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SC4Devotion LEX Updates - Now on HTTPS

Started by CasperVg, January 15, 2013, 02:45:21 AM

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CasperVg

Hey everyone,

Lately we have been working on adding a few features for the LEX and also improving some functionality that was already there. Here's a brief overview of what's coming up so far..

Implemented features
  • Added password reset form
  • Login form redesigned to make the distinction between the SC4D Forums and the SC4D LEX logins more clear
  • Added filtering buttons to the "Latest" and the "Most Popular" pages. Now you can select "Most Popular Maps" or "Latest LOTs/BATs", for example
  • Improved comment system, will now show comments by the uploader and by staff members more clearly
  • Added the possibility for uploaders to add "big images", that will be displayed as thumbnails and expand when hovered. Currently allows for one on-site "big image" and multiple off-site ones.
  • Added and improved various security features
  • Added a "remove all" button for your download history - so that you can start fresh (the "You already have this one" messages) in case you wipe your plugin folder.
  • Added some additional admin features
  • Added a "direct link" to search results at the bottom. This is to make it easier to link someone else to search results, for example when someone asks for "All commercials made by SimGoober".
  • Improved lay-out of "List view", easier to see the distinction between different search results.
  • A lot of pages have been cleaned up and the styles/design have been unified.
  • Added a "You need to be logged in" message in lot descriptions if the user is not logged in/registered.
  • Made comment list show more than 30 comments. (thx Girafe)
  • Changed edit menu so that uploader can change the object's name (thx Girafe)
  • Add "versions" of your file (like v2, v3) to show people that they have been updated (thx Girafe)

Long term plans/not yet implemented
  • Unify the login system so that user only has to log-in once and only has to remember one account (probably the forums one)
  • Add "legacy feature" so that data can be transferred from your LEX account into the Forums account (download history, comment history, upload history, etc.)
  • Maybe add an automatic way to submit and track a LEX candidacy.
  • Maybe add an automatic way to request and get a Prop Family or Texture ID range.
  • Maybe add a way for the LEX to recognize which dependencies you have previously downloaded and then suggest you which ones you will need for a certain lot, and possibly download them for you
  • Expand version system with changelogs so that uploaders and users can keep track of previous versions.

I hope you're as excited for these changes as I am - and feel free to suggest some small changes to LEX functionality that you would like to see - but keep in mind that the LEX software is and will remain based on the software coded by CSX Webtools, so some suggestions may be beyond our ability ::)

There'll probably be a momentary downtime of the LEX while these changes are being applied, but we'll let you know in beforehand ;)

- SC4D Staff
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MandelSoft

Quote from: CasperVg on January 15, 2013, 02:45:21 AM
  • Added a "You need to be logged in" message in lot descriptions if the user is not logged in/registered.
We needed that one for a long time. It will surely reduce the number of "WHERES TEH DOWNLOAD BUTTON!?!?!?!1!1one"-questions. :thumbsup:
Lurk mode: ACTIVE

Girafe

Excellent news  :)

The new features look really good and usefull.

Could I add that for uploaders, it would be nice to be able to change the name of an upload (thing which is complex as only admins can do it and the only admin able to do this I found is Merjin  ::)).

There is a bug with the comments. In the control panel you can check what are the last comments on your files, but it forgets few comments.

Could a small symbol like V2 added somewhere to show that the files have been updated.

Is it possible for the uploaders to have the list of the people who Dl their files?

The Floraler

This is the end, hold your breath and count to ten, feel the earth move, and then...

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *    *   *   *   *   *    * 

FrankU


CasperVg

Quote from: Girafe on January 15, 2013, 03:05:53 AM
Could I add that for uploaders, it would be nice to be able to change the name of an upload (thing which is complex as only admins can do it and the only admin able to do this I found is Merjin  ::)).
Good suggestion, not really sure why it was like this in the first place. Implemented and working.

QuoteThere is a bug with the comments. In the control panel you can check what are the last comments on your files, but it forgets few comments.
It didn't really forget those comments, it just had a limit set at the latest 30 comments. I've increased the limit so it should show most, if not all, comments. Implemented and working.

QuoteCould a small symbol like V2 added somewhere to show that the files have been updated.
Good idea, I've put that on the to-do list since I definitely want to make 'version control' a bit simpler come the next update. Shouldn't be too hard to implement.

