Apps/plugins and Invision Community 5

[Matt]

Hi all,

This is just a quick post to let you know that while stand-alone plug-ins are deprecated in version 5, there is no need to convert your plugins to applications right now.

There are significant changes coming to how third party templates and code interacts with the v5 framework changes which means any plug-in or application will need a lot of work for Invision Community 5. Simply converting a plug-in into an app won't future proof it, so it is a waste of your time at this point.

We're in the very early stages of making these framework changes but will get information to you as soon as we have everything figured out.

Also a reminder that v4 will have a multi-year deprecation, and we expect to work on both v4 and v5 for quite a while with a fairly slow migration over to v5 for the first chapter of its life, so I would think the majority of sales would still come from v4 for at least another year or so.

Thanks!

[Nathan Explosion]

While there is no 'need', we can do it if we wish though - I've had the time in April to do this, so getting something that I've planned anyway out of the way. Makes it easier for me.

 

[Stuart Silvester]

Sure you can go ahead and do it, but sit on releasing it until you have something meaningful to include. Whether that be bug fixes or enhancements. Releasing only this change is a waste of time for our reviewers and for customers.

[IPCommerceFan]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Princess Celestia]

@Matt: The deprecation tracker currently says:

Quote

Any existing plugins can easily be ported to applications and we encourage third-parties to start the process as soon as possible.

If converting plugins to applications now in preparation for v5 is a waste of time as you say, you may wish to clarify the guidance on the deprecation tracker, which makes it sound worth going out of one's way to do ASAP. 🙂

[shahed]

i think this part is more important for me to know. and thanks for letting us know.

21 hours ago, Matt said:

Also a reminder that v4 will have a multi-year deprecation, and we expect to work on both v4 and v5 for quite a while with a fairly slow migration over to v5 for the first chapter of its life, so I would think the majority of sales would still come from v4 for at least another year or so.

i have practically abandoned a half-baked set of new templates for Pages app after the "V5 plugin-defunct" news. didn't know if it's worth to continue since aside all re-work and more re-work for V5, more important question for me was at the end, this resource meant to be sold for how long at all. so you know... better wait to continue at the start of V5. knowing this slow migration to V5 make me to re-schedule times to resume this as soon as possible. really good decision so thanks for that as well. 👍

Also Pages app will be around for V5 i assume? 😁

[Randy Calvert]

Yes, Pages will continue in v5!  🙂 

[Matt]

11 hours ago, Princess Celestia said:

@Matt: The deprecation tracker currently says:

If converting plugins to applications now in preparation for v5 is a waste of time as you say, you may wish to clarify the guidance on the deprecation tracker, which makes it sound worth going out of one's way to do ASAP. 🙂

That's correct, v5 won't have a concept of stand-alone plug-ins. But there's two things to keep in mind:

1) v5 will have numerous changes to how applications are developed (significant changes to template hooks and code hooks)
2) v4 will still allow plugins, and will be supported and heavily used for at least a few more years.

So moving plug-ins into applications for v4 is a waste of time unless you have a major update or other compelling reason. Just moving the code from a plug-in into an app because a different version of the software with a different set of development tools won't support plug-ins is not helping you or us.

Moving v4 code based plug-ins into applications for v5 will not help, as the code will not work with v5, so right now it's a waste of time.