0002883: Testing releases in Doomseeker settings should be enabled and set to a default directory for ease of use

Notes
(0015945) unknownna (updater) 2016-10-13 02:56	Yes, for casual users willing to test this is a must. I do all of my testing manually, but I could see how it would probably help development tremendously in the long run to simplify this process as much as possible, particularly since I recently found a spawntelefrag bug that would've, and should've been very easy to spot by a small group of testers. Here are some issues I expect casual users to encounter with how it currently works: * If people don't specify a testing directory manually initially, they're greeted with an error that tells them to select a directory when attempting to join a testing server. * When agreeing to go and select a directory, it presents them with Doomseeker's folder instead of Zandronum's. Now the user either has to hunt for Zandronum's installation folder or set a testing directory elsewhere, which can be surprisingly difficult for some, and I assume that most people wouldn't want the testing builds to be located too far away from the main engine folder. * When they find Zandronum's folder, they might double click it rather than selecting it, and when inside Zandronum's folder, there's no testing folder present, potentially confusing the user even further causing the user to abort and not bother. Here are my proposals to make it easier and quicker to join a testing session: * Doomseeeker should automatically set the main engine folder as a testing folder or create a subfolder in there called "testing" and move all builds there. It is safe to assume that most people look for zandronum.exe before attempting to set a testing directory, so if they didn't specify a testing folder before looking for zandronum.exe, it should automatically use zandronum.exe's folder or create a "testing" subfolder in there. I noticed that Doomseeker automatically finds zandronum.exe if it's installed in the program files folder, so it should also automatically create a corresponding testing folder for that. * Additionally on a larger scale perhaps in the future, all the Zandronum developers should upload all alpha/beta builds, including small test builds, to the same place where Doomseeker can identify and download them for other users so that testers don't have to look for, download and manually set the directories for the builds themselves. Right now, seemingly all of the unofficial testing builds are hosted on mediafire or dropbox for instance, making it hard to get other users into your game quickly if you want to test something on a larger scale. Imagine being able to simply go on IRC and say "Hey guys, I need some help to test this with x amount of players. The server name is "Debug Server", get in." and then the testers would simply double click on your server, having Doomseeker identify and download the build for them, without them having to manually download or configure a thing. Now that'd be great.

(0016063) Zalewa (developer) 2016-10-19 17:14 edited on: 2016-10-19 17:14	Quote from "unknownna" * Doomseeeker should automatically set the main engine folder as a testing folder or create a subfolder in there called "testing" and move all builds there. It is safe to assume that most people look for zandronum.exe before attempting to set a testing directory, so if they didn't specify a testing folder before looking for zandronum.exe, it should automatically use zandronum.exe's folder or create a "testing" subfolder in there. I noticed that Doomseeker automatically finds zandronum.exe if it's installed in the program files folder, so it should also automatically create a corresponding testing folder for that. * This may not work on Windows if user has Zandronum installed in Program Files directory. This directory is not writable for non-privileged users. We had the same problem when Doomseeker was saving its configuration file to its directory - people put Doomseeker in Program Files and the configuration wouldn't save. There was much grief because of that. As we want to improve the testing feature for people who don't know how to navigate the file system, defaulting to Zandronum's installation directory is not a good idea. We must default to Doomseeker's subdir in %LOCALAPPDATA%. * This will not work on Linux because Zandronum, like any well-behaved Linux application, is sprawled around the /usr dir, which is not writable for non-privileged users. We must default to Doomseeker's subdir in ~/.local. Fortunately, both cases are covered by Qt which allows to fix this problem with a single line of code in a multi-platform way. Moreover, the setting will not be changed for people who already have Doomseeker. Changing user settings once the application is installed is rude. So, the fix will work only for newcomers. I don't know how many of those we are getting nowadays. Quote from "unknownna" * Additionally on a larger scale perhaps in the future, all the Zandronum developers should upload all alpha/beta builds, including small test builds, to the same place where Doomseeker can identify and download them for other users so that testers don't have to look for, download and manually set the directories for the builds themselves. Right now, seemingly all of the unofficial testing builds are hosted on mediafire or dropbox for instance, making it hard to get other users into your game quickly if you want to test something on a larger scale. Imagine being able to simply go on IRC and say "Hey guys, I need some help to test this with x amount of players. The server name is "Debug Server", get in." and then the testers would simply double click on your server, having Doomseeker identify and download the build for them, without them having to manually download or configure a thing. Now that'd be great. It might be good to create forums thread for this idea as it will be lost here.