QuoteIs it possible for the uploaders to have the list of the people who Dl their files?
Theoretically it would be fairly straightforward to implement something like this, however I don't really feel it's necessary and users may complain that their download data is being revealed to uploaders. Not going to implement unless other staff feels this would be a good feature.
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Swordmaster

Good work Casper! Much needed, as far as I know.

Quote from: Girafe on January 15, 2013, 03:05:53 AM
Is it possible for the uploaders to have the list of the people who Dl their files?

Why would you need that anyway? Sounds dubious.


Cheers
Willy

callagrafx

Quote from: CasperVg on January 15, 2013, 08:22:57 AM
QuoteIs it possible for the uploaders to have the list of the people who Dl their files?
Theoretically it would be fairly straightforward to implement something like this, however I don't really feel it's necessary and users may complain that their download data is being revealed to uploaders. Not going to implement unless other staff feels this would be a good feature.

I don't think that's very wise to implement something like that.  There are rules governing what information can be tracked and considering that AND the number of downloads a particular item would get, it would massively bloat out the database.
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

CasperVg

Quote from: callagrafx on January 15, 2013, 10:12:39 AM
Quote from: CasperVg on January 15, 2013, 08:22:57 AM
QuoteIs it possible for the uploaders to have the list of the people who Dl their files?
Theoretically it would be fairly straightforward to implement something like this, however I don't really feel it's necessary and users may complain that their download data is being revealed to uploaders. Not going to implement unless other staff feels this would be a good feature.

I don't think that's very wise to implement something like that.  There are rules governing what information can be tracked and considering that AND the number of downloads a particular item would get, it would massively bloat out the database.
Yeah I agree, it's not going to happen.

What did happen, however, is adding the versioning system. Every time the uploader changes/re-uploads the zip-file associated with the download, he/she can increment the version number (either the main one (v3.0 -> v4.0) or the subversion (v3.4 -> v3.5)) and that number will be displayed in search results, the lot description windows, etc. Eventually we want to add the possibility of adding a sort of "changelog" to a lot as well, which the uploader will have to adjust each time he/she increments the version number.

Here's a teaser (also visible is the filtering buttons (filtered to Dependencies here)):



Do not worry about the missing images, this picture was taken in a testing facility that doesn't have all the images that the real LEX has
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JoeST

yeah, considering by this chart theres about 7000 new downloads a day, storing that kinda stuff is a bit crazy.

It's awesome to see that the LEX is being maintained :D, the proposed features sound cool. I'd fold the 5th possible feature "folding in dependencies" into making some form of REST API (heavily rate-limited) so that programmers can make cool tools which can things like the download-manager but cooler and more secure.... my mind's gone blank as to what exactly could be done, but I've had these kinds of ideas before, and it'd be awesome if that kinda thing were possible. Leveraging the ingenious of the community is always an awesome idea :D The API would obviously have to be rate-limited and secure enough to stop unauthorised apps from accessing it (an API-key request form), and allow users to log in via the app securely without allowing the app to scrape their details (open-id or something), but it'd be awesome if someone could then come along and make an iPhone/Android app for perusing, or a 'dependencies' app that could display information about a plugin directly from the LEX, and then provide internally navigable links to dependencies, and offer 'download all' button, for example, without having to involve the admins or Wou directly,

*shrugs* I like to dream XD
Copperminds and Cuddleswarms

Yild

Quote from: CasperVg on January 15, 2013, 11:14:21 AM
What did happen, however, is adding the versioning system. Every time the uploader changes/re-uploads the zip-file associated with the download, he/she can increment the version number (either the main one (v3.0 -> v4.0) or the subversion (v3.4 -> v3.5)) and that number will be displayed in search results,

Not everyone is using " minor/major " significance change, it you are changing one typo in UI or in any other place that is visible for user, you don't change it by 0.1
It's too minor change to even increase "minor" version, it would be safer to include version number as a text field with any text that distinct from other versions (i.e. 1.1. 0.9a, 0.99b, 2.0rc1 etc.)
DAMN Manager download: at LEX at STEX
DAMN Manager support thread: at SC4Dev

CasperVg

Quote from: Yild on January 15, 2013, 11:43:09 AM
Not everyone is using " minor/major " significance change, it you are changing one typo in UI or in any other place that is visible for user, you don't change it by 0.1
It's too minor change to even increase "minor" version, it would be safer to include version number as a text field with any text that distinct from other versions (i.e. 1.1. 0.9a, 0.99b, 2.0rc1 etc.)

