Question Addon requiring 100704 or later

[rstarkov]

I've almost finished an addon that uses the new Sketchpad APIs. Unfortunately I didn't realise the oapiCreate/ReleaseBrush was missing from the official Orbiter 2010 release until way into it.

If the next release is expected relatively soon I'll just wait a bit. But if the wait is going to be long I'm tempted to release anyway saying "BETA 100704 REQUIRED" or something.

Are there any rough ideas as to how long the wait might be?

 

[RisingFury]

Do not release addons compiled against BETA Orbiter versions.

 

[jedidia]

Unfortunately I didn't realise the oapiCreate/ReleaseBrush was missing from the official Orbiter 2010 release until way into it.

errr wait... You're saying that some API-calls got missing in the release?

 

[rstarkov]

Yes, unfortunately... http://www.orbiter-forum.com/project.php?issueid=431#note2690

If anyone could give a hint as to when this might be available in an official release that would be rather handy. It wouldn't be too hard to change this all back to GDI+, though it _would_ be rather a waste of time if the release is just around the corner

 

[Lucy]

The calls weren't "missing", but were added later as part of an update to Orbiter.

Orbiter is in constant development, and things like this will happen a lot, but it is important not to release addons which depend on beta versions of the API, because they're subject to change without notice, and the beta versions are not the released versions.

As for another release, that is as always up to Martin, and we all find out about new releases at the same time. A little patience is required, or you can remove the beta API calls and link against the stable libraries to release it now, and update the addon later with the added features.

 

[rstarkov]

Given that there's no way to create oapi::Brush other than the calls that were added later, I think calling them "missing" is justified I'm sure they were meant to be included straight away, but must have slipped between the cracks.

Anyway, where's the best place to subscribe to in order to be notified of a non-beta release?

 

[jedidia]

Given that there's no way to create oapi::Brush other than the calls that were added later, I think calling them "missing" is justified I'm sure they were meant to be included straight away, but must have slipped between the cracks.

I am still confused. You're saying that the calls were added in the beta, but for some reason went missing again in the Orbiter 2010 release. I cannot find any information that would confirm that, and there seem quite a lot of people using those calls. So I wonder where you take the idea from that they have droped out of the code again after their introduction. The thread you are refering to, where they said that the function was added, is almost a month older than the Orbiter 2010 release...

edit: sorry, I get it now... I had a confusion with the date formate, europeans write first the day, then the month, so I messed up the dates inside my head and thought the thread you linked to was older than the release.

So, the functions where only lately implemented. Still, you can use sketchpad pretty well without them. I'd suggest finishing your addon without the use of different brushes, then update it once an official patch is out. Releasing it for the beta is virtualy futile, since nobody that doesn't yet have the Beta will get it just to run your addon, especially not so short after the release of Orbiter 2010.

 

[rstarkov]

You're saying that the calls were added in the beta, but for some reason went missing again in the Orbiter 2010 release.

I'm saying that they were added in the 100704 beta, which was published after the offical 2010 release. Hope that clears it up

 

[RisingFury]

If anyone could give a hint as to when this might be available in an official release that would be rather handy.

Like always... Tuesday! :thumbup:

 

[rstarkov]

I had a confusion with the date formate, europeans write first the day, then the month, so I messed up the dates inside my head and thought the thread you linked to was older than the release.

Yeah, those numbers are a bit hard to read. I wish it was written like "2010-07-04", aka the ISO 8601 format. At least we're lucky it's not the US month-day-year, which would have been 070410

Still, you can use sketchpad pretty well without them. I'd suggest finishing your addon without the use of different brushes, then update it once an official patch is out.

A crucial part of the UI requires filled regions, so the only realistic possibility is to go back to GDI. Or wait - but nah, that could take a while.

Like always... Tuesday! :thumbup:

LOL

 

[orb]

I think you can release it for beta testing on the forum, as an attachment to a post, or on some file server with posting a link to it, and noting that it requires 100704, but wait with releasing it on OHM (or on other add-on repositories) until next stable version of Orbiter is announced. Some people will download it and test, like they tested for example OGLA, when Orbiter_ng was still in beta, and they may find some eventual bugs before your official release.

Yeah, those numbers are a bit hard to read. I wish it was written like "2010-07-04", aka the ISO 8601 format. At least we're lucky it's not the US month-day-year, which would have been 070410

They aren't hard to read at all. They simply increase with number sorting order, and it's good (for example for file or directory sorting). If it's still confusing, you can treat it like a version, i.e. 060929 = 6.9.29, 100606 = 10.6.6, 100704 = 10.7.4.

Just be happy there were no releases in 1999. :lol:

 

[garyw]

The simple lesson here is to always compile against the current RELEASED version, never the BETA.

There is some talk of an Orbiter 2010P1 or similar so you might want to pause development of your addon until the next formal release. The only other option is to not use the API calls that are not in the current released version.

Unfortunately, as wth any BETA, there are no guarentees that something in a BETA will be in a released version and even when the next version of orbiter is released those API calls might not be available.

 

[rstarkov]

The simple lesson here is to always compile against the current RELEASED version, never the BETA.

Ah but that's exactly what I did initially before I got into this The offical released version of Orbiter 2010 has public constructors for all Sketchpad primitives, and the documentation doesn't make it clear that those are not to be used to instantiate them.

As it happens, my initial tests used default fonts and green pens, so the fact that the constructors didn't actually do what I thought they did was totally masked :/

Anyway, thanks for everyone's replies. I'll switch back to GDI then because it sounds like 2010P1 is not even on the radar yet.

 

[orb]

The simple lesson here is to always compile against the current RELEASED version, never the BETA.

There is some talk of an Orbiter 2010P1 or similar so you might want to pause development of your addon until the next formal release. The only other option is to not use the API calls that are not in the current released version.

I disagree. Was development of OGLA paused until official release of non-graphics Orbiter server, or why it was even started before Official release of 100606. It wouldn't be possible to compile it against RELEASED version, but only with BETA. Does only "Beta Tester" tag allow you to release a mod on forums for beta testing it?

My point is, the development shouldn't pause at all, but only the official release should be paused, which permits releasing betas of the add-on.

Unfortunately, as wth any BETA, there are no guarentees that something in a BETA will be in a released version and even when the next version of orbiter is released those API calls might not be available.

The functions mentioned that are present in beta, were just overlooked in the stable release, and they should stay in 2010P1.

 

[garyw]

Very fair points Orb and I should amend what I said to say that if you compile against a BETA you should compile against the released version and expect potential issues.