Perchance - Create a Random Text Generator @lemmy.world perchance @lemmy.world 3w ago

[dev] New feature: Collaborate with others on your generator (realtime/live shared editing)

You can now click the gear icon in the text editor and create a "collab link" for your generator. If you share that link with others, they'll be able to edit/save the generator, and you'll be able to see each others text cursors/carets.

You can disable/invalidate the link, and regenerate a new one.

Please let me know if there are any issues! I may be able to improve the performance/latency of it after some more work on the server.

10 comments

The issue is before many try and error....how stable it is? If there's multiple dev, they should keep using the link for a long period without nuke the gen? It sounds nice but I am hesitate to try because safety first!
- The issue is before many try and error
  
  Can you let me know any details about the issue you had? It may have been that the server's rate limits were too strict. I've just edited them to give a bit more leeway, so hopefully that's solved your issue.
  
  If there’s multiple dev, they should keep using the link for a long period without nuke the gen?
  
  Luckily it's not possible to 'nuke' the gen with this feature (even if there remain some early issues with the collab server), since you can always just open the 'backups' list and download any older version of your gen. That said, it's certainly possible that there are 'annoying' bugs where you e.g. temporarily get out of sync with other devs in your collab due to stuff like the aforementioned rate-limiting. And again, please do let me know (and give as much info as possible) if you come across any issues like this.
  
  Currently testing the Collab with a few people on https://perchance.org/collab-testing-01-01
  
  Here are some notes and bugs that I found:
  Bugs
  
  Opening the 'Collab Link' on Firefox and Chrome on the same computer and editing + saving, the changes aren't reflected.
  
  The 'Collab Link' on the Gear Settings in Firefox and Google Chrome on the same computer is not visible. https://user-uploads.perchance.org/file/dcfd4bbe830cb45bace2f9b4a9e506c8.webp
  
  On Edge Incognito, Opera GX, Opera OG, Arc Browser, then opening the page without the collab link, 'Collab Link' is visible, but when clicked nothing happens. It should be opening the prompt for the collab password like https://user-uploads.perchance.org/file/db195a0cd8a6733e92a36cc102d2ad14.webp
  
  Notes
  
  If the gen owner CTRL-Zs, it affects everyone's edit if they are editing in real time.
  
  Changes are to the editors are LIVE, but a reload/auto-reload is needed for generator viewers to see the changes in the preview window.
  
  It needs the owner to 'save' the generator to create a backup of the old edit.
  
  If there are changes made by other collaborators and the gen owner tries to refresh the page, there would be a prompt that there are unsaved changes, but the changes are still applied to the page.
  
  Opening the 'Collab Link' on Edge Incognito, Opera GX, Opera OG, and Arc Browser on the same computer and editing + saving works.
Sweet!
In my test, it requires the gen owner to save to apply any edits. Gen user won't see any updates even after refreshing the tab. And the collab editor saving the gen will making a new copy.

All of the above seems similar to previous logic, but what about collab editors could make save like Google doc or Office 365? If it requires the gen editor to save it, it doesn't help much in a gen requires daily frequently updated by multiple different admins. It doesn't do much different then people just sharing the main account and taking turns.
- it requires the gen owner to save to apply any edits [...] And the collab editor saving the gen will making a new copy.
  
  Hmm this definitely shouldn't be the case. Anyone with the collab link should be able to save/apply the edits. Can you try again, and if you're able to reproduce it, can you let me know the steps to take to replicate?
  
  If someone with the collab link saves it, it should just save it as if they were the gen owner (i.e. not make a new copy).
  
  Hello hello mystery solved. It's that collab editor could not be logged in user, because they save the gen as new gen. Instead, a good collab editor should be logged out to save any edit, which isn't mentioned??

10 comments