Extension Manager (ExtMan)

[Kunda1]

I'm not certain of this, but does Extension Manger list the version numbers of each addon?
An offtopic aside: In you opinion, how can we get those versions to be added and listed in the Std_About dialog?

[mnesarco]

I don't know to much about Std_About, What I know is that extensions (Workenches, Macros, Themes, And Mods without workbenches) has no standard metadata from where we can extract version number in a reliable and efficient manner. Someone suggested to use the git hash, but it looks pretty ugly and uninformative for final users. What I think (And it is just my opinion) is that FreeCAD requires to enforce a standard metadata on extensions.

The way that the current AddOnManager (And ExtensionManager in order to be compatible). extract some metadata from extensions is using regular expressions against some files including python sources. It is a kind of brute force method. I hate it but I implemented it in the Extension Manager in order to make it to work the same as the AddonManager in the begining and with the intention to modify it later. That is why it is abstracted as protocols in the ExtensionManager. Currently extension are imported also from wiki pages which is horrible. In the ExtensionManager I also install some extensions from Git but obtain the metadata from the mediawiki All of this crazyness is because we have no standard, enforced, mandatory metadata on extensions.

[Kunda1]

All of this crazyness is because we have no standard, enforced, mandatory metadata on extensions.

OK, lets start.

[mnesarco]

OK, lets start.

In the ExtMan itself, I drafted some initial idea of a metadata file:

https://github.com/mnesarco/FreeCAD_Ext ... nifest.ini

It needs to be generalized to support:

- Macros
- Workbenches
- Mods without workbenches
- CSS Themes?

There are other options like existing metadata schemes and package managers: setuptools (pip), conda, conan...

[Kunda1]

OK, lets start.

In the ExtMan itself, I drafted some initial idea of a metadata file:

https://github.com/mnesarco/FreeCAD_Ext ... nifest.ini

It needs to be generalized to support:

- Macros
- Workbenches
- Mods without workbenches
- CSS Themes?

There are other options like existing metadata schemes and package managers: setuptools (pip), conda, conan...

I think CSS Themes should definitely be included.
I guess we need to create or use an pre-existing issue in the FreeCAD-Addons repo to track migration to this new metadata file format.

[HakanSeven12]

Nice work

[bernd]

Does the Extension Manager uses the same git repo as the AddOn manager?

[mnesarco]

Does the Extension Manager uses the same git repo as the AddOn manager?

Yes it does. But it does not relay on html parsing.

[bernd]

Thanks.

Is there a special reason why the ExtensionManager is not installabble by the AddOn manager even if he would bury the AddOn manager or better to inherit the AddOn manager ...

[mnesarco]

Thanks.

Is there a special reason why the ExtensionManager is not installabble by the AddOn manager even if he would bury the AddOn manager or better to inherit the AddOn manager ...

ExtensionManager IS installable from AddOn Manager, just add the github repo to the custom repositories in AddOn Manager.