Extensions Platform: Initial user interface #117285

New Issue

Dalai Felinto · 2024-01-18T15:34:48+01:00

Dalai Felinto commented

2024-01-18 15:34:48 +01:00

I updated the mockup to accomodate Pablo's feedback:

Repositories Menu:

Old mockup

This is a temporary (yet shippable) solution for the extensions interface.

Details:

When installing a new extension, it is enabled.
Although we can support installing/removing all extensions, the enable/disable (for now) is only for add-ons.

Extensions:

"Install from Disk", and "Check for Updates" go to the cog menu in the Extensions tab.

Add-ons:

No more official/community/testing, install and refresh
No more showing category on the headers (there are no categories for extensions).

I updated the mockup to accomodate Pablo's feedback: ![image](/attachments/64f787f4-e656-4caf-b46c-124d8cdf4842) Repositories Menu: ![image](/attachments/e6fc506b-9881-4482-a4ec-dff98f74122a) ------------- <details> <summary>Old mockup</summary> This is a temporary (yet shippable) solution for the extensions interface. ![image](/attachments/ad9310e7-1d55-4620-9430-d324c00b765c) ![image](/attachments/90e08fe3-71b2-4254-9953-46b571e46d05) </details> Details: * When installing a new extension, it is enabled. * Although we can support installing/removing all extensions, the enable/disable (for now) is only for add-ons. Extensions: * "Install from Disk", and "Check for Updates" go to the cog menu in the Extensions tab. Add-ons: * No more official/community/testing, install and refresh * No more showing category on the headers (there are no categories for extensions).

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Dalai Felinto added the

Type

To Do

label 2024-01-18 15:34:48 +01:00

Dalai Felinto added this to the Python API project 2024-01-18 15:34:50 +01:00

Dalai Felinto referenced this issue

2024-01-18 15:41:14 +01:00

Extensions Platform: Version 1 (alpha launch) #117286

Campbell Barton referenced this issue from a commit

2024-01-22 07:50:13 +01:00

UI: adjust the add-ons interface when extensions repositories enabled

Campbell Barton commented

2024-01-22 08:03:32 +01:00

Committed:

Currently there is no "Install to Disk" implemented for extensions, but that will be added.

Closing as complete.

Committed: - a1761b7c8c697cd1a9ec19a9347fe17a70f9dcb8 - https://projects.blender.org/ideasman42/bl_pkg/commit/2705981c6e84f8ccd7c85c4a89d993dd87904d4c Currently there is no "Install to Disk" implemented for extensions, but that will be added. Closing as complete.

Campbell Barton closed this issue

2024-01-22 08:03:57 +01:00

Blender Bot added the

Status

Archived

label 2024-01-22 08:03:59 +01:00

Campbell Barton commented

2024-01-22 11:33:25 +01:00

Re-opening, some issues remain.

Campbell Barton reopened this issue

2024-01-22 11:33:28 +01:00

Blender Bot added

and removed

labels 2024-01-22 11:34:34 +01:00

Dalai Felinto commented

2024-01-22 11:44:12 +01:00

Some of the remaining issues:

"Installed" text could be centralized to match the "Install" button (and drawn in gray instead of white)
Extensions tab should be closed by default
Categories still being used at the Add-on name (e.g., "Generic: Blender Kitsu")
Missing cog to go from extensions to the extension settings
We still show communuity/testing/... in the menu (and in their icons)
Missing "Update" button when there is a possible update for an extension
"Extension Repositories" to be renamed to "Repositories"
When seeing more details about an extension, I would call "Repo", "Repository" (turned between using a URL or a name there, but so be it)
We could probably also only show that line if there is more than one Repository enabled.

Some of the remaining issues: * [X] "Installed" text could be centralized to match the "Install" button (and drawn in gray instead of white) * [X] Extensions tab should be closed by default * [X] Categories still being used at the Add-on name (e.g., "Generic: Blender Kitsu") * [X] Missing cog to go from extensions to the extension settings * [x] We still show communuity/testing/... in the menu (and in their icons) * [X] Missing "Update" button when there is a possible update for an extension * [X] "Extension Repositories" to be renamed to "Repositories" * [X] When seeing more details about an extension, I would call "Repo", "Repository" (turned between using a URL or a name there, but so be it) * [X] We could probably also only show that line if there is more than one Repository enabled.

