No documentation on the 'tags' feature

[SmallJoker]

I am currently trying to review minetest-mods/drawers#102 but at the time of writing, there is simply a TODO about 'tags' on https://github.com/mt-mods/pipeworks/wiki . Surely, code may does answer some questions - but it also paves the way to relying on (potentially) unsupported or unintended behaviour.

Questions that the documentation should answer:

1. What is the goal of that feature?
2. How do you set it up? Which nodes can make use of it?
3. What are the relevant API functions?
4. Is there only msg.tag or also msg.tags? If there's both - which does take precedence?
5. What are the expected data formats of those functions?

Thank you.

EDIT: A rough documentation exists in #107 (comment) - but that's not where a modder should (or rather would) look for it.

[wsor4035]

would probably have to ask @slavaz or the people on TA

but that's not where a modder should (or rather would) look for it.

yet the wiki links directly to it to negates that

[SmallJoker]

yet the wiki links directly to it to negates that

Whereas technically true, that's not a proper documentation.

[slavaz]

would probably have to ask @slavaz or the people on TA

To be honest, the answer isn’t that simple. Since the TA forks of these mods include new features, it’s hard to know how to write proper documentation for the 'vanilla' versions. For example, the Drawers controller in the TA fork has extended Digiline commands and the ability to send items with tags—which makes a lot of sense for using tags in Pipeworks!
Luatube follows the same pattern, offering extended stack-splitting functionality in TA fork. It supports 'ordered' and 'unordered' splitting, both of which allow for tags on every split item.
However, I’m not sure if any fixes will be accepted into the upstream 'vanilla' mods—at least not within a reasonable timeframe. For example, the tag support in pipelines took almost three months to be reviewed and merged. Meanwhile, on the TA server, the turnaround time for code is usually days, occasionally weeks, which allows us to get user feedback and fix bugs much faster.

In theory, I could ask an LLM to generate documentation based on the vanilla Pipeworks source code so we can have a comprehensive description of the features. Would that be acceptable to you?

P.S. As a plug for the TA server, feel free to drop by and take Travelnet 279 to the 'Pipeworks Tags Museum'. You’ll find examples there in the form of mini-setups with chests, pipes, injectors, and so on.

[slavaz]

The extended commands and tag support for Drawers (including fix commits) can be found here: (https://gitlab.com/tunnelers-abyss/drawers/-/commits/master?ref_type=HEADS

The same applies to Pipeworks: https://gitlab.com/tunnelers-abyss/pipeworks/-/commits/ta?ref_type=HEADS

Pipeworks has a significant number of commits related to optimizing item delivery through tubes. The TA fork includes code that calculates item movement only in active areas (e.g., within a 3-block radius of a player). Because of this, I’m not sure that backporting these changes to vanilla will be an easy task...

[SmallJoker]

Since the TA forks of these mods include new features, it’s hard to know how to write proper documentation for the 'vanilla' versions.

Wouldn't you also benefit from a documentation of all features (fork or vanilla)? If the Tunnlers Abyss pipeworks mod is a fork of this one, then removing parts of its documentation for the vanilla mod should be rather straight-forward.

In theory, I could ask an LLM to generate documentation based on the vanilla Pipeworks source code

In that case i'd rather write the documentation myself.

The TA fork includes code that calculates item movement only in active areas

Is that relevant for the tags feature?

[slavaz]

Well, the documentation is here: https://tunnelers.miraheze.org/wiki/Pipelines_Tags
Feel free to stop by TA and try it out! I'm not sure if it will work the same way on other servers, though...