Suggestion: Move the changelog to an external file

[winstliu]

Moving the changelog to an external file would allow easier editing of versions (right now, you have to scroll down to near the middle of the file to edit the changelog). Server owners who have no knowledge of coding could also easily write up a changelog now for new bosses, etc. It could be something like:

_data/freak_fortress_2/ff2changelog.txt

"Some version"
{
    "date" "Some date"
    "1" "Some change"
    "2" "Some other change"
    ...
}
"Some other version"
{
    ....
}
...

• [x] Add functions for parsing the changelog
• [x] Display the changelog
• [x] Generate the changelog file
• [x] Remove the internal changelog

[powerlord]

To be honest, I'm not wild about the changelog being part of the plugin. It really ought to be separate, just like the directions on what weapon changes there are should be separate.

[winstliu]

To clarify: Do you mean there shouldn't be a changelog, or that it should not be in freak_fortress_2.sp?

[powerlord]

I just feel that a centralized location outside of freak_fortress_2.sp, such as a webpage, would work better. With the option for servers to override it with their own URL.

[winstliu]

I'll certainly agree to that. Would it be able to work with, say, Github?

[powerlord]

I think so, but we might want to collaborate with the Vs. Saxton Hale guys for some of it, so it might be better to do it on some sort of shared wiki.

[winstliu]

https://github.com/powerlord/sourcemod-freak-fortress-2/wiki

Click on that to generate a wiki (it's next to the Issues tab). Once you generate it and change some settings in the Admin panel (forget what it's called), anyone can start editing it. Or, if you prefer, only certain people.

[winstliu]

I've been thinking about this for a bit, and I think the following setup would be nice:

*A shared Github repo (something like VSH-FF2/Changelog) that can be edited by both VSH and FF2 coders

_The files would be something like ff2_changelog.txt and vsh_changelog.txt. WARNING: These files, in the FF2/VSH code, MUST be referred to in their raw form (just add a raw. in front of github.com._).

*The changelog could be in the following format: "LatestVersion" "x.x" { "changelog here" } "OutdatedVersion" "x.x" { "changelog here" } etc.`

And possibly a built-in update checker and/or the Updater plugin?

[winstliu]

Been thinking about this more, and just realized we need 2 files: A changelog file and a local/website version file. We need the version file so that FF2/VSH knows what version it's on without it being hardcoded in freak_fortress_2.sp.

Something like ff2_version.txt:

Version x.x

[winstliu]

More progress on this! I'm thinking the format is going to be the one in the original post, contained in data/ff2_changelog.txt. This way server owners can easily change the changelog without editing the source files.

[winstliu]

1f4d22baeba5b045cadb101bc7b26cad90fa629f All that remains is actually displaying the changelog now.

[winstliu]

Code is in place to display the changelog, so this issue is complete from a programming perspective. In reality though it probably doesn't work. But that's a different issue :smile:.