Campbell Barton referenced this issue from a commit

2024-01-23 05:23:46 +01:00

UI: rename extension repositories panel and close by default

Campbell Barton referenced this issue from a commit

2024-01-23 07:35:29 +01:00

UI: remove addons categories when extensions are enabled

Campbell Barton commented

2024-01-23 07:44:11 +01:00

Completed the TODO's except for one.

We still show communuity/testing/... in the menu (and in their icons).

While I've removed the support level in the UI, removing this from the filter UI means we have to make a decision for how they are accessed.

Completed the TODO's except for one. > We still show communuity/testing/... in the menu (and in their icons). While I've removed the support level in the UI, removing this from the filter UI means we have to make a decision for how they are accessed.

Dalai Felinto commented

2024-01-25 10:28:47 +01:00

While I've removed the support level in the UI, removing this from the filter UI means we have to make a decision for how they are accessed.

We can treat all these add-ons as bundled add-ons for now. They cannot be updated/removed, but can still be enabled/disabled.

That does mean the list of add-ons will be loooooooong, but we ignore this for now, until we can offer them via the extensions web-site.

That means the "category" and the "support" level could be removed (when the experimental option is on).

> While I've removed the support level in the UI, removing this from the filter UI means we have to make a decision for how they are accessed. We can treat all these add-ons as bundled add-ons for now. They cannot be updated/removed, but can still be enabled/disabled. That does mean the list of add-ons will be loooooooong, but we ignore this for now, until we can offer them via the extensions web-site. That means the "category" and the "support" level could be removed (when the experimental option is on).

Dalai Felinto commented

2024-01-25 10:32:05 +01:00

Updated UI mockup with integrated extensions installing and settings:

As an incremental step we will try to have this version in before we consider the approach of separating installing/remove/update in their own editor, and settings/enable/disable in user preferences.

Updated UI mockup with integrated extensions installing and settings: ![image](/attachments/d9692561-aa3a-4aab-a5e5-f3633e8575d0) As an incremental step we will try to have this version in before we consider the approach of separating installing/remove/update in their own editor, and settings/enable/disable in user preferences.

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Dalai Felinto commented

2024-01-25 12:45:37 +01:00

Just for the records (and so I can include the images on my weekly report, these were the visual explorations for what could be a more rich Extension editor in Blender.

Screenshot from 2024-01-16 17-45-13.png

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Screenshot from 2024-01-16 17-44-42.png

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Screenshot from 2024-01-16 17-45-26.png

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Pablo Vazquez commented

2024-01-26 12:41:20 +01:00

Just writing down the outcome of our in-person discussion:

Move repositories into a popover (opened by the gear icon)
Panel-less list of extensions
New dropdown button in the header, with operators (e.g. Install from Disk, Install from Clipboard)

Just writing down the outcome of our in-person discussion: * Move repositories into a popover (opened by the gear icon) * Panel-less list of extensions * New dropdown button in the header, with operators (e.g. `Install from Disk`, `Install from Clipboard`)

Dalai Felinto commented

2024-01-29 18:24:08 +01:00

I updated the mockup to accomodate Pablo's feedback:

Repositories Menu:

I updated the mockup to accomodate Pablo's feedback: ![image](/attachments/64f787f4-e656-4caf-b46c-124d8cdf4842) Repositories Menu: ![image](/attachments/e6fc506b-9881-4482-a4ec-dff98f74122a)

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Brecht Van Lommel commented

2024-01-29 18:33:38 +01:00

Regarding "Install from Clipboard". Maybe that is not a permanently visible button, but rather a popup asking, "Install Blender Kitsu add-on from extensions.blender.org?". Or something non-blocking but still prominent.

That way a user doesn't necessarily even have to open the preferences in the right place, and it's more convenient. The potential issue is that inspecting the clipboard may not be very efficient if there is a lot of text on it, even if it only happens on the Blender window gaining focus.

Regarding "Install from Clipboard". Maybe that is not a permanently visible button, but rather a popup asking, "Install Blender Kitsu add-on from extensions.blender.org?". Or something non-blocking but still prominent. That way a user doesn't necessarily even have to open the preferences in the right place, and it's more convenient. The potential issue is that inspecting the clipboard may not be very efficient if there is a lot of text on it, even if it only happens on the Blender window gaining focus.

