[NATIVE] Guide/Reference for info.txt

Extension Guide/Reference: info.txt

This little post is designed as a guide and a reference to the features of info.txt in engine extensions.
What is this info.txt thing?

When you open any extension folder, you should see a file titled info.txt inside. This file is important because it controls the name of the extension, along with the current version number, compatible publishing platforms, and a few other things. Here's an example, taken from the built-in Test Extension:

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name=Test Extension
description=A test extension
author=Jon
website=http://www.stencyl.com
version=1.0
compatibility=all
Now, here's a basic rundown of each of these items:
name - The name of the extension, displayed in Settings -> Extensions and the Extensions section of the block palette.
description - A brief description of the extension, also displayed in Settings -> Extensions.
author - The name or username of the extension's author.
website - If the user right-clicks an extension block and presses View Help, this is the webpage to which they are taken. Make sure that users can view the extension's documentation on this page. Linking to the forum topic is usually a good choice.
version - Doesn't do anything special, but useful for keeping track of the latest version. Users can see it in the Log Viewer right after Stencyl is opened.
compatibility - Controls the publishing platforms for which the extension will compile. This can currently have the following values:

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compatibility=all
compatibility=flash
compatibility=desktop
compatibility=android
compatibility=ios
compatibility=mobile
Using more than one of these (e.g. flash and ios) is not currently supported.

Note: all of these fields are required, and each field has to be on its own line; you can't do something like this:

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name=Test Extension description=A test extension author=Jon website=http://www.stencyl.com version=1.0 compatibility=allAnd that's pretty much all you need to know about info.txt. Please post below if you have questions, comments or suggestions. Also, check out the Guide/Reference for Creating Extension Blocks for more extension-y goodness!

Hi,

If you look at the test example  .. you have exactly the same info.

you might add that you should be rather conservative and not put fancy things like two signs = on the same line

may be  add the complete syntax  for "compatibility" or at least an example different from the useless case : compatibility = all

add a tip to how  to be sure that a game to be played has an extension with a compatible version

It would have been nice too to show how to provide a off-line help

If you look at the test example  .. you have exactly the same info.

Yes, that's intentional. I figured that the test extension would work as an example, just to show how info.txt works.

you might add that you should be rather conservative and not put fancy things like two signs = on the same line

may be  add the complete syntax  for "compatibility" or at least an example different from the useless case : compatibility = all

I've clarified these things in the post now.

add a tip to how  to be sure that a game to be played has an extension with a compatible version

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand. Do you mean that I should add a tip about making sure that the extension is compatible with the platform to which one wants to publish? Usually if an extension is not compatible with all platforms, the creator makes that clear in the post.

It would have been nice too to show how to provide a off-line help

I don't think providing offline help is possible, at least not with the website field in info.txt. You could add a help file to the extension and mention that file in the topic for the extension.