FeatureScript: Version control identification

tabetha_bulnes

I just wanted to share what we will be implementing in our FeatureScripts going further.

We were having an issue in which users are not always aware of what version of a FeatureScript they are running and if you only have view only access to a document there is no option to check a version by right clicking on it. This meant I either had to wait until I could get write access to the document or copy the tab and paste the tab into a document I had access to. This is all wasted time on my end and the users end. So I am now adding the following to the bottom of all our future FeatureScript releases





The icon is a screenshot of the Onshape Version and History Icon and the versioning is the Wrapper Release Letter followed by if there has been a Hot Fix and our lower document version number. We are using an Enum as Enums allow for an Icon.

export enum versionNumber
{
    //RevLetter.HotFixNumber.Internalversion.(Optional)Test
    //example of release C.0.23
    //example of Test E.2.125.Test.01
     annotation { "Name" : "F.0.23" }
    VERSION
}


precondition
{
....

 annotation { "Name" : "Version", "UIHint" : UIHint.READ_ONLY, "Icon": VERICON::BLOB_DATA }
        definition.version is versionNumber;
}

S1mon

Maybe I'm completely missing your point, but isn't the blue update icon next to the Featurescript (in the toolbar and the feature list) if it's not the latest?

tabetha_bulnes

So we run and release FS within our Enterprise. We have an admin who releases the FS and that release will be the version that is then pushed to the Enterprise toolbar. 

So there four scenarios in which this need came about:
1. If there is an issue with a FS, I am contacted and there times where I am given view only access to the document. Because it is view only the blue icon will not always generate if the FS is not pointed to the released FS nor can I check the release by right clicking on the FS. I will either have to request edit rights or if I have rights to make a copy I will have to copy and paste into a document where I have edit rights just to tell the user they need to update. In view only I can open the FS so having the version number at the bottom allows me to quickly diagnose if this is the issue. 

2.Another case is that we have tester for updates on these FS and these testers will always have a blue icon because their version does not match what is the released version. So even though the test version is the latest version it will still be a blue icon. Checking to make sure that the testers are on the right version is not always intuitive to the user because Onshape wants to force the FS to the released version and so I receive many questions from the tester asking for me to verify if they are on the correct test version

3. We use wrappers for all our FS, this now gives developers a quick way to identify what version of the lower level FS that we are using for the wrapper without having to track it down through the wrapper. 

4. Lastly, I am considering adding this as an attribute and add it as a quality check that we perform on our models. When your tree becomes long, it is sometimes easy to miss if the user is on the latest released FS. By adding an attribute that can be pulled into a table (or an app checker) we can verify quickly that no out of standard items are pushed out. 

MichaelPascoe

Nice!