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Developer API
Topic Started: Jan 22 2016, 04:20 AM (3,161 Views)
BlueMatter
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addictiveStyles - o.O
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So in other words, Zetaboards is working on ways to make it easier to browse of your mobile devices?
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RedBldSandman
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Asante sana Squash banana
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Not exactly, the current major developments which have been mentioned would be:

  • Mobile Compatibility - This can itself be split into 2 stages:
    1. Tapatalk - The first "interim" stage is making ZB usable via the Tapatalk app on phones. This is more of a quick fix than a full mobile compatible version of ZB as it won't allow much customisation or the use of modifications. Current progress: Final stages, waiting for Tapatalk to sort out some stuff on their end and should hopefully be live soonTM
    2. Full mobile compatible site/app - The staff have alluded to a more comprehensive mobile version of ZB which would most likely be in the form of apps for different devices but could also be a more mobile friendly version of the current ZB forums. It's unclear whether they have a plan for how they want to achieve this or if any work has even been started on this. Current progress: Completely unknown

  • ZetaBoards API - An API is an "Application Programming Interface" and is really for developers/coders to use. It won't be used by your everyday visitor to a ZB forum and won't be used by most admins either. The API would let developers make much more advanced modifications for ZB compared to what we can do at the moment and also massively simplify the way we have to make lots of current codes. It would open up huge possibilities for what developers could do with ZB. A good way of thinking about it is "Modifications on steroids" as Quozzo put it earlier in the thread but it could be even more than that as you may not even have to be restricted to the current ZB forum structure anymore. The API was announced in 2009 but we received very little further information and have just in this thread been told that it will need to be completely redone (after 6-7 years of very little communication). We don't know what exactly is planned to be in the API which is why Viral brought up this topic. Current progress: Back to square one. Goodbye ZB coding community

  • ZetBoards Resource Database - The Resource Database (RDB) was an amazing idea. It would basically be a database of codes and forum themes which admins could select from inside their admin panel and add to their board. There would be no need to find a code, copy and paste it into your board template and then troubleshoot when something went wrong due to a different code on the forum. There would be no need to change absolutely everything you currently need to do for themes either, it would just be one click and your layout/appearance/icons would all be updated. A lot of work went into getting this ready and it was piloted for ZB Premium users with a small number of themes available to try it with. The ZNR Code Team was even made in anticipation of approving codes for this database and making sure they wouldn't interfere with other codes. However, an issue occurred and the RDB was "temporarily" disabled only to never be reactivated from what I understand. I don't believe we ever got any information about what the problem was and if the RDB was still in the pipeline. Current progress: Seemed so close to completion but now completely unknown. We just have a forum for the RDB Contributors joinable group which hasn't had any discussion since March 2012.

  • Security/Uptime - This is what we've been told has been the main priority for the past...5 years? Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but that's literally all that's been talked about. So ZB hopefully has more uptime and is more secure now. Cloudflare DDoS protection is now on ZB forums I believe and servers are up most of the time. There are probably lots of other fixes done in the background which we don't know about and I'm not the most up-to-date with any other information they released about security/uptime.Current progress: Also unclear but I would like to assume that they're always working on security/uptime fixes. No real communication that I can remember

I believe those are the major development focuses that have been talked about in the last 7-8 years (sorry if I missed any) but it doesn't seem like much has actually happened except some bug fixes and the rare list of updates that Brandon posts every few years (like the class bbcode). I don't want to devalue how important service uptime and security are but these seem more like baseline "keep-up-to-date" upgrades rather than announcement level updates for people to actually look forward to. As a developer, there has just been so much disappointment in these years with promise after promise followed by no communication at all.

The major issue in my eyes is that ZB have destroyed their coding community or are very close to doing so. There has been nothing new for developers to use for years and now I'm not sure how many developers would even be around to use the ZB API if they did release it. There are some pretty good coders still around doing great work but lots of that is actually hindered by ZB; for example, I believe the recent new reuse of member ids messed with Viral's extensive ZB Dynamo modification and probably with other modifications which aren't looked after anymore. I have may not have got the details exactly right but the major issue is that there was no communication about the change before it happened so developers are just stuck with it. Why would anyone want to develop for free for a platform where there's no new tangible development updates, no communication about when/what they'll be and no communication about backend changes which could affect your modifications anyway? The only reason I can think of is if you own a ZB board or have already invested time in the platform. So when the developers who have invested that time decide it's time to stop (which many have), where will the new coders come from? I feel like modifications are a key part of ZB, allowing board owners to massively customise their boards and achieve their desired look/feel/functionality; it would be a massive shame if this wasn't the same in the future which is where I feel we're currently heading.
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Quozzo
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By the blood of Sanguinius!
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Couldn't. Agree. More.
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Stephen
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Twilight is upon me, and soon night must fall.


RedBld: Thank you for the comprehensive guide.

The RDB- It's the back end that's been tied up. Basically, the current backend requires Brandon to review and approve all work- which for obvious reasons, we do not want. That is why development focused on a backend tool that would allow for other staff to review and approve these submissions and therefore keep things moving. So the good news there is the RDB does not need to start over. The bad is that it does still require some development before it is finished.

The API- The staff share your frustration on this one. But the existing work simply wasn't feasible going forward. I'll come back to this after addressing the others, because it's important to understand why the API's priority shifted so drastically.

Mobile App- This one has undergone several developments and several developers. Ultimately, the decision for tapatalk was based on getting something out to all platforms quickly. Had we gone with the original plan- it would have just been iPhone initially as that was the app that was developed. Android was to follow and then likely Windows. This was put on the backburner when tapatalk approached us and the staff felt it was the best way to accomplish the goal of a mobile platform as quickly as possible.

