It’s been a year or so since I developed my first GreaseMonkey script, Ikariam Transport Countdown. Since that time I have been searching for a way to send update notifications to users who have installed my GreaseMonkey script. I found a few GreaseMonkey scripts that try to update all of them, but that only works if someone who is using your script happens to install this update script as well. Others I found used a Google Doc to store a version number that would have to be edited each time you made a script update. That was a better solution, but the Google doc didn’t allow for very much flexibility.

Finally I got tired of searching and decided to create my own GreaseMonkey Script Update Notification System, better known as Monkey Updater. Monkey Updater expands on the Google Doc concept but instead of saving your script version on a Google doc, you get to save it to a database built just for that purpose.

The best part about Monkey Updater is that once you register for a free account and add your script to the system (both of which take only a minute or two), you never have to login to Monkey Updater again if you so choose. Once your script url exists in the Monkey Updater database, all you need to do is adjust the version number in the Monkey Updater installation code that you placed in your GreaseMonkey Script. Once you save and someone runs the new version, the Monkey Updater system will recognize the updated version number and check your official script URL to make sure the change was actually made by you. If it checks out, your script version is automatically updated in Monkey Updater.

Of course if you prefer to login to Monkey Updater to change the version number you are welcome to do that as well, although you would need to re-install the Monkey Updater installation code in your GreaseMonkey Script afterward.

Either way, Monkey Updater provides an exciting new update option for GreaseMonkey script developers.

Your script users will not be bombarded with page requests either, as the Monkey Updater script is set to only check for updates once every 24 hours. If an update is found, a small, unobtrusive alert bar appears at the top of the screen detailing the script that is in need of an update along with the new version number of that script. The script user can then click the link to install the new script version directly from whatever page they are currently on.

Monkey Updater tracks these visits and script installations so that in the near future we can provide some update reporting to script developers that use Monkey Updater.

I’d love to hear any feedback.

http://www.monkeyupdater.com