Showing Release Notes for a given Version in the app

[Legi428]

Hey! Looking through the API fetch for the versions in the Updates tab, I noticed a section for release notes:

"releaseNotes": {
    "url": "https://storage.googleapis.com/live-platform-resources-prd/templates/assets/6000_1_0a2_aba23c7824/6000_1_0a2_aba23c7824.md",
    "type": "MD"
}

If we follow the link we can see that the entire file is markdown (also indicated in the json as well as the file extension). I think this would be a great way to easily display a popup-window inside the app, maybe even with a search bar. That way there's no need for a browser opening or anything to be opened separately. I am also not sure if having both Release Notes and Cumulative Release Notes is that useful (Maybe allowing multi-select in the Updates tab and only then showing the cumulative button which would then open the website with the correct query).

Another way to fetch release notes which would also support cumulative ones is this API fetch from the actual website: https://alpha.release-notes.ds.unity3d.com/ajax/search?fromVersion=6000.0.20f1&toVersion=6000.0.22f1 It returns a json instead of a markdown and looking at the javascript, they also do some processing to display it nice on the website. Should be easy to replicate, even though I find straight release notes in the app better, and the cumulative ones for the website maybe?

[unitycoder]

if you want to sketch some draft image how it could look like, that would help! and it could be optional checkbox / setting (view release notes in browser or builtin viewer)

as browser has the benefits of:

• easy fast search
• can copy text (if want to post something about it or share in forum)
• bigger screen (might look crowded if try to pack release notes in smaller window?)
• and of course for non-english, you can use browser translate tools
• in browser can select some text and right click "google it" etc.

but for a quick view, certainly it would be easier to view inside launcher. (for example: i usually just want to see whats the new features/improvements)

[Legi428]

That's a good point. I'm all for giving the user options! The benefits of a browser are definitely there. It's a hard balance to find since I like the idea of having things contained in the app to have a consistant experience, on the other hand it should not come in the form of taking away useful functionality as you pointed out. I'll see if I can come up with a draft or example on what I had in mind!

[unitycoder]

To make it better than browser experience (with original release notes)

• "Search as a filter" would be better (compared to jumping all over the page for results) *ie: it would only show rows that contain those search string(s) (probably nice if has search history dropdown later?)
• Easy to use topic filters: Added, Updated, Changed, Fixed, Refactored, Improved, Deprecated, Removed, Backport, Exposed, Upgraded, Known Issues (probably could even remember these settings)

other random comments:

• personally i wouldn't need issue tracker links here (can view in browser if want them, or it could be small icon 🌐)
• have button "view in browser" easily available in the window also
• later: maybe could cache last few release note request results? (if it makes it Much faster to view next time?)
• later: not sure if that release notes viewer dialog should be modal or not or if should be able to open multiple ones? (to compare other version?)