Extension Update Checker

[Gkjsdll]

I've been kicking around this idea for a few days, and I'd like to guage interest and get design input from other extension developers before I break ground on this project.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was an extension that notified you when there were updates available for any of your installed extensions? I've got an idea of how to go about this, but each extension would need to be supported by their developer(s).

The basic idea is that the Extension Update Checker would record the current version of every extension running in the current campaign into each campains' db.xml. A companion program, run separately from FG, would then parse the contents of each db.xml and check a public github repository for newer versions of any of the installed extensions, and write the list of all/current/5 most recent versions to a new extension_update_checker.xml file, in this extension's folder. (This would probably require installing the extension as a folder rather than an ext)

Back in FG, when you open a campaign (either host, or all, not sure which makes more sense. configurable?) the Extension Update Checker extension could read the contents of extension_update_checker.xml and report any new versions of extensions to the chat box. With the addition of URL links in chat, the extension could even link users to the download page for the new version. There's probably a good way to give users an "Don't notify me again of this version" option.

The public github repository would have a main branch housing the companion program's code, and a separate branch for each extension developer who would support this extension. I'm not sure what format would make the most sense for this data, but I could run a script from my PC that would automatically merge pull requests from each dev to their own branch.

That's the first thing that each developer would have to do to support this tool, update their extension's version information in GitHub when they put a new version up on the forums. Users could also opt in and out of beta versions if we had a beta flag available.

The way that this extension would record current versions of supported extensions would be the second thing each developer would have to do to support this extension. This extension would expose a function called registerExtenstion that other extensions would call during onInit(), and those extensions should set their loadorder tag higher than 1 and call registerExtension with a table in the following format:

{
   name=[extension_name],
   version=[extension_version],
   branch=[developer's_github_branch]
}

I'm pretty sure I could get the whole thing coded myself, but I would want to see enough interest from other extension developers before I start sinking my teeth into it. Thoughts?

[Andraax]

I just subscribe to the forum threads, and get notified via email when they're updated...

[Gkjsdll]

When you subscribe to a thread, you get notified of every update do it, correct?

Part of why I was thinking this would be nice would be to get just the info you need. For instance, the link could be a direct download link from inside FG, and it could print out all of the version log between your current and the new version.

[Niles]

I am not an extension developer but I have a few custom extensions that no longer work because of updates. So from a extension user's perspective, this would be a great feature so that they continued to work when there is an update. Do you know if there's anyone here willing to look at an extension of mine to get it to work again? Thank you for any info you can provide.

[Andraax]

How does software that checks whether or not an extension has been updated force an extension developer to update his / her code? They won't "continue to work" unless someone updates them...

[Gkjsdll]

I am not an extension developer but I have a few custom extensions that no longer work because of updates. So from a extension user's perspective, this would be a great feature so that they continued to work when there is an update. Do you know if there's anyone here willing to look at an extension of mine to get it to work again? Thank you for any info you can provide.

I could take a look at them if you either sent me the links or the files.

How does software that checks whether or not an extension has been updated force an extension developer to update his / her code?

The idea was that extensions would opt-in to being checked for updates, and that control of the update checking for any extension would remain with the original developer. It could work just as well to just have this extension checker get the names and versions of every extension running, and I/we could put together a database of extensions with the following information for each:

• Extension Name
• Current Version
• Forum Thread
• Direct Download Link

[Andraax]

Yeah, but if the extension developer isn't updating his extension now, how will something that tracks changes make him update it?

[Gkjsdll]

It won't, that wouldn't be the goal of this project. It would be an entirely different task to try to accomplish that.

Extensions don't only get updated when a new version of FG comes out, they also get updated when bugs get fixed or new features get added. The benefit of this extension would be that you would be notified in-game when there are updates available and provided with links to both the forum thread & a direct download link.

[Andraax]

I understand that. I was responding to the statement "So from a extension user's perspective, this would be a great feature so that they continued to work when there is an update."

It does no such thing. It doesn't do much more than subscribing to the forum post does - notify you when an update has been made...

[Gkjsdll]

You wouldn't get notified every time someone responded to the thread & automatic updates could be added. Other than that, the only other benefit would be that it would all happen within FG & the helper program.