I'm installing some software to track what I'm working on.

this part of the changes will be somewhat invisible to the user, but I want everyone to see what I'm working on.

its primary purpose is security, but I configured it to only work on changes.

It wont be perfect, but it will give you an idea. I first have to clean up the reports a bit to sanitize file system information so we dont leak security info etc.

I figure this way you can know I'm still alive and working on it, and possibly (I'm not sure how much detail I can get out of it) see how many changes are being made!

So far the new structure is functionality is finished, albeit roughly. it requires some polishing..

What can we do with this?

This tool is generally a backend tool designed to ease work on the database.

The plan is to use it to consistently apply updates to items, image assets, dog etc without having to write large amounts of code , test it , and update pages after changing the database.

its taking a long time b/c inventory and images in particular are the cornerstone of alacrity. every change here takes time (due to double checking , and applying it across the site). But when this is finished, it will substantially lessen the workload on inventory, and additionally provide a consistent framework that we can add new content, etc.

In summary, I apologize for the long wait. But the whole item system/image display ball of yarn is messy, and I need a good solution to tackle it

I was typing something very complex. so complex that I would probably not make any sense explaining it, b/c I have trouble understanding all of that parts myself.

So I'ma gonna scratch that and give you a much more concise update:

Backend Inventory management is very difficult. It was done incorrectly, but even so, it did get done. its very difficult to change the current system to a new system without substantial downtimes.Further, doing it right is complex enough that I might get it wrong on the first second or even third pass!

it took a long time but I've come up with a system which can accommodate our needs for inventory, dogs, and other tasks such as images.

I'm done with about half of it. the remainder will go a lot faster, but will still take time.

However, I do believe this to be the missing link that will revolutionize alacrity and allow us to do all sorts of cool stuff within the game!

This tool will allow us to cut over changes **while live** without requiring downtimes. and it will work for things like dogs as well.

So the good news is , the heavy lift is finally done. the slightly wore news , I have to finish polishing it before I can release it.