Topic prefixes now available

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DavidIQ
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Topic prefixes now available

Post by DavidIQ »

A few months ago we had completed the official Topic Prefixes extension, with its creation intended for use here on phpBB.com in the Extension and Styles development forums. We are proud to announce that this extension has been configured for immediate use in the Extensions in Development forum by everyone that either creates a topic or modifies their initial post to change their topic prefix:
topicprefixes.png
When creating a topic for developing an extension there has always been a topic prefix requirement, but with the advent of extensions this has become a little difficult for users simply looking for extensions that apply to their particular major version, be it 3.1, 3.2, and beyond since extensions are what's available for both 3.1 and 3.2 and any major phpBB version beyond that. Some extensions might work fine with both 3.1 and 3.2 while others either only work with 3.1 or only work with 3.2. With the availability and usage of these prefixes now any user can look at the list of Extensions in Development topics and figure out if it applies to their version or not by looking at the title.

There are a few options to choose from so here are some examples to give the general gist of it:
  • [3.1][DEV] - The extension is in development and targets the 3.1 platform.
  • [3.1][3.2][RC] - The extension is in release candidate stage and targets 3.1 and 3.2.
  • [3.2][ALPHA] - The extension is in the alpha development stage and targets the 3.2 platform.
  • [BETA] - The extension is in the beta development stage and works on any version. (Use sparingly and knowingly)
The explanation of what DEV, ALPHA, RC, etc. actually represents in the extension's development process is in the aforementioned rules.

If you run into any issues using the topic prefixes or have any comments on changing something regarding the implementation of this extension and its features please let us know.

Note that this extension is available in our Customisations Database here: https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/exte ... cprefixes/
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david63
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by david63 »

Not sure I quite follow this.

Take for example [3.2][RC] - does that refer to phpBB 3.2-RC or is it saying that the extension is at RC stage for use on phpBB 3.2?

Would it not be clearer if it was [3.2 RC][DEV]etc. meaning that the extension is at DEV stage and works on phpBB 3.2-RC?
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by DavidIQ »

It would be that it works with 3.2 since we are not requiring the specific release version in the prefix, i.e. you don't need to have 3.1.10 or 3.2-RC2 as the prefix. The major release version should suffice for purposes of taking a glance at the topics list and determining if the user should even look at the extension for their own usage.
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by MattF »

Normally you can just use the standard issue
[RC], [DEV], [BETA] etc...

And by normally I mean you are developing for the currently released version of phpBB. As of today that is still the 3.1 branch.

If you want to be more specific about which version you are developing for, your branch options are:
  • [3.1][DEV] a dev version for phpBB 3.1 and not tested on anything higher (ie: 3.1 only).
  • [3.1+][DEV] a dev version for phpBB 3.1 AND higher versions (ie: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3).
  • [3.2][DEV] a dev version for phpBB 3.2 and not tested on anything higher or lower (ie: incompatible with phpBB 3.1).
The idea is communication, so nobody installs a [3.2][DEV] labeled extension on a phpBB 3.1 board, for example.
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by DavidIQ »

Thanks. I've modified the first post to have more clarifying information as I obviously didn't do a good job of explaining the purpose/usage of this. :?
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by RMcGirr83 »

And if the extension works on both 3.1 and 3.2?
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by DavidIQ »

Then 3.1+ would be the option you'd want. Haven't really decided if we just need to split that off into [3.1][3.2] instead of [3.1+].
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by HiFiKabin »

DavidIQ wrote:Then 3.1+ would be the option you'd want. Haven't really decided if we just need to split that off into [3.1][3.2] instead of [3.1+].
I would think that most users would think ]3.1.+] would just apply to the 3.1.x branch

[3.1][3.2] is much clearer IMHO
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by RMcGirr83 »

Agree, 3.1+ means, at least to me, will work on any 3.1 version.

Dare I ask what happens if an extension works on 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 4.0? :lol:
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by DavidIQ »

Well once 3.1 reaches the point in the maintenance and release schedule (which will probably be adjusted) where no more extensions are accepted for it the prefixes will be adjusted so 3.1 is no longer a selectable option. Same for 3.2, 3.3, etc. as we progress through the versions. Extension authors shouldn't feel the need to support those versions, but the free-for-all [DEV], [ALPHA], [BETA] and [RC] options are still available as well which should indicate it works with any version.
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by Paul »

Or I guess you can use no version prefix at all? :)
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by david63 »

DavidIQ wrote:... we are not requiring the specific release version in the prefix, i.e. you don't need to have 3.1.10 or 3.2-RC2 as the prefix.
But specific versions can be necessary when an extension is dependant on events being added in a particular version.
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by DavidIQ »

david63 wrote:But specific versions can be necessary when an extension is dependant on events being added in a particular version.
Yes, the author has a field for specifying specific versions in the first post of the topic. This really isn't for that. It's more a way to tag extensions for 3.1, 3.2, etc.
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by DavidIQ »

HiFiKabin wrote:[3.1][3.2] is much clearer IMHO
I've now changed the [3.1+] prefixes to be [3.1][3.2] for better clarity.

Thanks for the feedback, and Rich as well.
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Re: Topic prefixes now available

Post by 3Di »

Well done, useful.

It would have been nice to have also the" Extension's topic starter template" too.
But that's another story.
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