Kodi Community Forum

I have a small addon (almost) ready that checks the installed version against an included file in JSON format.
If it finds that you are running an older build than is specified in the file it throws a pop-up advising you to upgrade to the next available stable/rc/beta/monthly build that is available.
Of course with some smart checking that it doesn't tell you to upgrade to a beta if you have a stable installed.
Tested from Eden11.0-beta1 and up.

Updating this fairly simple, just update the include file with the new build versions and push update to repo.
If some one has disabled their auto-updating of addons they are of course out of luck but i guess they are missing a lot of other updates as wel like scrapers.
So with this there is no callback to the server needed at all. The file is in JSON format so if decided it should be hosted on our server that's of course possible too with a small script adjustment. I think just pushing an update when needed is less stressing on our servers than the script keeps checking it online.

User can select if it will ignore the next available update so he won't be bothered until there's a succeeding one available. If they won't want to receive notifications at all they can always just disable the addon. It will run as a service at startup or once a week (can be hardcoded configured of course).

Distribution for older builds is as easy as putting it in repo and add this as dependency of our default scraper for example so it will be installed for everyone (in that case we need to detect that it's actually using our versioning so it won't bother people running OE for example).

Thoughts opinions if this is something we want (so i know if need to finishing it)?

I'm not sure this is worth doing if we don't actually have the ability to do the update.

I'm picturing win32. I'm in the kitchen and it pops up that I have an update. I never saw it. If it keeps popping up, that's really irritating. If not, there was no point. Best-case I suppose is a label somewhere in settings saying "a newer version is available".

Ideally if we were going to do this, it'd be paired with an update feature as well.

Middle-ground (once we get addon api dependency stuff worked out) would be to say something like "this addon has an update available, but your version of XBMC is too old".

@theuni

a line in system info next to current version maybe?

Well the dialog is a yes/no dialog so it stays there and you will see it eventually. If you happen to reboot in between without seeing it it will still show because you didn't accept the message.
I don't really agree that it should be paired with an update ability. It just tells you "hey there's a new update, might wanna check it out".
More programs d it like this without any actual upgrade facility besides going to the website and download it.


@line in system info.
How many of the average Joe users will go to that screen in their perfectly fine running install? My guess is very little.

I'd suggest a line in system info would be next to useless. My bet is 95% of users don't even know that screen exists, and of the 5% that do, 95% would never bother going there again once they went their once.

The idea is a useful first step, however, regardless of whether or not an update facility is in place. It should be optional.

I'd suggest a notification seems to be the most appropriate place - it's unobtrusive. It could then pop up once a week which seems like a suitable checking interval - user can always turn it off.

Then, if/when the notification system is improved so that previous notifications are available for viewing somewhere, the whole thing starts working a bit nicer.

Perhaps we should simply create some file, possibly something as simple as a text file that says the current stable version number, and see what ideas the community can come up with for add-ons? As long as a method to check is in place, all sorts of ideas could be explored for how to notify, how to integrate with the skin, etc, and a lot less leg work and guessing on our part.

Seems reasonable to me.

(2013-03-19, 20:14)theuni Wrote: [ -> ]I'm not sure this is worth doing if we don't actually have the ability to do the update.

I'm picturing win32. I'm in the kitchen and it pops up that I have an update. I never saw it. If it keeps popping up, that's really irritating. If not, there was no point. Best-case I suppose is a label somewhere in settings saying "a newer version is available".

Ideally if we were going to do this, it'd be paired with an update feature as well.

Middle-ground (once we get addon api dependency stuff worked out) would be to say something like "this addon has an update available, but your version of XBMC is too old".

Opera for example does a popup on start where it states it is to old and a link you can press to fetch a new one. Obviously they can rely on the fact that they are a browser and that the user will be able to install when it has downloaded. Although I think we could do something similiar without it being annoying.

E.g. A dialog which popups on start/resume stating "There is a new version of XBMC available, please visit xbmc.org to find out how to update". with one OK button and a "Don't remind me again" checkbox.

Seems like the last three posts all agree on what i already have working in an addon (like i already said earlier)

So i guess i'll finish it up and post it here together with some screenshots and see what you guys think.

Like this





Quick, clear and simple.
Of course the first line depends on what you have currently installed.

Nice!

I like it

Here's something to test with what you think.

What it does is:

• check version installed
  
• compare to available list
  
• show an ok dialog with the advice
  
• ask if you want to disable notification
  
• only show a notification dialog on login and every 24hours if enabled (can be adjusted ofcourse)
  

dialogs/notifications are not displayed and on hold during playing a video

Only for:


Version file:
versions.txt

Github:
service.xbmc.versioncheck

Eden:
service.xbmc.versioncheck-0.0.1

Frodo/Gotham:
service.xbmc.versioncheck-0.1.1

[WIP] same thing for linux, but uses the system repositories/ppa via apt:

https://github.com/wsnipex/service.xbmc....checklinux

can be extended to do the upgrade directly.

(2013-03-24, 17:59)wsnipex Wrote: [ -> ][WIP] same thing for linux, but uses the system repositories/ppa via apt:

https://github.com/wsnipex/service.xbmc....checklinux

can be extended to do the upgrade directly.

We could as well combine this into one script if you want?
Should be quite easy judging from the code adjustments you did.