Welcome to the new FlexRadio Community! Please review the new Community Rules and other important new Community information on the Message Board.
If you are having a problem, please refer to the product documentation or check the Help Center for known solutions.
Need technical support from FlexRadio? It's as simple as Creating a HelpDesk ticket.

API Change Notification

Paul Christensen, W9AC
Paul Christensen, W9AC Member ✭✭
edited May 2020 in New Ideas
If not already implemented, it may be worthwhile for Flex to publish contemplated API changes (and some non-API  components) in advance of any SSDR release as part of its FlexADP partnership program.  This would give 3rd-party application developers advance notice of any upcoming SSDR change(s) that will impact the performance their programs.  In doing so, a developer is constructively placed on notice of a future change, allowing him or her to modify their application rather than discover a compatibility issue on the day of a new SSDR release.  Flex need not contact these developers; the onus is placed on the developer to check a designated area on the Flex website concerning upcoming changes.  If this is already part of the FlexADP program, that's great and please ignore this request.  Many thanks.

Paul, W9AC
2 votes

Open for Comments · Last Updated

Comments

  • Mark_WS7M
    Mark_WS7M Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 2016
    I was hoping to see an updated API and Wiki too.  The Wiki needs serious work as many pages are completely missing.
  • Mark_WS7M
    Mark_WS7M Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 2016
    Ok that was NOT there when I checked yesterday...  Thanks Tim!
  • k3Tim
    k3Tim Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Hi Mark,

    There seems to be no indication on the download lists this is available. I found it by using the next / previous in the download page.

    k3Tim
  • Tim - W4TME
    Tim - W4TME Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited December 2016
    You can find all 1.6.17 related software by searching on the version number.
  • Eric-KE5DTO
    Eric-KE5DTO Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited February 2017
    Good idea about notification of API changes.  While we don't send anything out like this today, we do avoid breaking backwards compatibility if we do have to change an API.  This is definitely an area where we could improve our communication.  I'll run this back to the team and we will try to come up with the best way to do this.  Thanks for the idea.  #2875
  • Steve-N5AC
    Steve-N5AC Community Manager admin
    edited February 2017
    Paul, this is a completely valid request.  I think some of what you're seeing is growing pains.  We are working with several of the active developers to get them advance information, but we've not been as good at keeping the wiki updated.  We've pulled some developers into the Alpha program almost as self-defense (so they get information as quickly as we have it and can test against the apps).  Unfortunately, there is a cost to having too many people on the Alpha team and we've resisted adding every developer to the team.  There is no "hurdle" to becoming a developer on our platform since there is no cost, the API is open, etc.  We could easily end up in the same situation other companies have where people join the developer program simply to have early access to code and then become a support burden.  So I'mm spend some time thinking about how we can do this better.  I do want to continue to increase our support for developers, especially if I can do it without a huge additional load on our team.
  • Johan Schepers PA3AIN
    edited March 2017
    When I my own app's recompiled with the new DLL”s, there where different  problems.

    I have via “Try and Error” my app's rewritten.

    A list of changes would be nice…


    Johan PA3AIN

  • Eric-KE5DTO
    Eric-KE5DTO Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited December 2016
    Johan,

    If you are using the FlexLib library, the source is available on the download page.  You could certainly download versions and run a diff across them to see any relevant changes to the DLL source if that would help.

    Again -- we hear you loud and clear that an API change document upon release would be nice.  Thanks for chiming in and for using the API.
  • rfoust
    rfoust Member ✭✭
    edited December 2016
    I use git to see the differences.  Just commit the prior version to a new local repo, then overwrite with the new files and use a gui GIT app like Sourcetree (it's free) to see what has changed.

    Then the next time a new flexlib is released, commit the changes from the prior release, and repeat.
  • Mark_WS7M
    Mark_WS7M Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 2016
    Hi Eric,

    Thanks for chiming in on this thread.

    Is there a particular reason that when the API is downloaded there is no master solution to group the projects for a build?

    I realize you can copy the individual projects over to your project and reference them but it is still nice to know the primary API builds.  I've created my own solution for this but just wonder why that is the case?

    Also the lib references ionic.zip which is not supplied with the lib.  Novice API users might not know where to get that.  I would also suggest as part of the API change document perhaps a section on preparation to build and what you need to get and where.

    Thanks again for a wonderful product.  Lots of fun to work with.

Leave a Comment

Rich Text Editor. To edit a paragraph's style, hit tab to get to the paragraph menu. From there you will be able to pick one style. Nothing defaults to paragraph. An inline formatting menu will show up when you select text. Hit tab to get into that menu. Some elements, such as rich link embeds, images, loading indicators, and error messages may get inserted into the editor. You may navigate to these using the arrow keys inside of the editor and delete them with the delete or backspace key.