Need help with releasing plugins ...

~cXc~ · 2011-01-05 11:24:27

I was curious how to go about doing this, what threads I should start where I should post and all that.

I’ve been all over the place and I see the Resources site and have an account there and I think I am supposed to post a thread in the Plugin Author Support area here, is that all I need to do?

~cXc~

jsoo · 2011-01-05 11:52:25

Yes, post a thread for each plugin in the Plugin Author Support forum. You’ll need to be added as a plugin author first, but your post here will probably be enough to get a moderator to do that for you.

Adding an item for each plugin to the Resources site is also a good idea. Kind of a pain, and the site has fallen on hard times, but the elves are apparently working on a major refresh.

Welcome to the club!

~cXc~ · 2011-01-05 12:44:53

Thanks for the info Jeff, I see someone managed to add me to the list already so now all I have to do is run a few more test scenarios and make sure everything works :)

~cXc~

~cXc~ · 2011-01-05 19:33:25

jpdupont wrote:

Could you merge into your plugin the plugins export/import, like Manfre did ?
mem_templates

hcgtv wrote:

When I released hcg_templates, I got a lot of criticism for using mcw_templates as the basis. As in, “I don’t see much difference between the two”, since there were very little changes I had to make to accomplish my goal.

So I don’t want to copy another person’s work, you’ll have to contact Manfre to update his plugin for Textpattern 4.3.0.

Bert, I understand your point here and I’m in a position very similar to the one you faced when you created your plugin.

How would you feel about another fork of xxx_templates, with 1 click installs and more options?

Since what I have came from every version I could find xxx_ is about perfect I suppose ;)
(I will use cxc_ for my stuff though if that’s ok ;))

I’m cautious about releasing it publicly because of the response you received, for the most part I have read the templates wish list and done my best to bring us closer to that point. I’ve made some changes mostly for aesthetic purposes to the template structure but it inevitably accomplishes the goal. I will do my best to explain my decisions and how I came to the conclusions and why I chose to make the changes I have in my release thread.

A quick summation of what I have so far:

I have created another version of xxx_templates but this time 1 click installs are now possible with full support for plugins, sections, and zip uploads
I have changed the template directory to *ROOT*/“templates” instead of *ROOT*/”_templates” so assets can be called with links like *ROOT*/templates/asset/asset.ext instead of *ROOT*/_templates/asset/asset.ext for aesthetic purposes.

This allows almost every TXP 4.3.0 template available to be set up as a one click install with minimal effort :)

I’m sure there will be some debugging along the way but I’ll take care of it as soon as I’m made aware of it. I will be getting 0.4.1 (or 0.4 if digit dot digit is the preferred versioning formula) online for beta testing tomorrow, unless I’m given reason not to share it.

My SVN has it at 1.3.17 but I would need to drop the 0.3.1 (or 0.3) since its definitely still beta and releasing under the version its forked from doesn’t make a whole lot of sense o.O … unless you want to say its an mcw_templates or mem_templates fork, then 0.3.1 fits perfect … I’m rambling o.O

… anyway there is still lots of “tweaking” to do and the plugin could use some refactoring (I do better with concepts than clean semantic coding (blush)) as well as documentation but all the basic wishes have been addressed … I think … o.O

~cXc~

PS Bert, I didn’t want to muck up your thread with all that and I’m not ready to release it, I hope you understand, I’m new and I don’t want to upset anyone around here … especially a veteran that made major contributions to the current system o.O

[ edit ] I wanted to at least get something up for those interested in taking a look under the hood so I tossed it on Google Docs just remember this is not ready for live sites and is only for testing(!) Do Not Use on anything other than a dev environment, this is just a preview and there are no templates made for it yet and parts might change(!) depending on what is discussed in this pre-release thread. [/ edit ]

Last edited by ~cXc~ (2011-01-05 20:12:55)

Bloke · 2011-01-05 20:22:19

_cXc wrote:

How would you feel about another fork of xxx_templates, with 1 click installs and more options?

*drool* I had some ideas about this last year and had some discussions with Bert and others about it, but life got in the way of making it reality. Glad you’ve moved things forward.

