trevordevore
commented
5 years ago Nice overview @macMikey. This should definitely be in a different repo. Let's keep this repo focused on the framework itself.
One other thing to consider is how the installer will locate helpers that can be installed. Without a central repository they would need to manually enter a url somewhere.
For starters the installer repo could have a database file that points to all available helpers. This database file would point to the helper download link. It would also need a url to a file with version info and dependencies. Perhaps we just add this to the helper.yml file.
A more advanced version could be like https://packagecontrol.io which is used for Sublime Text. That requires additional costs though so I don't think it is wise to start there.
macMikey
With dataviews, dataview trees and other helpers, we are probably at the point where we need to add some sort of installer for these components. Perhaps this should be a separate repo to keep the bloat out of the main framework, since it will probably have a UI, and code. On the other hand, that makes it harder on the developer when they are trying to add something to their project.
Dataview Trees (DVT) require the installation of the dataview (DV), but having that be a submodule of the DVT might be problematic, especially if the project already has DV installed. Installer needs to:
• Add the primary...stuff. For helpers this would be all the resources for the helper. • Determine if there are any dependencies and install those if necessary (or at least prompt to install those). In the case of DVT, that would be DV. If the dependencies cannot be installed then the primary component should not be, either. • We might need some versioning...stuff. For example, if we are adding DVT, which requires DV, we may require DV to be of a certain version. That would mean that helper.yml, for example, would have to have a
versionkey so we can tell which version it is. • Log install activity • Need a way to rollback if we get a failure during the install • Option to update app.yml with any relevant sections that might be relevant for the component(s) (nicety for the developer) • Option to update submodules for the project, if git is in use • The installer should be trivial to configure, preferably via a yml file, and potentially .livecodescript files, which will also make it simpler to debug when someone is trying to install a component. Perhaps there should be an installer folder inside the component. • Dependency evaluation should be part of initializing the helper (in interpreted) or built (in compiled), just in case something bad happens later (e.g. developer updates the DVT submodule but that requires DV to be updated, but the developer doesn't update DV).