I am ready to publish a major update for my extension. I have the new .rbzpackage ready, and I want to make sure I handle the transition from the old version to the new one correctly in the Extension Warehouse.
I have a few specific questions regarding the “Developer Center” workflow:
1. Linking Versions: If I already have a published version (v1.0), do I create a brand new “Draft” page for v2.0, or is there a way to “Edit” the existing listing and upload the new .rbzthere? How does the Warehouse know that v2.0 is the direct successor to v1.0 so that the**“Update” button** appears in the user’s Extension Manager?
2. Forcing the Update / Disabling the Old Version: We want to ensure that all users move to the new version because of critical backend changes.
Is there a way within the Extension Warehouse portal to “deprecate” or disable the old version immediately upon the new one being certified?
Does the Extension Warehouse have a “forced update” mechanism, or is it purely up to the user to check their manager?
Hello @form3d
Thank you for getting in touch and congratulations on having an update to your extension.
In answer to your question posed in point 1, you are correct.
If you go to the My Extensions section and then create a New Draft of your extension this will allow you to upload the new RBZ file for us to review.
Once this is accepted you will have the option to publish this. After that, users will see that an update is available to their extension.
If you chose to upload this as a new extension, e.g. not as a new draft, it will be treated as a completely separate extension.
In regards to forcing the update or disabling the older version, I’m afraid this isn’t something that we cater for within our platform. It is however something you could include within the extension programming yourself. Extension developers that do not host on Extension Warehouse often include call backs to their server to check for updates that notify the user. You could do something like this to allow you to notify users of your extension of updates and messaging.
FYI, SketchUp Extension Manager has a built-in notification that will display upon startup if any of the installed extensions have an update available. The user can choose to ignore this notification or open the Extension Manager window and manually update whichever extensions are advertising new versions.