When there is a plugin update, how can I do the update without losing the changes I have made to the code at its' previous version?

You shouldn't lose any data added to an app. Are you self hosting? All you need to do is upload the plugin and select the box that says 'Update Existing Plugin' and that's it. You might have to add new updated plugin folder to your project, but everything you have added previously should be ok.

If you've made changes to the code in XCode or Eclipse to a particular plugin, then you will lose those changes when the plugin is updated. Or rather, you will lose those changes the next time you download source code, as the project on the control panel doesn't know what you've done in XCode/Eclipse. But, that would be true if the plugin didn't get updated and you downloaded source code again. Now, if you mean you've made changes to the plugin and uploaded that to your self-hosted control panel, replacing the plugin file that was there, then you'll have to make the modifications again to the updated version and replace it again. That's why I advocate making a new plugin when needing to mod an existing one for self-hosted purposes.

thanks guys for the info... @dragon yes I am self hosted but I mean what chris understood @chris yes my friend...my question belongs at your first paragraph...I have made some code changes in XCode.Am i able to save these changes and merge them with the update?even if there was an easy way for me to compare the two files and see the changes and then copy-paste them

"Am i able to save these changes and merge them with the update?" Of course. How easy that will be depends on the extent of your changes and the extent of the changes to the plugin. But when you download the new source code, it becomes a new folder on your computer. Your old project (with all it's changes and mods) will still be there. You just need to figure out what code you added to what files, and do the same on the new project.

ok I see...that's the time I wanted to avoid but I understand I have to do it manually...Thanks chris!!!

Ok Georgios, getting back to what Chris said, you have two options: 1) Create comments whenever you edit the code in XCODE such as below. Then you'd need to do a search for your name in the edited project source code, and add them (the whole blocks of code you've created or modified) to the newly downloaded project source code. You'll have to do this for all your apps every time you download new source code package! Easy: rinse and repeat! //YOURNAME: what you have done and why you have done it goes here. The double slashes indicate a comment. [SOME CODE YOU HAVE ADDED OR MODIFIED] //YOURNAME: end of modification and 2) Just make the modifications once in a cloned (or duplicated, just had the urge to use a fancy word ;) !) plugin package and change the package's name or prefix to create a new plugin. Then upload it to your server like you would other plugins, and enjoy. No rinse. No repeat. Make sure you use the new modified plugin's name in your projects though. For example: Create a new BT_customURL plugin called ET_customURL and "go home"!... no pun intended.

you are my god!!! hehehe!!! the first option seems much easier and faster...nice thought!!!!I will use it as a solution... thank you so much for sharing your thought!!!!!!

I am starting to use 'CodeBox' quite a bit... It's nothing more than a quality 'snippet' library for code. About $10 on the App Store. There may be free stuff around I haven't found yet. In this instance, I use it to 'hold' my 'usual' plugin modification code bites... Easy to drop in or replace from the app. Otherwise, like WebNevees suggest, I comment and segregate 'my' code from intrinsic BT Code... Cheers! -- Smug

Thanks Smug - I could use something like that. I keep going back to old projects for code snippets!

So I bought CodeBox and wow - way worth $10! Thanks for pointing that one out. Already loaded up several snippets for objective-c and php. Also pinned it to my dock - right next to Komodo Edit :)

Glad you can use it! And it's pretty flexible, so I've got different sections for PHP, iOS, Android, and oddly enough, Visual dotNet, since I control my Windows box from a Remote Desktop Session on my Mac, and copy/paste works throughout it all. I even have it holding my EULA and stuff like that. If you set the 'Snippets.cbxml' file default location to somewhere in your dropbox, you can use the same library on any of your machines. Cheers! -- Smug

nice! yeah, I already set up some groups and folders for XCode and PHP. Such a simple concept, yet this will save me lots of time.