[FEATURE] Include configurations to disable/throttle appearance

[ryanraposo]

It would be awesome if users of the package (and their extensions) had an easy, 'official' way to control appearance of the page.

For the end-users, it might manifest as two settings:

extension.showWhatsNew (true/false)

extension.whatsNewThreshold ('patch', 'minor', 'major')

@alefragnani I'd love to hear what you think about implementation for this. Could be a combination of snippets, instructions, or more tangibly but I think this would help adoption and be appreciated by users :)

[alefragnani]

Hi @ryanraposo ,

I think, if the package would let the end user to control if the What's New page should be displayed, I wouldn't create another setting. Instead, I would use the already existing "update.showReleaseNotes" setting, from VS Code itself. This is based on the feedback from some users, which don't like the page 😃 .

Defined as true, the package works as today, showing the What's New page on Major and Minor releases (remember, patches are silent). Defined as false, it never shows.

But, this feature must be opt-in. The extension author needs to enable it while initializing/registering the package. By default, it should be disabled, and the user wouldn't be able to decide if the What's New page will be displayed or not, when a new version (Major or Minor) is installed.

The threshold setting, on the other hand, I don't think is necessary.

Hope this helps

[ryanraposo]

Hi @ryanraposo ,

I think, if the package would let the end user to control if the What's New page should be displayed, I wouldn't create another setting. Instead, I would use the already existing "update.showReleaseNotes" setting, from VS Code itself. This is based on the feedback from some users, which don't like the page 😃 .

Defined as true, the package works as today, showing the What's New page on Major and Minor releases (remember, patches are silent). Defined as false, it never shows.

But, this feature must be opt-in. The extension author needs to enable it while initializing/registering the package. By default, it should be disabled, and the user wouldn't be able to decide if the What's New page will be displayed or not, when a new version (Major or Minor) is installed.

The threshold setting, on the other hand, I don't think is necessary.

Hope this helps

Thanks! Solid points and drawn from collected feedback, can't go wrong.

In my project I think I'm going launch it with a specific, substantial feature release and experiment with two things:

• On that launch, show a notification that asks if they want to continue being informed about releases
• The threshold/enable configs wired to "Show more", "Show less", "Disable" options on the page every time

I'll let you know what I learn from feedback in return :)

EDIT: I just realized only the second one would be necessary 😅

[ryanraposo]

I'm also very interested in automation for this feature in general, so I'll share any of that with you too. Thinking about workflows for targeted releases, with drop-in for screenshot demos, blurbs, etc.

Basically, automate quick prep of "fancy" editions that show something off.

[ryanraposo]

I'm going to try very hard to remember my bias, because over the course of about 100 'Whats New in Bookmarks' I had no thoughts other than 'damn thats clean. I need something like that.' 😂

Edit: feel free to close this issue :)

[alefragnani]

That't great!

I suggest you to take a look at two issues the VS Code team itself has about this. One is basically what we are talking about here (microsoft/vscode#110507), the other is more like a "native" alternative this this repo (microsoft/vscode#102139).

Neither one is planned for upcoming releases (just Backlog milestone for now), but are very rich in details and feedback.

I have no intention in replace this package once microsoft/vscode#102139 is released. But I keep my eyes on it. Maybe I use it somehow 😬 .

Hope this help

[alefragnani]

There is no need to close the issue, if you intend to contribute to the package 😬

[ryanraposo]

@alefragnani so appreciated. thanks. 🙏I'll be keeping an eye out for what you decide on re: the incoming official stuff! And for contributing, I plan on taking what we've talked about, trying my hand in my own extension's context, and then opening a PR here depending on how it all goes.

[alefragnani]

That's great. Looking forward about how it goes.

Thank you!