What's next for DISMTools (September 2023 Update)

[CodingWonders]

(This was meant for August, but was delayed to this month)

DISMTools 0.3.1 has come out, so we're now ready to begin working on version 0.3.2. These are some features that will make it (or have made it) into this next version:

Utilities, a centralized place for internal functions

DISMTools 0.3.2 introduces the Utilities namespace, which was created in response to the mess of internal functions of the information dialogs. In version 0.3.1, there were duplicate functions that cast the DISM API enums into readable text. They worked, but made the code less "clean". So, work has begun removing the duplicate functions and providing a centralized location. Right now, this namespace contains the following classes:

• Utilities.Casters, which casts the DISM API enums into readable text, that can also be translated to the language set to the program
• Utilities.Converters, which converts long integers representing bytes into a more readable measurement, like megabytes or gigabytes

The Casters class

The Converters class

You won't notice anything different when going to the information dialogs, apart from the download and install sizes now showing more appropriate units of measurement in the capability information dialog.

NOTE: this change is present in DISMTools 0.3.2 Preview 1

Filling out the missing gaps

This release will also focus on adding missing commands, like setting languages, applying MSP patches, and so on. It will also enable the detection of possible commands so, for instance, all AppX-related tasks will be disabled in the "App packages" submenu on Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 images.

Right now, the program performs a more primitive check, which shows an error if an action can't be performed on a specific image:

But, in the future, such actions will become outright disabled on such images.

More features to come

These are the features that are being worked on right now but aren't the only changes to be made. Of course, user feedback still matters.