Shoutbox

I have a suggestion. In the scripts or skins preferences, it would be nice to have a "find updates" botton, almost like "Firefox addons updater feature", in the next version of msgplus!

If I'm not mistaken, it was once suggested, but refused for some reason. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure it's come up a few times before

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Originally posted by MattyRid
t was once suggested, but refused for some reason. I could be wrong

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It's been suggested, and will be coming in a future version if all goes well

The problem currently is peoples personal version numbering systems, a prototype updater script for scripts and skins was made, although it worked mostly it encountered problems with various naming methods eg BETA, 1.2c, ++, *Fix* etc

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Originally posted by aNILEator

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Originally posted by MattyRid
t was once suggested, but refused for some reason. I could be wrong

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It's been suggested, and will be coming in a future version if all goes well

The problem currently is peoples personal version numbering systems, a prototype updater script for scripts and skins was made, although it worked mostly it encountered problems with various naming methods eg BETA, 1.2c, ++, *Fix* etc

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Couldn't this be automated on the Script/Skin DB end? Simply increment an integer every time a script update is submitted and encode it into the .plsc/.plsk file (either in the XML or embedded into the header of the plsk/plsc file if possible). Then MsgPlus checks for updates by reading this value (either from the XML file or from the actual plsc/plsk on import and storing in registry) and comparing it to the current DB version to check if an update is required.

Very simple and would do the job flawlessly I believe

Why restricting it to the scripts-DB? Any restriction like that will again result in many not-checkable scripts, actually just like it is now... Thus seriously flawed, imho.

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Me thinks that what is needed is a new version tag in the ScriptInfo.xml. With a pure numerical value with whole numbers; exactly like how Plus! itself does it. And also a unique scriptID number tag.

Now, if a developer could login somewhere in a central DB (this is not the scripts-DB; let's call it an update-DB; the DB is located on one of the Plus!-servers of course). In that DB you can set a few things:

1) The script's unique value, the scriptID. This number is generated by the update-DB upon request of the developer and is of course unique. With this number you identify the script for which you can set the following update-data:

2) the latest version number (this is the pure numerical whole number value talked above, not the already existing version number)

3) the URL where the new update is located. Now this can be a link to the scripts-DB, but can just as well be a link to a 3rd party site.

this could even be moderated if security is a concearn. URLs which point to the scripts-DB are automatically accepted, while other URLs will be checked from time to time. If anything bad is detected, the script's update-data can be disabled temporarly or the developer's login can even be banned. whatever.

Also, it could automatically checked that the URL points to a webpage and not to a direct download, I think, no?.

4) the name and/or visible version number (the existing version number) of the script so an updater can show something more meaningfull if it reports that there is a new version available.

All this is actually pretty similar to how Plus! checks for an update of itself...

And this can even be made more complex by allowing scriptIDs to point to another ScriptID. In case the developer want to merge two different scripts into one with the new release for example (although this merging could be done without a "ScriptID forwarding" too).... You can do all sorts of things with a system like this, once it is in place. eg: connect the update-DB account of the developer to an account on the forum (if there is one)... etc...

With this system you give the chance to every developer to have an auto-update system for their scripts, since Plus! can check everything automatically, people could write their own updater program, etc etc. And most importantly, you do not restrict it to only scripts in the scripts-DB. On top of that you even solve the problem of having scripts with old, depricted URLs where the update is located (this is an already existing problem for some scripts btw!).


Again, any system which would limit the auto-update to only a select few scripts is not good and goes past the point of having a versatile global update system in the first place.

At one stage I had a go at something like this.  How I went about it was comparing the date that the script was imported and seeing if there is any updates to that script that happened after that date.

This method is flawed and won't give any updates that might have occured before installing, but it is at least something.

This with something that compares the version numbering that people have now should work well (at least in theory).

Though it would be better to have a more uniform system.... (but you should allow A or B or RC<number> as well IMHO)

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Originally posted by markee
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This with something that compares the version numbering that people have now should work well (at least in theory).

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(but you should allow A or B or RC<number> as well IMHO)

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Absolutely not, especially not in theory.

If you need to compare something, it is best to use a whole number, nothing more. Strings like "A", "B", "RC", "beta", whatever is already what people do at this very moment; it is exactly what the existing version tag in scriptinfo.xml holds in many scripts.

And this is exactly why you can not make an auto-update checker based upon the existing version tag. Many have tried, and all failed; and the updater script which is currently in development by <sorry, dunno anymore> will fail just as well! It is simply not possible to check all the scripts the user has because of the points listed above and in my previous post.

You need a whole number (exactly like Plus! does it) and use only that number for checking, nothing else. Of course you can display anything you like to the user (eg: the already existing _string_ version number which can include "A", "B", "rc", "beta", etc,  but that itself should never be used to do the actual comparisson).

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
Why restricting it to the scripts-DB? Any restriction like that will again result in many not-checkable scripts, actually just like it is now... Thus seriously flawed, imho.

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In my opinion all scripts should be listed on the Scripts/Skins DB and only those which do appear there should be updated using MsgPlus's universal updater (if such a system is implemented) IMO.
Scripts/Skins hosted by third parties should be forced to code their own update checks, this would act to promote submission to the relevant official DB because that is what it is: an official database of scripts/skins.

EDIT: This is just my opinion of course, don't take it as any form of attack

I don't see why something cannot be written to cope with these extra expressions.

We do this kind of stuff at work, but with much more difficult and abstract circumstances.  Regex and a little logic is all that is needed to get this to work.

If I wasn't so busy I would have a go at this myself.

I agree with Cookie, if there could be somewhere, where a script developer could generate a GUID for a script and with that GUID we are able to update information within a specific scripters database which would include information for the script latest version etc. This could be in direct correlation with the new Script DB.

For instance if I develop a script called HelloWorld. I go to a development center and login/register select to create a new script. I enter the name of the script and in turn a GUID is created. This GUID would be specific to my script and no one elses. Once this is generated I can enter details for the script and any changes are sent as an update to a Moderator of scripts on the Script DB to approve changes. To prevent spamming the only time the changes need to be approved by the Moderator would be when a PLSC is uploaded to the server. (And then subsequent changes after that would be sent to the moderator)

This would be the best option because then developers can simply login and change details of their scripts (with approval from a Moderator of course).

This way if a script has a valid GUID then Plus! can check the server for updates