Automate Website Update on Processing Release with GitHub Workflows

Problem Statement

The Processing download page does not currently update automatically when a new version is released. As a result, the website must be updated manually through a multi-step process, which can be time-consuming for maintainers.

Proposed Solution

Instead of manually triggering fetchReleases.js, the update of the website can be automated with GitHub workflows whenever a new version of Processing is released. The automation process will fetch the releases from both the Processing and Processing4 repositories and write them to JSON files in the content/download/releases directory. For more information, refer to fetchReleases.js.

The action should make a new release for the website and deploy it by interacting with the existing deploy workflow.

Note: this change will require the Processing4 repository to dispatch an event upon the creation of a new release.

Benefits

• The website will always be up-to-date, providing users with accurate information about the latest version of Processing.
• The manual process of updating the website will be automated, reducing the workload on maintainers and improving efficiency.
• A better user experience, as users will have access to the latest information about Processing at all times.

References

Dispatch event: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/26323#discussioncomment-3251448

Notes

The corresponding issue on the processing4 repository can be found at https://github.com/processing/processing4/issues/665

Start with scripts/fetchReleases.js, content/download/releases, and .github/workflows/deploy.yml to understand the current release-fetching and deployment flow. Check the linked Processing4 issue and dispatch-event reference, then verify that a new Processing release triggers release data updates and deployment of the website.