update-electron-app Add option for including release notes in update dialog

Just wondering if showing the release notes when prompting the user to restart is on the roadmap? Release notes would be taken from the github release.

Here's a potential mock-up with a toggle to show/hide:

release-notes

An option could toggle whether to show them or not:

require('update-electron-app')({
  repo: 'ummoji/ummoji-desktop',
  releaseNotes: true
})

Even if release notes are turned on they would only be shown if there are actually release notes associated with the release. The release notes would probably need to be contained with a maximum height and overflow content should scroll because otherwise the height of the dialog may be too large. Perhaps this should be configurable or perhaps not.

Apr 22 '18 11:04 davej

@davej I'm in favor of this. Do you want to give it a try?

Apr 23 '18 16:04 zeke

@zeke Ok, I could have a go at the JavaScript stuff. I think the collapsible release notes would require changes to Electron core and some C code though. Any tips on that? Or perhaps there's a way to approach it without touching Electron core?

Apr 23 '18 16:04 davej

Windows also has the concept of collapsible text in a dialog. Perhaps this would be a useful addition to Electron core? It's much nicer UX than plonking all the release notes inline on a dialog. Is it worth me opening an issue on Electron Core?

Apr 23 '18 17:04 davej

Or perhaps there's a way to approach it without touching Electron core?

Yeah that would be ideal. Since this is designed for use with GitHub Release, we could also offer the user a link to the release page... 🤔

@MarshallOfSound @zcbenz is there a way to know at app startup that the app itself was recently updated? Don't see a hook for that in the autoUpdater docs.

Apr 23 '18 20:04 zeke

@MarshallOfSound @zcbenz is there a way to know at app startup that the app itself was recently updated? Don't see a hook for that in the autoUpdater docs.

The native auto-update frameworks used in Electron do not provide the functionality, it is usually implemented in apps by storing current version in a configuration file.