Add native web interface support for plugins inside the ASF UI.

[fazelukario]

Checklist

• I read and understood ASF's Contributing guidelines
• I also read Setting-up and FAQ, I don't need help, this is an enhancement idea
• My idea doesn't duplicate existing ASF functionality described on the wiki
• I believe that my idea falls into ASF's scope and should be offered as part of ASF built-in functionality
• My idea doesn't violate the Steam Subscriber Agreement
• My idea doesn't violate the Steam Online Conduct
• This is not ASF-ui suggestion

Enhancement purpose

Currently ASF only supports creating IPC API endpoints for plugins. The proposal is to add the ability to create their own plugin web interface for plugin creators.

Solution

Add the ability to create a plugin web interface inside ASF IPC, for example available at "http://127.0.0.1:1242/plugin/<pluginName>/". Make this option optional for plugin creators and users, and default to false. Web interface files can be placed, for example, in the path "path/to/ASF/plugins/<pluginName>/www".

Why currently available solutions are not sufficient?

Current solutions allow you to create only IPC API endpoints, which is not enough to create full-fledged plugins with a user friendly interface.

Can you help us with this enhancement idea?

Yes, I can code the solution myself and send a pull request

Additional info

No response

[Abrynos]

The way I see it that's ASF-ui issue and not core repository.

[fazelukario]

The way I see it that's ASF-ui issue and not core repository.

No, this is an ASF issue, not ASF-ui, as ASF itself has no support for a web GUI for plugins.

[Rudokhvist]

The way I see it that's ASF-ui issue and not core repository.

Well, the way I see it is that at least some way to inform asf-ui about existence of ui in plugin is needed, like some flag or something like that. But yes, we can just make some agreement about a way to inform ASF-ui about existence of ui in a plugin, like some endpoint or some specific name or version pattern, and then we won't need any changes in ASF at all.

[Abrynos]

The way I see it that's ASF-ui issue and not core repository.

Well, the way I see it is that at least some way to inform asf-ui about existence of ui in plugin is needed, like some flag or something like that.

I already asked Archi on our discord for that (and had PR ready locally) but he didn't like the idea and told me to make ASF-ui check for predefined URI based on plugin name instead

[JustArchi]

Nothing you need ASF core support for.

First of all, API endpoints are not used for JSON output only, you can use it for outputting other files as well, whether static ones, or dynamic, see ASP.NET MVC pattern for example (and you don't need ASF support for that, you can already implement it yourself).

Secondly, what you effectively want is another IPC interface serving files from custom location. Once again, you can already do that - host your own IPC on your own custom port with your own custom files.

But there is also one thing we actually can do, adding ASF support for serving WWW files from several locations, as per https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/static-files?view=aspnetcore-7.0#serve-files-from-multiple-locations - and this is the part I consider good as ASF enhancement, because it'll allow you to achieve the same without second IPC interface and it doesn't cost ASF almost anything to add support for it.

I can code it myself but if you want to do it then proper thing is to evaluate plugins/*/www path and add static files as per the doc for each file location that exists.

[fazelukario]

But there is also one thing we actually can do, adding ASF support for serving WWW files from several locations, as per https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/static-files?view=aspnetcore-7.0#serve-files-from-multiple-locations - and this is the part I consider good as ASF enhancement, because it'll allow you to achieve the same without second IPC interface and it doesn't cost ASF almost anything to add support for it.

Yes, that's what I meant in the first place.

I can code it myself but if you want to do it then proper thing is to evaluate plugins/*/www path and add static files as per the doc for each file location that exists.

Yes, it would be great if you did.

[fazelukario]

@JustArchi Done with PR (#2877).