Security and Infrastructure- The servers ultimately are the biggest X factor with anything. We can plan as much as we want, but if those machines go down, everything gets dropped until they are up and running. That might be what you refer to with the past 5 years, but the security we are talking about is much more recent. If you recall last November, a lot of servers were suffering severe downtime due to a malicious attacker. We did what we good with the existing measures, but that was not enough. So we went to Cloudflare rather quickly. As most with custom domains know, this fix was imperfect and we have been working with Cloudflare for the past year to resolve these issues. That resolution involves some server work that will occur hopefully within the next month or so. The bonus is that once all of this is complete, both of our developers will be able to focus their time more on what our users want- features and major improvements like the API.

We fully get that the code community has been waiting and many have moved on. We still want to get the API released. Whether that means it will release and never be used or if its' release will pique the curiosity of others who have left to return and try remains to be seen. The API remains a top goal for many staff and a priority overall, but it is not at this juncture the top priority for the network.
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Viral
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Viral
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Any idea what the API will offer developers?
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Quozzo
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By the blood of Sanguinius!
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  • I'm hoping it will allow some meta data to be stored so that awards and another info can accessed by the plugin. Similar to another forum software.
  • Being able to pick them out of a library and install them directly, like discussed, would help board admins too.
  • Pulling some info from the server directly would be a great boon, like checking what joinable groups someone is in, but if multiple plugins call it then it only needs to request that info once as it would be cached.
  • Using websockets or similar would be sweet too, but I'm probably getting a head of myself.
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skyline.
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I've been on InvisionFree since 2004. With all due respect for everyone who has ever contributed to ZetaBoards and still making progress on the development side: The duration of time it takes to ever complete any promises worthwhile our time and effort will never come in time. A lot of talented people have already left this community because they saw no change and couldn't be bothered to wait. Those few who still code, design and develop will eventually follow the lost ones as well once they realize it'll take ages for the progress to be completed.

The first two-three years when ZetaBoards was released were awesome. All those talented people, resources and codes being released every week, etc. 'Sadly' people grow up and lose interest while ZetaBoards doesn't 'grow up' and make progress.

It's been a while since ZetaBoards started to die and it's only the fault of those promises never happening. I'm not a coder, nor am I a great artist with talent. But it's a shame you guys never did something to keep that user base.
Edited by skyline., Feb 17 2016, 03:36 PM.
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Stephen
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Twilight is upon me, and soon night must fall.

Quozzo
Feb 17 2016, 08:40 AM

  • I'm hoping it will allow some meta data to be stored so that awards and another info can accessed by the plugin. Similar to another forum software.
  • Being able to pick them out of a library and install them directly, like discussed, would help board admins too.
  • Pulling some info from the server directly would be a great boon, like checking what joinable groups someone is in, but if multiple plugins call it then it only needs to request that info once as it would be cached.
  • Using websockets or similar would be sweet too, but I'm probably getting a head of myself.


I will pass these suggestions on to Brandon. The good news is that since the redone API's development has not commenced, he may be better able to accommodate these requests.

skyline.
Feb 17 2016, 03:33 PM
I've been on InvisionFree since 2004. With all due respect for everyone who has ever contributed to ZetaBoards and still making progress on the development side: The duration of time it takes to ever complete any promises worthwhile our time and effort will never come in time. A lot of talented people have already left this community because they saw no change and couldn't be bothered to wait. Those few who still code, design and develop will eventually follow the lost ones as well once they realize it'll take ages for the progress to be completed.

The first two-three years when ZetaBoards was released were awesome. All those talented people, resources and codes being released every week, etc. 'Sadly' people grow up and lose interest while ZetaBoards doesn't 'grow up' and make progress.

It's been a while since ZetaBoards started to die and it's only the fault of those promises never happening. I'm not a coder, nor am I a great artist with talent. But it's a shame you guys never did something to keep that user base.


It is true that a lot of people have left. Since 2003 when I joined, I can name dozens of designers and coders who have made their mark on this service and moved on, either through better prospects (full time jobs, family) or because they were no longer interested in designing for this software. At the same time, many of these talented people left behind detailed guides for others to learn from and continue their work. Those who have left the development of Zetaboards left behind many guides for coders and theme designers in order to keep that knowledge alive. And new people have continually appeared every few months with an interest in continuing that work. If the tools are made and people are interested, then they will use them.

Have coders left due to the limitations of the software? Sure. Is that why most left? Not according to the ones I knew well. For them, it was about moving on with family and career and simply no longer having time with what for them was a hobby.

As we've stated in this topic, the staff understand your frustrations and we sympathize. But, the simple fact of the matter is that unless someone is willing to pay for another developer, the development cycle will remain as it is. There are at least three members of our team, including myself, who have degrees in computer science and could contribute- but financially that's not possible for us. I myself am currently on the hunt for a new job as the current one I have is ending in May. Others are finishing up their education. We do not have the time to dedicate to develop for this software. And we have tried doing part time developers before- and the results were not promising. As mentioned, once we get the current infrastructure project finished, more development time will be freed up. But until this is done, features like the API will have to wait. There are many things currently in development and we believe many users will find these features extremely valuable. And while we absolutely agree that the API has value, it will not be developed until these other projects are completed first.

Because that was the initial focus of this topic, I am going to be closing it for now. Once we have more information regarding the API's development and what it will contain, a member of the staff will reopen this discussion.
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