I will be getting 0.4.1 (or 0.4 if digit dot digit is the preferred versioning formula)

The versioning system is entirely up to you.

My SVN has it at 1.3.17 but I would need to drop the 0.3.1 (or 0.3) since its definitely still beta and releasing under the version its forked from doesn’t make a whole lot of sense

Do you have a reason not to release it as your own plugin with your own three letter prefix? Then you can version it how you like. If you don’t have a wiki account (it’s worth it) then just shout and someone will add your chosen letters to the list on your behalf. If the plugin’s going to take on a life of its own then it’ll be easier in the long run if you ‘own’ it with your own prefix. Less confusing for all involved as people generally think mcw_, hcg_ or mem_ plugins are owned and run by their respective veteran authors. Just something to think about.

Last edited by Bloke (2011-01-05 20:22:41)

hcgtv · 2011-01-05 20:31:37

_cXc wrote:

How would you feel about another fork of xxx_templates, with 1 click installs and more options?

Not a problem with me, I encourage code reuse.

A quick summation of what I have so far:

I have created another version of xxx_templates but this time 1 click installs are now possible with full support for plugins, sections, and zip uploads

I have changed the template directory to *ROOT*/“templates” instead of *ROOT*/”_templates” so assets can be called with links like *ROOT*/templates/asset/asset.ext instead of *ROOT*/_templates/asset/asset.ext for aesthetic purposes.

Sections, that’s interesting. What are zips for?

The reason I named the folder _templates is should the user create a section or article called templates, there may be a clash.

PS Bert, I didn’t want to muck up your thread with all that and I’m not ready to release it, I hope you understand, I’m new and I don’t want to upset anyone around here … especially a veteran that made major contributions to the current system o.O

hcg_templates came about when I started using Textpattern, I had come from Nucleus CMS where one click templates are the norm. I grabbed mcw_templates and tweaked it for what I thought would work and released my own version. Through it all, it was my way of showing how it could be done, with an eye towards a core sanctioned method.

~cXc~ · 2011-01-05 21:17:23

hcgtv wrote:

Sections, that’s interesting. What are zips for?

Part of the sections support came from the alternate version of hcg_templates shared via SVN by Mariano Absatz with some refactoring to reuse the plugin support from mem_templates(mod) Manfre with mods by Stuart (aka thebombsite.com) includes with his 4.3.0 templates.

The idea is templates can be zipped and shared as a single file, if you download a template.zip and then use the upload/import option you will upload and install the template with a single click.

hcgtv wrote:

The reason I named the folder _templates is should the user create a section or article called templates, there may be a clash.

I will have to work on this to see how it affects things o.O I had not considered that but I would still need to change it to something more aesthetically pleasing … I also considered “theme” and “tpl” but chose templates to stay close to the original … I see how this could affect a lot of veteran sites but I could use some advice on how to handle it o.O (blush)

I can always devise a way of defining the template directory per user I suppose, just have to figure out how to do it o.O

I should probably let you know I started out as a designer and then learned code, in other words I’m a designer that spends most of his time coding, kinda sloppy – I try to clean it up after I get it working o.O I don’t worry about consistency of code format until basic functions are working. A friend of mine once told me I do a great job of coding backwards and if I could learn to do it the other way around I’d have jobs lined up for the rest of my life :P

I guess that’s a road block for me currently, the best way to give it a go and see how its all working is to install the v0.0.1 from Google Docs on a test site and do an export (clone) then look through it, you can also just zip up the exported template go to another test site and use the upload/install to completely duplicate your site. Unfortunately if there are files out side of the template directory required by the template you would need to create an Advanced Web Root installation that will dump into site root instead of “templates” I know it really needs docs but I need to find the snags before I know what they need to address, I guess that’s more what these pre-release post are all about, I’m trying to streamline the final presentation so it addresses all common questions. I’m done coding for today but I will be back on it as soon as I wake up tomorrow. I’ve coded about 36 hours straight trying to fix a major bug – I accidentally deleted 12 lines of code back when I started that I found out later I needed o.O

Believe it or not I was around back when you began discussing hcg_templates but back then I was if($mustCode)die($unableToComply) and TextPattern was too complicated for me, ironic I come back to it and attempt to solve the issue that scared me away in the first place o.O

If this is to be the last 4.x branch I thought it could at least nudge forward and maybe inspire some 5.x development ;)

hcgtv wrote:

Through it all, it was my way of showing how it could be done, with an eye towards a core sanctioned method.

