LG Addon Updater v1.0.2 Notify users of ExpressionEngine extension, module and plugin updates

Download LG Addon Updater v1.0.2 Table of contents

Features

LG Addon Updater is an extension that allows 3rd party ExpressionEngine developers to notify users of updates to installed addons (plugins, extensions, modules).

All developers have to do is register their addons using a couple of simple hooks and an xml file. LG Addon Updater downloads the xml which contains information about the developers addons and compares it to the currently installed versions. The xml file is cached for a user determined period of time and any updates displayed to the use on the CP homepage.

LG Addon Updater is MSM compatible and can be enabled on a per site basis.

Screenshots

Requirements

LG Addon Updater requires ExpressionEngine 1.6+ and either CURL or fsockopen() enabled.

Installation

The LG Addon Updater extension contains an extension and language file. To install LG Addon Updater follow the instructions below:

Download the latest version of LG Addon Updater
Extract the .zip file to your desktop
Copy extensions/ext.lg_addon_updater_ext.php directory to your /system/extensions directory
Copy the language/english/lang.lg_addon_updater_ext.php file to your /system/languages/english directory
Open the Extension Manager
Enable Extensions if not already enabled
Enable the extension
Configure the extension settings

Configuration

LG Addon Updater has the following extension settings which need to be entered separately for each site:

Check for updates
Cache timeout
Check for extension updates

Check for updates?

Check third party developers websites for updates to their extensions.

Cache Timeout

How many minutes you like the update check cached for? The more time the results are cached the less your CP homepage will need to check third party sources.

Check for Lg Addon extension Updates?

LG Addon Updater can call home and check to see if the extension has been updated.

Usage

LG Addon Updater is not designed to be implemented by site administrators or end users. It is a developers extension written to facilitate easy delivery of update notifications when an ExpressionEngine addon is updated.

To include a new addon in the update check you must first register a source file and addon id with LG Addon Updater.

Creating a source file

A source file is just a simple XML file that lists all a developers addons with version numbers, last updated UNIX timestamp and documentation url. It looks like this:

<versions>
    <addon id='LG Addon Updater' version='1.0.1' last_updated="1219175483" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressionengine/lg-addon-updater/" />
    <addon id='LG Add Sitename' version='1.2.2' last_updated="1219175483" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressionengine/lg-add-sitename/" />
    <addon id='LG Better Meta Commercial' version='1.6.2' last_updated="1219175483" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressionengine/lg-better-meta/" />
    <addon id='LG Member List' version='1.3.3' last_updated="1219175483" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressionengine/lg-member-list/" />
    <addon id='LG Member Form Customiser' version='1.2.1' last_updated="1219175483" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressionengine/lg-member-form-customiser/" />
    <addon id='LG Multi Language' version='1.0.2' last_updated="1219175483" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressionengine/lg-multi-language/" />
    <addon id='LG Polls' version='1.1.0' last_updated="1219175483" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressionengine/lg-polls/" />
    <addon id='LG Social Bookmarks' version='2.0.1' last_updated="1219175483" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressionengine/lg-social-bookmarks/" />
    <addon id='LG TinyMCE' version='1.3.3' last_updated="1219175483" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressionengine/lg-tinymce/" />
    <addon id='LG Twitter' version='2.0.1' last_updated="1219175483" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/cms-customisation/expressionengine/lg-twitter/" />
</versions>

The source file must contain a root <versions> node and at least one <addon> child node.

The <addon> node must have the following attributes:

id
version
last_updated
docs_url

id

A unique id for your addon. This id is the same used in the lg_addon_update_register_addon hook.

version

The current addon version.

last_updated

The time the addon was last updated in UTC as a UNIX timestamp. Why a UNIX timestamp? Well its the best way to ensure that all users see a correct localised time.

docs_url

The URL where the addon documentation and download is available.

Registering your addon

LG Addon uses ExpressionEngine's extension hook system to make registering a new addon super easy. The two new hooks you will need are lg_addon_update_register_source and lg_addon_update_register_addon.

lg_addon_update_register_source

This hook registers a new source file. This hook returns data so make sure you check if anyone else is using the hook by testing $EXT->last_call.

An example of the function called by the lg_addon_update_register_source hook:

/**
* Register a new Addon Source
*
* @param    array $sources The existing sources
* @return   array The new source list
* @since version 1.0.0
*/
function register_my_addon_source($sources)
{
    global $EXT;
    // -- Check if we're not the only one using this hook
    if($EXT->last_call !== FALSE)
        $sources = $EXT->last_call;

    // add a new source
    // must be in the following format:
    /*
    <versions>
        <addon id='LG Addon Updater' version='2.0.0' last_updated="1218852797" docs_url="http://leevigraham.com/" />
    </versions>
    */
    if($this->settings['check_for_extension_updates'] == 'y')
    {
        $sources[] = 'http://leevigraham.com/version-check/versions.xml';
    }
    return $sources;

}

lg_addon_update_register_addon

This hook registers a new 3rd party addon. This hook returns data so make sure you check if anyone else is using the hook by testing $EXT->last_call.

An example of the function called by the lg_addon_update_register_addon hook:

/**
* Register a new Addon
*
* @param    array $addons The existing sources
* @return   array The new addon list
* @since    Version 1.0.0
*/
function register_my_addon_id($addons)
{
    global $EXT;
    // -- Check if we're not the only one using this hook
    if($EXT->last_call !== FALSE)
        $addons = $EXT->last_call;

    // add a new addon
    // the key must match the id attribute in the source xml
    // the value must be the addons current version
    if($this->settings['check_for_extension_updates'] == 'y')
    {
        $addons[LG_AU_addon_id] = $this->version;
    }
    return $addons;
}

More Examples

The best example of how to register your addon is to look at the LG Addon extension source code. The extension actually registers itself to check for updates so use it as an example.