(0016075) Zalewa (developer) 2016-10-21 20:48 edited on: 2016-10-21 20:56	Why the problems that I think will be the easiest to solve always cause me the most grief? Egh... Preparing kermit:'https://bitbucket.org/Doomseeker/doomseeker/commits/72a4610fb37da006ba855bbbf48ff4f1e5e540c5 [^]' (needed 3 compilers, 2 versions of the framework and 1 virtual machine to confirm that this is a correct fix) Actual solution kermit:'https://bitbucket.org/Doomseeker/doomseeker/commits/e4b3c9db49892494a08d9597ad2ac47204a96c9c [^]' Now, I think it might also be beneficial to mark the testing servers somehow, for example by painting an ugly 'T' over the game engine icon for each testing server on the server list.

(0016076) Zalewa (developer) 2016-10-22 09:46	Additional commits: 1. Paint 't' over server icon:'https://bitbucket.org/Doomseeker/doomseeker/commits/8c70a5f578f2b0dd2168e0e2cf50ad43425b6f8c [^]' 2. "Local appdata" changed to "My Documents" for default testing binaries storage:'https://bitbucket.org/Doomseeker/doomseeker/commits/0e5134eb9cf07b2c5277ae977825fa5f7c545406 [^]'

(0016141) Zalewa (developer) 2016-11-02 20:03 edited on: 2016-11-02 20:07	Newest version available on the beta update channel should now have this feature. Please test. This can be tested by removing the config or removing the "EnableTesting" and "TestingPath" settings from [Zandronum] section of doomseeker.ini.

(0017133) DrinkyBird (reporter) 2017-04-15 11:46	Works on Windows, testing is enabled by default and the path defaulted to C:/Users/Sean/Documents/doomseeker/plugins/zandronum, and builds download and launch correctly.

(0017137) Zalewa (developer) 2017-04-15 15:22	Thanks!

This issue is already marked as resolved. If you feel that is not the case, please reopen it and explain why.
Supporters:	Marcaek DrinkyBird Unknown Soundwave unknownna
Opponents:	No one explicitly opposes this issue yet.

Issue History
Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2016-10-11 15:07	Marcaek	New Issue
2016-10-11 15:58	Dusk	Project	Zandronum => Doomseeker
2016-10-13 02:56	unknownna	Note Added: 0015945
2016-10-19 17:14	Zalewa	Note Added: 0016063
2016-10-19 17:14	Zalewa	Note Edited: 0016063	View Revisions
2016-10-20 20:44	Zalewa	Assigned To	=> Zalewa
2016-10-20 20:44	Zalewa	Status	new => assigned
2016-10-21 20:48	Zalewa	Note Added: 0016075
2016-10-21 20:48	Zalewa	Status	assigned => needs review
2016-10-21 20:56	Zalewa	Note Edited: 0016075	View Revisions
2016-10-22 09:46	Zalewa	Note Added: 0016076
2016-11-02 20:03	Zalewa	Note Added: 0016141
2016-11-02 20:03	Zalewa	Status	needs review => needs testing
2016-11-02 20:07	Zalewa	Note Edited: 0016141	View Revisions
2017-04-15 11:46	DrinkyBird	Note Added: 0017133
2017-04-15 15:22	Zalewa	Status	needs testing => resolved
2017-04-15 15:22	Zalewa	Fixed in Version	=> 1.1
2017-04-15 15:22	Zalewa	Resolution	open => fixed
2017-04-15 15:22	Zalewa	Note Added: 0017137
2017-04-30 11:59	Zalewa	Relationship added	has duplicate 0003064
2018-09-29 14:24	WubTheCaptain	Status	resolved => closed
2018-09-29 14:37	WubTheCaptain	Target Version	=> 1.1