I kinda think that’s more or less what I was trying to do also, you all layed down the foundation and I just stuffed everything into the same plugin … or tried too o.O

~cXc~

PS I’m tired and prone to rambling, please understand I can barely stay focused, if I wasn’t excited about the plugin and nervous about posting this thread I’d probably have fallen out of my chair by now o.O

Last edited by ~cXc~ (2011-01-05 22:02:29)

jpdupont · 2011-01-05 22:08:34

Awesome ! An other must have plugin !
Thanks Doc / cXc !

May I dream ? It would be fine to be allowed to :

Reset a fresh install -> remove all the demo stuff ???
import/exports settings / prefs …
import/exports categories
…

thebombsite · 2011-01-05 23:48:02

Well I’m certainly up for moving this forward and so far my testing results are good, good, good. :)

~cXc~ · 2011-01-06 07:10:01

Sorry this is such a long post I had a lot to say o.O (blush)

jpdupont wrote:

Reset a fresh install -> remove all the demo stuff ???

Please explain what you mean by reset but I want you to know I have no intention of removing any database content with the template plugin I might maybe consider another plugin that does a global reset, cxc_templates does make database changes and does change, update and add database content but it does not remove anything, I think its important to keep it that way.

jpdupont wrote:

import/exports settings / prefs …

I originally thought about including settings / prefs but then I decided there are plenty of plugins offering those capabilities already and since template designers can include any plugins they want those plugin can continue to provide support for those features. If that doesn’t take care of the settings / prefs please let me know where I need to reconsider this approach and we’ll see what we can come up with to solve the issues.

jpdupont wrote:

import/exports categories

As for import / export of categories … I haven’t thought about categories or whether or not their inclusion is necessary (or even useful) as a template feature. It’s important to keep things as simple as possible for everyone … including designers … another export type like categories adds another layer of complexity to templates. There are already 5 required directories for templates with designers able to add any number of extra directories they may want, adding categories would also extend the amount of time need to import / export and the more we add the more likely time outs will start to occur. I’m not opposed to doing this but perhaps this is something that would be better as a separate plugin also. To me the template is the framework and sections are often part of a frame but categories are more a content thing or at most a frame for content.

A whole lot of these things are discussed in various threads dating back to the initial release of mcw_templates and though I have no problem rehashing them and seeing what still applies and what doesn’t as far as limitations go, please try to keep them in mind when wishing There is much wisdom in the threads discussing TXP templates. In the end every TXP designer will still need to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty editing the templates and adding tags, this is not designed to completely remove originality, it’s designed to encourage it.

After this plugin is more consistent and stable, maybe looking into a content framework template plugin to reset(?) add some basic content (for demo purpose(?) maybe o.O), complete site duplication (if there isn’t a plugin for that already and it is something needed/wanted) as well as categories and stuff also … I type what I think and I think out loud so you never know what direction my post will go lol sorry if I seem to ramble, count your blessings lol Stuarts had to put up with my emails all week asking questions and discovering the current templating process required for TXP :P in other words he had to put up with this 2-3 times a day if not more lol

… anyway, I just woke up and checked the board to see what was posted in my sleep (my sleep schedule is completely erratic o.O … when I am able to) but I think I’m going to go take a shower and go back to bed for a few more hours. What is holding me back at the moment is deciding how to handle the default directory, unless given a reason why my next proposal won’t work I think I will leave it as “templates” as the default.

