Add a way to easy get find, install and update to MT-extensions

[thelsing]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. There are quite a bit extensions out there like Bag-of-Tricks, Lib:Elevation, the different frameworks for the different game systems.

I would like a dialog where I can see all available extensions, select those that I want download and install them to the local campaign. Maybe the could also installed locally in MT. An if I create a new campaign I can select which of the locally installed extensions I can use.

I would also like to be notified if a new version of an extension that I use is available. Updating should be as easy as installing: select the extensions I want to updaten an press a button.

Additional context The different extension providers could host the extension on github or somewhere else. There should be a common definition of metadata of the extension which contains things like name, version, description, download-link and so on. rp-tools.net could host a "master"-json-file that just lists all the urls of known extensions. Maybe rp-tools.net could crawl the metadata of known extension regulary and update the master-file MT could download this file and use it for dialog mentioned above. In MT-settings users should be able to add additional repositories that MT will read extension metadata from.

[perkinslr]

Regarding the commonly raised concern with this:

The exstensions, frameworks, et cetera would still be self contained. Once added to a campaign, the metaserver could go down, the framework could get deleted, the group could lose internet, and the campaign would be fine. The proposed mechanism is an alternative to crawling the forum and manually downloading relevant zipfiles.

If an update to a framework breaks your campaign, reverting to the campaign save from before upgrading the framework would see the old version back. On that note, it's probably a good idea to save all downloaded frameworks locally, so that if a GM doesn't keep a copy of the campaign from before upgrading, the framework can be downgraded to any previously installed version.

[Azhrei]

@thelsing Ooo, me want, me want! 😎

On that note, it's probably a good idea to save all downloaded frameworks locally, so that if a GM doesn't keep a copy of the campaign from before upgrading, the framework can be downgraded to any previously installed version.

The OP mentioned how authors could use git as one option. Using git would allow the local GM to clone the repo and at any future time, pull new changes down or revert to an older version.

[FullBleed]

There are quite a bit extensions out there like Bag-of-Tricks, Lib:Elevation, the different frameworks for the different game systems.

I would like a dialog where I can see all available extensions, select those that I want download and install them to the local campaign. Maybe the could also installed locally in MT. An if I create a new campaign I can select which of the locally installed extensions I can use.

I would also like to be notified if a new version of an extension that I use is available. Updating should be as easy as installing: select the extensions I want to updaten an press a button.

I put in a forum FREQ along these same lines... so I will include a link and the text here for further consideration: https://forums.rptools.net/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=29167

[FREQ] In program method to acquire popular and vetted drop-ins/frameworks.

Post by Full Bleed » Tue Apr 20, 2021 6:02 pm Right now MT has a way to get easy access to a lot of nifty graphics using "File/Add Resource to to Library." I think this should be expanded to include links to popular and vetted drop-ins and frameworks.

Further, it would be nice if this could be placed somewhere more prominent/accessible as it continues to be a "hidden" feature in MT. "Add Resource to Library" and then clicking on the Rptools gear just isn't a good way to showcase this feature and most users don't know it's there.

Wolph, for example has recently taken the time to update several frameworks to work with the latest edition of MT. That's great and a wonderful service to the community. That indicates that those frameworks have been vetted by a trustworthy source, are currently in a functional state working with a particular edition of MT. But what we need now is for a user to be able to click on an "Available Frameworks" link in MT and have a way to get, or be directed to, some of these. There just isn't any good repository of all this great user-created work.

Lastly, I feel that there are certain additional risks that MT now poses given some new features. Having access to fully vetted drop-ins would inspire and provide confidence that many resources are indeed safe.

[thelsing]

What steps are usually necessary to install a MT-extension? What i can think of:

• update campaign properties
• add macros
• add library tokens

So the json metadata has do define what installation steps are necessary. I can take care of the java programming if somebody defines the json format and a example repository.

[Phergus]

And Tables.

[VagruariesOfFate]

What steps are usually necessary to install a MT-extension? What i can think of:

• update campaign properties
• add macros
• add library tokens

So the json metadata has do define what installation steps are necessary. I can take care of the java programming if somebody defines the json format and a example repository.

I will try. I've been working on stripping stuff down to json variables anyhow so I'll attempt a rough data structure.