature.

So exactly what zip format does dolphin need its plugin to be in order for them to upload through the admin panel?? without messing around with a third party ftp client and doing it manual. Because believe me if this one option worked you would get a lot more sales from the purchase of dolphin and more people would be interested in it. i would say their is a large percent of people out their stay clear away from dolphin because of this reason.

its very time consuming when you need to manually upload plugins and themes, not to mention the none technical minded people out there that have no idea how to and feel intimidated thus move onto another more user friendly platform. Dolphins loss i guess.  

Dolphin does not have a plugin architecture; there are no hooks in the scripts in which a programmer can tie into; as outlined, many modules require core changes to the code.  Therefore, Dean is correct, due to the issues presented, this should just be removed so that users don't have to content with it so such "support" question as this one won't arise.

As I stated, or at least in my opinion, Dolphin is aimed more at Developers who do this stuff routinely and think nothing of it.

Perhaps modules that are self contained can be marked for backend upload and install and the ones that are not, can be marked as so.  Then one will know when one can use the backend uploader and when one can not.

That is my opinion also. Dolphin is not designed for people that don't know basic web development skills.

As Deano pointed out, vendors often include multiple versions in their downloads (e.g., for Dolphin 7.0.9 and 7.1.4), as well as various text files (HELP, README, LICENSE, etc.) and directory structures that are incompatible with Dolphin's module uploader.  For example:

That structure is probably for the best, since it includes any needed version and important documentation/information.  Really, it's not hard to upload the contents of /modules/ via a FTP client or your control panel's file manager.

Also, what about extensions that require modifications to core files?  And templates that include some extra stuff?  You can't account for those with the module uploader.

With all that said, I think the feature's actually broken at the moment.  I tried a bunch of different methods, but it won't budge.  I'll take a closer look in a little bit, but as noted above, if FTP is too complicated, Dolphin may not be the best fit.

It don't state on the website who it is and isn't for.

Social Network That You Own And Control

With BoonEx you just download, install and run software for your very own online community, that you control from top to bottom.

So if its more aimed at developers only, it should be clearly stated on the boonex home page to avoid some people wasting their hard earned cash on a licence and plugins.

You must learn how to used ftp or c panel:

http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/ftp/filezilla.htm

and

http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/cpanel/file_manager.htm