Updating Extend-A-Story

[Sir Toby]

As I mentioned in another thread, I am working on migrating Sir-Toby.Com to another hosting provider. Part of this work will require some changes to Extend-A-Story. I am starting the process of digging into the Extend-A-Story source code and making the necessary changes.

If you are interested in following the development process of Extend-A-Story, I suggest checking out the Extend-A-Story project page on SourceForge. I will most likely not be updating this thread with progress reports on Extend-A-Story development as the Extend-A-Story project page provides ample opportunity to follow the development process in way more detail than I could ever hope to accomplish through this post.

The primary improvements I am looking to make to Extend-A-Story include fixing the bug discussed in this thread, and sending notification emails in such a way that doesn't get them marked as spam. I have a few other ideas that I may implement as well, but nothing nailed down yet.

If you have suggestions for changes you would like to see in Extend-A-Story, now is a good time to make such suggestions since it is easier to make changes when I am already working with the code. My preferred place to track such requests is in the bug tracker and feature request tracker available from the Extend-A-Story project page. However, if you prefer to make such requests in this forum, I will do my best to create requests in the appropriate tracker. A number of feature requests already exist in the feature request tracker, so you may want to take a look there first and make a note of any features you would like to see implemented. Don't hesitate to make some noise if there is something you would like to see implemented. I will most likely prioritize items based on how many people are interested in them.

I'm not going to guarantee that any requested changes will be implemented at this time. My primary goal is to migrate Sir-Toby.Com to another hosting provider, so my focus is on changes needed to make that happen. If you are so inclined, you are welcome to submit patches on the patch tracker for changes you'd like to see. It is easier to get things added if someone else is willing to do some of the work. The very first thing I plan on doing is to convert the version control system I'm using from Subversion to Git. If you are interested in submitting patches, I suggest waiting until this process is complete as Git will make it easier for me to deal with patches.

[JH]

"If you have suggestions for changes you would like to see in Extend-A-Story, now is a good time to make such suggestions since it is easier to make changes when I am already working with the code. My preferred place to track such requests is in the bug tracker and feature request tracker available from the Extend-A-Story project page."

Note that before one can do this it looks like it's necessary to set up a Sourceforge user ID. Othersise you get an error message saying "Artifact: This ArtifactType Does Not Allow Anonymous Submissions. Please Login."

[Sir Toby]

Note that before one can do this it looks like it's necessary to set up a Sourceforge user ID.

Sorry I forgot to mention that. I have configured the Extend-A-Story trackers to prohibit anonymous submissions because SourceForge recommends that to encourage participation in projects and prevent spam. If there is a strong desire for anonymous submissions, I can reconsider that decision.

[Ben McClellan II]

I have a suggestion:

How about more backgrounds for the Never Ending Quest to go along with the three original ones we all know so well?

[Ben McClellan II]

Heh heh...my apologies.

I didn't see the answer to my old post on the NEQ board before I posted here. Oh, my face is so red now...

[Sir Toby]

I have a suggestion:

How about more backgrounds for the Never Ending Quest to go along with the three original ones we all know so well?

This is totally possible. The current template for episode color schemes uses a background color, background image (optional), text color, HTML link colors (unvisisted, visited, and active), and images for the three types of episode links (uncreated, created, back link). If you are willing to work within the current template for episode color schemes, it won't require any code changes. If that is the case, such a discussion probably belongs with the applicable stories. I will cross post the relevant information to the NEQ thread along with additional information I need for adding additional episode color schemes.

[Sir Toby]

The very first thing I plan on doing is to convert the version control system I'm using from Subversion to Git. If you are interested in submitting patches, I suggest waiting until this process is complete as Git will make it easier for me to deal with patches.

The conversion from Subversion to Git is complete. If you are interested, you can see details about the Git repository here: https://sourceforge.net/scm/?type=git&group_id=63727

[Sir Toby]

As I mentioned in another thread, I am working on migrating Sir-Toby.Com to another hosting provider. Part of this work will require some changes to Extend-A-Story. I am starting the process of digging into the Extend-A-Story source code and making the necessary changes.

Well... The last post in this thread was about 10 months ago. I have not forgotten about updating Extend-A-Story and migrating Sir-Toby.Com to a new hosting provider. In fact, I have slowly been working on an updated version of Extend-A-Story. While I did get distracted by another project for a few months, I've been hard at work during the past month updating Extend-A-Story.

I am nearing the release of version 2.2.0 of Extend-A-Story. In preparation, I have updated the beta test story with the latest code. Assuming everything goes well with the beta test story, I will release version 2.2.0 and update The Never Ending Quest and The Black Void to use the new version.

If you can spend some time poking at the beta test story and let me know if anything seems wrong, I would greatly appreciate it. I have done a great deal of testing with the latest code, but it is always good to have as many people as possible testing the code.

Sadly, there aren't any cool new features you will get to play with with this new version. This version is primarily about updating Extend-A-Story to work with my new hosting provider. However, there have been numerous improvements made to the code that should make it easier to add new features in the future, so I hope to work on new features after I migrate Sir-Toby.Com to a new hosting provider.

[Sir Toby]

I just fixed a bug related to displaying all of the back links leading to an episode. Looks like my development machine behaves a bit differently than the Sir-Toby.Com server so there might be other problems that only show up on the Sir-Toby.Com server.

[JH]

Both Ben and I have posted a couple of episodes to the beta story, and there seems to be nothing obviously wrong. When I extended one of my own episodes I duly received an email notification, so that function works.

[Sir Toby]

Both Ben and I have posted a couple of episodes to the beta story, and there seems to be nothing obviously wrong. When I extended one of my own episodes I duly received an email notification, so that function works.

Thank you for your testing effort. Everything I've tested looks good as well. I will release Extend-A-Story version 2.2.0 later today and will plan on updating The Never Ending Quest and The Black Void tomorrow.

Upgrading The Never Ending Quest and The Black Void will require a small amount of downtime for those two stories while I perform the upgrade. My current plan is to perform the upgrade on Friday, August 10th, starting no earlier than 4:00 PM UTC and ending no later than 5:00 PM UTC. Do not be alarmed if you are unable to access those stories during this time. I will update this thread when the upgrade is complete.

[JH]

Thanks.

[Sir Toby]

I have finished upgrading The Never Ending Quest and The Black Void. They are both now running Extend-A-Story version 2.2.0. I have done some basic testing and everything appears to be working.