It's not easy to try and accommodate everyone, but I must admit I didn't really think about version numbers for programs that have been in development for awhile. It wasn't really meant for that at first, but I've tried my best. It will now also come with a textbox for "suffixes" like pre4, b, alpha, beta, beta1.4, etc.

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Yild

That's sufficient ;)

btw. atm when uploading new version, uploaded file gets name same as older (first) version, that may confuse user when i.e version says that this is '1.1' and file name has 1.0 in its name.

i.e. when my program was uploaded at LEX file name was DAMN_MANAGER_1_0_6.zip, atm after update it with version 1.0.7 it still shows DAMN_MANAGER_1_0_6.zip...

DAMN Manager download: at LEX at STEX
DAMN Manager support thread: at SC4Dev

mike3775

I am all for the clear history feature.  I want to do a fresh install of my plugins, and only grab certain lots again over, so that will be a nice feature to have even if it means one day I will be grabbing hundreds of files at a time(I am only going to use files found here, will avoid glitches for sure)

jmyers2043

Quote from: Yild on January 18, 2013, 01:57:50 AM
That's sufficient ;)

btw. atm when uploading new version, uploaded file gets name same as older (first) version, that may confuse user when i.e version says that this is '1.1' and file name has 1.0 in its name.

i.e. when my program was uploaded at LEX file name was DAMN_MANAGER_1_0_6.zip, atm after update it with version 1.0.7 it still shows DAMN_MANAGER_1_0_6.zip...

The LEX is fussy about file names. I recall when I uploaded version 6 that I had to rename it. The first attempt was not accepted. I renamed it from 1.0.6 to 1_0_6. The most likely cause for an upload problem is the file name or there is another file with the same name. So any image file should not be named 'image1' as that has probably already been used. The LEX will not tell you what is wrong. Only that it has a problem.

Someone else ran into a problem recently. The file was "myfile.zip.zip" The LEX did not like the two dot zips either. The LEX will update files but it needs to be a different name. A second version of Mydependencies.zip would need to be changed to Mydependencies_ver2.zip. Basically, change the name to someting different.

Let me know if you still have problems. I'll can give it a try. 

- Jim

Jim Myers  (5th member of SC4 Devotion)

CasperVg

Something else I've been working on lately.. Custom Groups, which allows uploaders to "tie together" certain sets of their uploads. For example, if some is uploading 5 lots that are supposed to be used together or belong together in some way, he/she can create a Custom Group for them.

Lots in that custom group will then have a "Click here to see other lots in this group" link in their description and you can use the Advanced Search form to search for all items in a certain custom group as well (which is what's shown on the picture below).

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Diggis

Quote from: jmyers2043 on January 18, 2013, 05:34:05 PM

The LEX is fussy about file names. I recall when I uploaded version 6 that I had to rename it. The first attempt was not accepted. I renamed it from 1.0.6 to 1_0_6. The most likely cause for an upload problem is the file name or there is another file with the same name. So any image file should not be named 'image1' as that has probably already been used. The LEX will not tell you what is wrong. Only that it has a problem.


The problem with this is probable the presence of . in the file name.   Many programs use that to look for the file extension directly after it, so having them as version or date separators can break things. I would suggest avoiding using them.  It's taken me 6 years at work, but we've finally fired everyone who does it.  :D

Also, on uploading using the same file name, don't include the version in the zip file name, just use it inside if you can.

CasperVg

Cough cough.. dependency tracking :)



Flags in the "Status" column are:
V/green: You have the latest version of this dependency
X/red: You do not have the latest version of this dependency
?/yellow: No idea, this dependency is on another exchange, so there's no way to track if you have it.

Flags in the "Cascading" (*) column are:
V/green for "No cascading dependencies"
X/red for "Cascading dependencies"
?/yellow for "No idea, the dependency is off-site"

(*) Cascading dependencies are dependencies of dependencies. So if the flag shows "X/red", it means that that dependency requires extra dependencies.

Hope you like this new feature.
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Girafe

The Floraler

This is the end, hold your breath and count to ten, feel the earth move, and then...

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *    *   *   *   *   *    * 

sunv123

Sound great, now I think we won't have to worry about people complaining about dependencies.
Provo, a city apart Updated July 4.

Yild

Quote from: sunv123 on February 03, 2013, 09:34:36 AM
Sound great, now I think we won't have to worry about people complaining about dependencies.

dream on :D
DAMN Manager download: at LEX at STEX
DAMN Manager support thread: at SC4Dev