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04/24/16, 07:46 PM   #1
Auldjohn
 
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Question Add-On to check for ZOS Out-of-Date flag?

I realize the "interface" between ZOS, ZAM, and ESOUI can be difficult. Minion is invaluable for managing (and locating) my ESO Add-Ons. Kudos to ZAM and ESOUI as well as to innumerable Add-On Devs.

However, as the ESO API continues to "evolve" (?) , increasingly I find that despite using Minion to ensure my installed Add-Ons are the most current version, I log in to ESO only to find that many them are flagged Out-of-Date in game settings.

Some supposedly outdated Add-Ons still function properly such as Photographer which I use for removing UI elements from screen caps. I frequently use a screencap for my Guild's web site Wallpaper, or annotated as the preferred thumbnail for my ESO vid cap uploads to YouTube.

Others, which Minion says are up-to-date, but are flagged out-of-date in ESO, produce masses of LUA or script errors when the in-game session loads.

The AO community is a dedicated, but loose group of Devs, most of whom diligently endeavor to ensure reliability and compatibility with other AOs. That being said, is there a User focused Add-On to compare against the current ZOS/ESO API to check for "Out-of-Date" status?

FYI, while not a developer, I am a retired IT Pro/Consultant for hardware, software, infrastructure, website development and support. I've been a dedicated PC gamer since DOS days, as well as an ESO PC Closed Beta Test participant starting in mid-August 2013 as a member of the Zenithar Test group.

I'm also Domain Owner, and Enjin-hosted Site Owner for my Guild's website. I've played ESO from Closed Beta through today (on PC), as well as Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim on PC then Steam, as well as other games.

This may be asking for the impossible. If it helps, I volunteer to Beta test any attempts to create such an Add-On. TIA for any constructive feedback to this post.
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04/25/16, 01:00 AM   #2
Ayantir
 
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However, as the ESO API continues to "evolve" (?)
It is, at each dlc.

I log in to ESO only to find that many them are flagged Out-of-Date in game settings.
Because author didn't updated them.

Others, which Minion says are up-to-date, but are flagged out-of-date in ESO
You got the last version, but the last version is already obsolete.

That being said, is there a User focused Add-On to compare against the current ZOS/ESO API to check for "Out-of-Date" status?
Quick answer : No and way too hard and complex for what been asked.





There is not, because it's not really an adon which is needed for this, but something different.

A flag in Minion which says "Warning, this addon is obsolete". It's already here but badly displayed.
Just click on your addon in Minion, at the left you'll have the API version.

A bit more of time investment for users ?.. You only have to start Minion once a week. Some user launch the software once a month or more.


But yes we could push something in our addons to say "Hey.. you forget to update this addon !", but it'll be hardly manageable.

First, list will be static.
We cannot communicate together. We cannot communicate with the outside world. So the list will be the one the user had downloaded with the addon hosting the reference and because generally user does mass updates, the list will be .. without any error.

So what the plan ?

We got couple options to make the thing doable and dynamic.

First option: The daemon
A 3rd party software which runs silently on your computer (I did one, others too). Linked to a website, it read some files in your Addons folder and SavedVar folder. The savedVar is linked to a discrete library which wrote what the deamon need to know.
The library says to its daemon "Hey the user received your notification that Skyshards has been updated and he's agree to download, let's do the job". The daemon start after game exit and start the update. Then the library check and show the results of the user in an ingame screen.

This solution should come from ESOUI.
We are downloading on their servers so it's their decision to make an "ingame minion". The website is their and the library and the daemon should come from them. After if they are agree.. half of the thing is already done.

Recap: Lua Library hidden in *all* addons + 3rd party software launched as a windows service or similary (and on mac too). + website + author dedicated to this.


2nd option: The botnet.
So how to grab the data ? Let's ask to our bot. And what kind of communication can automatically be done ingame ?.. No chat whisp, no subchannel for addons. Only solution is mail system.
So what the plan ?

On all addons : Push a hidden library which will send a mail to "register to the update feed" it will send an ingame mail to the botnet with a simple code "Hey, I'm Joe132, inform me when there is an update of my addons! My addons are xxx, yyy, zzz, abc and you and me".

A botnet infrastructure. The botnet manager host its list throught (still) esoui dinamically.. parse the data and if there is an update, send a mail to all users subscribed to the feed. "Hey Joe, your addon yyy has received an update, v 1.2.3, changelog : stuff, go on esoui!".

So basically, addon should rewrite a bit the mail system, don't display mail but nice messages and that kind of stuff.

And yes, idea should come also from esoui because of the management of the subscriber list.

This solution will need an account which will send hundreds of mails per day on both servers.


I hope you understood that those 2 solutions are a way too complex and you will continue to ask a better displaying of obsolete addons in Minion.

Regards,

Last edited by Ayantir : 04/25/16 at 01:04 AM.
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04/25/16, 01:43 AM   #3
Baertram
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Or just enable the out of date addons flag inside the game's addon manager list and try which addon is still working :-)
Many of them just did not update the API numbers but will function with 100% normal.
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04/25/16, 05:55 AM   #4
sirinsidiator
 
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I agree that the display of outdated addons in minion could be added to the list view.
Right now it is only visible when you click on an entry in the list:

Adding it as a background color or some icon that shows it is up to date towards the API would be a nice feature.

It is true that some of them continue to work even after the author dropped support. It would be nice to have a voting system where users can declare that it is still working with the current API. That is again something that needs to be added in minion and to esoui and not something an addon can solve.
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ESOUI » AddOns » AddOn Help/Support » Add-On to check for ZOS Out-of-Date flag?

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