My proposal is to go back through the plugin and make sure I use a common variable defined at the top of the plugin allowing advanced users and those requiring alternate setups (due to sections/category names (?) etc) to define the directory of their choice. The only issue is assets, if assets are included inside the template folder ie *ROOT*/templates/tpl_name/assets/logo.png a dynamic call like <img src=”<txp:site_url />templates/txp_default/assets/2.gif” height=“45px” width=“105px” /> will also have to be edited in order to continue functioning after the template directory changed … I’m open to suggestions, I don’t guess it would be possible for the TXP developers to create a special tag just for me lol … what I have my own wish list you know :P <img src=”<txp:site_url />*<txp:tpl_dir />*/txp_default/assets/2.gif” height=“45px” width=“105px” /> would be too cool o.O haha would solve so many of the template issues and could also be part of the .htaccess :P … o.O sorry I started rambling again, I’ve typed enough I guess and the sooner I get to bed the sooner I can wake up and get started on this again :D

~cXc~

PS hmm I wonder … is there anything in the TXP prefs table I can hijack to use for <txp:tpl_dir /> … O.O maybe I could use custom_10_set O.O … or something like that! … would that work? <txp:custom_10_set /> and just enter the templates directory there? … o.O … hopefully someone can toss out some answers about this idea while I sleep, it was just something that came about due to mindless babbling … o.O see it does serve a purpose ;)

[ edit ] While I was showering I realized there must be a way to extend the prefs table since unless I am wrong I have installed templates that included plugins that did this. Even if I didn’t there has to be something that would make extending the existing database or plugins would be severely limited in their potential so I guess I’ll be looking into this tomorrow, I’m still very much open to suggestions and welcome any and all opinions … or guidance o.O … that I can get. Keep in mind I’m really really new around here and I’ve got less than a week (well maybe a little closer to a week … and a half but less than sounds better :P) experience with TXP in general so I have a learning curve to overcome. I’m trying to sponge up as much information as possible as fast as I can so I don’t come off like a complete idiot when I’m trying to solve an issue we’ve came across or features are requested or considered.

If you can get past my out there mentality with a rambling nature, prone to babbling, scatter-brained personality I promise I’m a decent guy :P [/ edit ]

[ edit ] … I’m not half bad a coder either, its not that I’m good with code though (I only understand half of what I code o.O) its more that I’m willing to try anything and fairly imaginative, I don’t give up until I know why I can’t succeed ;)

As Bigweld always says “See a need, fill a need” :P

^ corny I know but I have kids and they have worn that movie out, stuff sticks in your head you know o.O

… anyway, bedtime … [/ edit ]

Last edited by ~cXc~ (2011-01-06 08:06:38)

jpdupont · 2011-01-06 09:29:08

Excuse my bad english …
I see here an interesting mechanism to initiate particular sites we build. Not only templates !.

If we need the “reset” stuff : check the reset part.
If we need categories : build (and use) the categories directory.
Insert the plugins we uses again and again on each site …
If we need again and again the same prefs on each site : insert the prefs directory.
…
…

A time saving plugin !

Last edited by jpdupont (2011-01-06 09:30:04)

~cXc~ · 2011-01-06 13:53:25

Wouldn’t that basically be a site backup utility?

Sorry for the wall of text in the other post, at 3 in the morning … well … you know o.O

I do see what you mean though, I just assumed someone had already made something like that for Textpattern … I will keep this in mind and see what I can do. I’m not sure how everyone else moves Textpattern sites but I just dump the sql and toss it on the new site edit the config.php file and then search / replace on site name and url … I think that is actually much cleaner than any plugin could ever do it but I would like to have a backup utility I can click to wrap it all up in a single package and give me an installer too.

I will look into it after I understand the templates plugin better, I’m still learning how Textpattern works :D

~cXc~

Preview …

Last edited by ~cXc~ (2011-01-16 05:45:18)

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#1 2011-01-05 11:24:27

Need help with releasing plugins ...

#2 2011-01-05 11:52:25

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

#3 2011-01-05 12:44:53

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

#4 2011-01-05 19:33:25

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

#5 2011-01-05 20:22:19

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

#6 2011-01-05 20:31:37

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

#7 2011-01-05 21:17:23

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

#8 2011-01-05 22:08:34

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

#9 2011-01-05 23:48:02

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

#10 2011-01-06 07:10:01

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

#11 2011-01-06 09:29:08

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

#12 2011-01-06 13:53:25

Re: Need help with releasing plugins ...

Board footer