Extension naming convention...

[rob2e]

Hey all. Not sure if this has ever been brought up before but, I wish there was a uniform naming convention for EXTENSIONS.

I have EIGHTY-FIVE extensions in my extension folder, and ya, I get that I'm a freak, but it really does get crazy when I go to load FG and not only do the extension file names not match what their titles are on the launch screen but in most cases, the file name and/or the title doesn't really accurately describe what the extension does.

Wouldn't it be FANTASTIC if all extensions followed a specified format so everyone understood without hesitation what the extension was for and what it did as you were loading it from the launch screen?

An example would be name both the file name and the title in a manner similar to:

File Name:
Author - Ruleset - Name of Extension (by clearly saying what it does).ext
Extension Name:
Author - Ruleset - Name of Extension (by clearly saying what it does)

Thoughts?

[damned]

Is the Author name nearly as important as Ruleset? Is it even needed in the filename or extension name?
Its generally a better practice to not include any spaces in filenames for best compatibility.

[viviolay]

I like Name of Extension - Ruleset personally i.e. "Clock Adjust 5e" vs "Clock Adjuster PFRPG2".
Since I have extensions that have different versions per ruleset (like the above) and I like them being clustered together in my extension load list when I'm picking. I also like extension names to be as short as possible and I already remember which author made what without the need of listing it in the name.

[LordEntrails]

I enjoy annoying Rob. He's funny when annoyed. How about if each extension file name is created with a random string generator? And then extension names could be something completely unrelated and useless. Like "MyExtension1"?

Actually, I would love a standard naming convention.
- No spaces
- No special characters
- Ruleset name (if CoreRPG then maybe no ruleset tag?) Before or after ok, but consistency would be nice!

IMO, the most important thing is that the Filename match the Extension name, which matches the forum thread Title. Or at least really close.

[SirMotte]

I really understand your idea, but this is hardly enforcible. Also (am I right with this?) the launcher Window does not allow to be scaled, so it is cutting off the extensions names if they are too long.

That aside, something like this for filename and extension name would be nice imo:

[Ruleset]_[Purpose]_[UsefulName]_[OptionalAddition]_[Version]_[byAuthor].ext

Examples:

• Core_Theme_SageShampoo_BleachEdition_v0.8_bySirMot te.ext
• 5E_Automation_OverpoweredMuderHobo_KillOnSight_v1. 3_bySirMotte.ext
• MoreCore_UI_SoManyButtons_RemovesThemAll_v0.2_bySi rMotte.ext

Within FG this should be somewhat adopted, but with more freedom.
Examples:

(Core) Theme loaded: Sir Motte's incredible Sage Shampoo - Bleach Edition/r
Version 0.8 - Who said age would make one wiser?/r
The brightness is over 9000! Also FG looks a lot nicer now.

(5E) Automation loaded: Sir Motte's Muderhobo instagib extension/r
Version 1.3 - What!? You had dialog prepared?/r
Explodes enemies on sight, if mask sensitive.

(MoreCore) UI Extension loaded: Sir Motte's So many Buttons Removal/r
Version 0.2 - Finally! UI is useless, but clutter free!/r
Clears the UI of everything, how cool is that?

Love your extensions btw , had to rename them all though .

Best
SirMotte

Edit: For whatever reason the Forum decides to add spaces into the name, ignore them.

[Trenloe]

Don’t include version numbers or anything similar in the extension filename or extension name, this either makes it hard to determine which extension you’re loading (different file name) or you need to manually disable old versions and enable new versions in FG (different extension name). So, best to stick with the same file name and extension name. Put the version in the chat announcement and extension.xml version tags.

[SirMotte]

Don’t include version numbers or anything similar in the extension filename or extension name, this either makes it hard to determine which extension you’re loading (different file name) or you need to manually disable old versions and enable new versions in FG (different extension name). So, best to stick with the same file name and extension name. Put the version in the chat announcement and extension.xml version tags.

I find this to be rather useful when looking if an extension has recently been updated. The other way around I either have to look into the xml or launch the extension to determine this. This feels a lot more tedious to me, to be honest. Also in terms of data management, using only one file, with the same name if duplicated elsewhere, is a big no no. If things go wrong you're kinda ##### if you don't version your backups.

[esmdev]

Thoughts?

To be honest, I like your format for naming, with an exception... the recent XP extension name is so long I thought it was a joke at first.

[Trenloe]

I find this to be rather useful when looking if an extension has recently been updated. The other way around I either have to look into the xml or launch the extension to determine this. This feels a lot more tedious to me, to be honest.

I agree. But underlying issues are frequently caused by having different extension file names or extension names. We’ve had to support issues with these over the years - people don’t know which extension they’ve actually loaded (because they copied over a file with a different filename, but FG doesn’t know which one to use) or suddenly their extension stops working.

You can always look at the date stamp on the file you downloaded and then update with the extension if it was released after that date stamp.

The technical issues are much worse in the long run, than the inconvenience of checking in a chat window or checking a date stamp. And the version in the chat window,is actually a great troubleshooting tool to really determine which extension is loaded - "hey, what does it say in the chat window?"

So, again, a very strong recommendation - do not put version names/numbers in an extension filename or extension name.

[SirMotte]

I agree. But underlying issues are frequently caused by having different extension file names or extension names. We’ve had to support issues with these over the years - people don’t know which extension they’ve actually loaded (because they copied over a file with a different filename, but FG doesn’t know which one to use) or suddenly their extension stops working.

You can always look at the date stamp on the file you downloaded and then update with the extension if it was released after that date stamp.

The technical issues are much worse in the long run, than the inconvenience of checking in a chat window or checking a date stamp. And the version in the chat window,is actually a great troubleshooting tool to really determine which extension is loaded - "hey, what does it say in the chat window?"

So, again, a very strong recommendation - do not put version names/numbers in an extension filename or extension name.

I might miss your point here.
If the file name and extension name are both changed accordingly, does this still pose the same problem?
An Author would have to make sure that all versioning mentions within the extension are updated ofc.
With my examples this would be 3 entries. File Name, Extension Name and FG Text.