Campbell Barton referenced this issue from a commit

2024-01-30 03:19:47 +01:00

Extensions: move repositories into a popover

Campbell Barton commented

2024-02-05 00:49:40 +01:00

Regarding "Install from Clipboard". Firstly, drag&drop a URL is likely to be the most convenient way to install extensions from a browser, it's a quick explicit action which I suspect would be the more common way of installing extension from a website.

Given that, I'd be wary of clipboard auto-detection (even if could be efficient), because any false positives are going to be annoying. It might even be that the user has two Blender's open... then gets the popup in both... or has to manually copy some text to clear the clipboard to stop the popup from running. Some false positive popups could be prevented by inspecting installed extensions but this has the opposite problem that in some cases auto-detecting might seem to be broken.

For an initial implementation I think it's enough that the clipboard is used to auto-fill the text for an operator, I've used some RSS readers that do this and found it convenient enough.

Regarding "Install from Clipboard". Firstly, drag&drop a URL is likely to be the most convenient way to install extensions from a browser, it's a quick explicit action which I suspect would be the more common way of installing extension from a website. Given that, I'd be wary of clipboard auto-detection (even if could be efficient), because any false positives are going to be annoying. It might even be that the user has two Blender's open... then gets the popup in both... or has to manually copy some text to clear the clipboard to stop the popup from running. Some false positive popups could be prevented by inspecting installed extensions but this has the opposite problem that in some cases auto-detecting might seem to be broken. For an initial implementation I think it's enough that the clipboard is used to auto-fill the text for an operator, I've used some RSS readers that do this and found it convenient enough.

👍 1

Campbell Barton commented

2024-02-05 01:05:16 +01:00

From the current proposal:

Although we can support installing/removing all extensions, the enable/disable (for now) is only for add-ons.

Last week the topic of removing extensions came up in a meeting with Dalai and we agreed to allow removing extensions from the UI, the rationale is:

It's possible to install an extension from disk, so not having a way to remove it means users are forced to do so by navigating the file-system.
Extensions are located in Blender's user directory (by default), which isn't so easy to locate/access depending on the OS.
Add-on users have been able to install and remove add-ons, something which has been working for years, preventing users from removing extensions seems like removing functionality.
If accidentally removing extensions for repositories that don't reference a remote URL is a problem, we could support setting the repository read-only.

We could make the UI clarify that this is an irreversible action, an additional confirmation could be used for instance.

From the current proposal: > Although we can support installing/removing all extensions, the enable/disable (for now) is only for add-ons. Last week the topic of removing extensions came up in a meeting with Dalai and we agreed to allow removing extensions from the UI, the rationale is: - It's possible to install an extension from disk, so not having a way to remove it means users are forced to do so by navigating the file-system. - Extensions are located in Blender's user directory (by default), which isn't so easy to locate/access depending on the OS. - Add-on users have been able to install and remove add-ons, something which has been working for years, preventing users from removing extensions seems like removing functionality. - If accidentally removing extensions for repositories that don't reference a remote URL is a problem, we could support setting the repository read-only. We could make the UI clarify that this is an irreversible action, an additional confirmation could be used for instance.

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2024-02-05 12:07:24 +01:00

I don't think I've ever used either drag & drop or a clipboard from a browser this way. So regardless if it's with clipboard or drag & drop, I guess there can be something on the website clearly explaining it, like you click something and it opens a popover explaining how to do it.

Dalai Felinto referenced this issue

2024-02-05 13:07:33 +01:00

Extensions Platform: Install via Drag and Drop #117843

Dalai Felinto commented

2024-02-05 13:10:37 +01:00

Closing this task for now. The remaining tasks are split into:

Closing this task for now. The remaining tasks are split into: * [Extensions Platform: Repositories - initialization and "Add" pop-up](https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/issues/117840). * [Extensions Platform: User Interface - Checkboxes, parenthesis and SPDX](https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/issues/117841). * [Extensions Platform: Install via Drag and Drop](https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/issues/117843).

Dalai Felinto closed this issue

2024-02-05 13:10:40 +01:00

Blender Bot added

and removed

labels 2024-02-05 13:10:43 +01:00

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