XF 2.4 Add-on update notifications

Welcome to the first "Have you seen...?" post for XenForo 2.4! As we discussed a couple of months ago, XenForo 2.4 will focus mainly on quality-of-life improvements for admins, moderators and users, and today's first look at our next version absolutely ticks that box.

Occasionally the inspiration for new features doesn't solely come from the suggestions forum and at times we sit up and take notice of what is popular in the Resource Manager. In this particular case, the Add-on update notifier by @mazzly caught our attention as not only being widely sought after but also currently one of the highest rated resources so it appears to fill a need for enough of you that we decided to bring it to everyone.

Once we roll out XenForo 2.4 here, resource authors will find that we have added a new field to resources in add-on categories that will allow you to fill in your add-on ID. When you install XenForo 2.4 on your own forums, your forum will now periodically call back to XF.com with a list of your installed add-ons and their versions and report back with the latest version available in the Resource Manager. Where there is an update available, as demonstrated above, this will be indicated in your add-ons list.

Update checking can be enabled under "Basic board options".

Subject to time constraints, we are looking to add the following additional functionality either before or shortly after the release of XenForo 2.4:

• Improved notifications
• Custom update checking URLs for developers to populate in their addon.json file so if the canonical source of your add-on is on your own website, we can request version details from there rather than our resource manager
• One-click install of upgrades (for free add-ons)

We hope you've enjoyed this first look at improvements to managing your add-ons in XenForo 2.4. As ever, please create a new suggestion if you have any specific ideas for improvements beyond what is mentioned above.

To reiterate our previous comments, the release of these "Have you seen...?" posts will be somewhat sporadic over the coming weeks. We're aiming to get these updates out to you as they happen rather than waiting for the majority of XenForo 2.4 to be complete. But, as it happens, the next one isn't too far away

 

[DarkGizmo]

This is more of a quality-of-life improvement for admins, not really add-on developers.

That's true, but it would also bring attention to newer versions of add-ons, which in theory would result in more downloads/installs? The same functionality could in theory work for paid add-ons too right? if the add-on dev implemented it? or am I misinterpreting this all together?

 

[CedricV]

If anything, this might add a bit more work for add-on developers, though perhaps not as much as it initially seems.

I didn’t expect to see this functionality introduced in 2.4, but it’s a welcome addition nonetheless! I’m excited to see what else is coming.

While it’s still a bit down the road, I’m especially looking forward to the updates to the UIX and the new style planned for 3.0.

 

[Kirby]

This is great news.

If you also implement download & upgrade please don't forget CLI (also for XF & official Add-ons!)

Ideally I'd like to see this expanded in the future so we can search / install / upgrade Add-ons from multiple sources right from within XenForo while also maintaining dependencies / requirements (think of package managers like apt / yum).

That would probably require support for Signed Add-ons.

 

[Lee]

Great update, I’m particularly bad at updating addons

 

[MaximilianKohler]

Some feedback:

I initially installed that addon and then stopped using it. The reason is that the email notifications I get are much more useful. It's often essential to click on to the forum and read the update notes and recent discussion.

So at minimum, you should include links to view the update notes and/or the addon discussion thread.

If this type of integration doesn't remove the step of having to manually download and upload via FTP each time, I don't see the benefit. The email notifications are superior.

 

[association]

So at minimum, you should include links to view the update notes and/or the addon discussion thread.

I agree. Sometimes updating a plugin can mess things up if you haven't carefully read what the author has added and changed.

 

[smallwheels]

The email notifications are superior.

I'd say this varies heavily from person to person and how active you are in your forum. I am an active user of my forum, so the notifications about updates via AUN in the forum front end are very welcome. I barely read emails as I get far to many and those automated ones get sorted into a mailbox that only is very rarely opened anyway. Plus even if you read your mails an update notice via mail can easily be missed by accident.

If one mainly works on the forum as an a (technical) administrator, not actively participating too often (and thus not visiting the front end regularly) emails may be more beneficial.

Currently, once in the front end a notification from AUN pops up I log into ACP and check what's the matter. For me it would be more beneficial to see already in the front end which add on got an update instead of seeing this only in the backend, however, I can live with the current mechanism and implementation of AUN.

 

[Mr Lucky]

I guess the only extra thing we sometimes store in the logs beyond that is the URLs for dev installations etc.

Is this something we should notify you of or should there be somewhere in the customer account area that we can log it?

 

[Paul B]

No and no.

Just make it clear it's a test installation.

You may create additional test installations for the purpose of testing the Software. Any test installation of this kind must be password protected, installed at a URL that makes the testing purpose clear, not used for production purposes and access to it must be limited to You and Your website staff.

 

[frm]

I can't imagine 1-click upgrade to be rolled out without something similar to $config['enableAddOnArchiveInstaller'] = true;, so I hope that's in planning.

This way, you can have it on your dev board, one click to test, then enable it on production (if you want to upgrade that way), to one-click install there. A safeguard against updating an add on pushed out too soon that could have dire consequences for a production board (having to roll back), if you will, as I've seen too many add ons over the years push something out that breaks forums (unclear whether they were dev boards or production, but I'm sure many have seen it too in the Discussions of add ons). This is because there are no quality control measures put in place on Resources (unlike WordPress), something entirely else to be addressed.

But, it still gives the option for an admin willing to take the risk to enable it on their production board, much like the add on installer.

 

[Arantor]

No and no.

Just make it clear it's a test installation.

Silly question, if I roll out a test site on localhost or a .test domain (which won’t work online outside of very specific circumstances) does it still need password protection?

 

[Paul B]

Silly question, if I roll out a test site on localhost or a .test domain (which won’t work online outside of very specific circumstances) does it still need password protection?

If it's not publicly accessible, no.

 

[otto]

So at minimum, you should include links to view the update notes and/or the addon discussion thread.

@mazzly s addon gives you the option to read bevore you update
That should it as Xenforo 2.4.x core function too I think so.


The detection of dependencies between the installed Xenforo version and the add-on version would actually be an added value compared to Mazzly's add-on, which otherwise works very well and saves idiots like me with around 100 add-ons in the forum a lot of research work. ;-)

 

[javakhir]

this will bring a big cut off traffic to XF Resources page.

 

[smallwheels]

this will bring a big cut off traffic to XF Resources page.

How to you come to that idea? The link the arrow points to links to the resource page (to the release notes tab for the version aof the add on) with AUN.

 

[Arantor]

People won’t visit the resources page to look for updates (they’ll get them fed directly), which means they won’t also see other plugins they hadn’t seen before - less reason to visit this site and potentially browse.

Though of course this, holistically, might not be a bad thing.

 

[smallwheels]

A wise person would not install an update without reading the release notes first. But you are probably right: Possibly a lot of people will act differently.

 

[Arantor]

The reality is that far more people upgrade without reading than those that will. Other platforms with this functionality have much to teach.

Imagine the tears before bedtime of fully automatic updates. (I don’t have to. I have a fleet of WordPresses where I forcibly disable that for obvious reasons.)

 

[Suzanne O]

I'm looking forward to seeing it happen

 

[Opus X]

The reality is that far more people upgrade without reading than those that will. Other platforms with this functionality have much to teach.

maybe have some way to display the update text prior to it being installed?