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Beta Updates

Beta Shortcuts Manager

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Summary/ TLDR;

This Shortcut is designed to

• Make Beta updates for your Shortcut
• Let Testers view the new Shortcuts as soon as they are in beta stage

Abilities

This Shortcut can

• Let you view all of your Shortcuts in Beta stage
• Add a Shortcut to Beta stage
• Remove a Shortcut from Beta stage
• Notify Testers off any changes through a Beta Tester Shortcut (contained in Shortcut) which will be named differently according to the author’s wish.
• And more...

Set Up

1. First and foremost you need to have a Dropbox account
2. Make some shortcuts to put in beta stage
3. Download this Shortcut

Tutorial

Step 1: Open the Shortcut you are planning to self-host and tap Shortcuts in the Share sheet

Step 2: Press Share to the prompt to "Create iCloud Link"

Step 3: Search for and tap "Beta Updates"

Step 4: Enter a new Version number

Step 5: Enter the latest changes for that version

Step 6: Confirm to release the update

Step 7: You're all set ✅

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FAQ

Where are my files kept?

A. All of the files are kept in your Dropbox account in the folder named Beta Updates. In that folder, there are many subfolders with the names of the Shortcuts that you are self-hosting. In each of those subfolders, there will be 2 files named "Update Info" and "Changelog".

Update Info will contain the dictionary required to check if your Shortcut is up to date and the link to that file will be your Update URL.
Changelog will contain all of the release notes, versions, and iCloud URL's for that Shortcut.

File Directory- Beta Updates/{Shortcut Name}/Update Info|Changelog

Why Dropbox?

A. I simply prefer Dropbox and it also has a built-in editing tool, so if by any chance you want to edit something in your document, you can edit it easily.

Why did you create this Shortcut?

A. Ever since publishing my Publish Update Shortcut, I have realized that a handful of Shortcut developers are interested in making betas for their Shortcuts. They have used sites such as Netlify to achieve their goal, but I wondered if other users would like to make their own beta Shortcuts, but didn't since they would have to go through all of the fuss with signing up and creating accounts. I, therefore, created Beta Updates which does everything in a simple 1, 2, 3 through Dropbox.

What is that other file called "Shortcuts in Beta"?

A. Testers of your Shortcuts receive data from that link about which Shortcuts that they should be testing and the iCloud link for that Shortcut.

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Disclaimers

• Version numbers must only have one decimal place (ex. 1.0 and not 1.0.1)
• If you change the name of your Shortcut, then there will be a new folder created and you will have to move the old files back into the new folder

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