2023.2 Add-on API changes

[NVDA Add-on API Announcements]

Reminder, this mailing list is read only, please provide feedback by replying directly to emails, or via GitHub.
This list is intended to notify of changes to the add-on API, for confirmation of the latest state for breakages or deprecations, please refer to the 'changes file' for the NVDA release you are interested in.

Add-on API changes have been merged, planned for inclusion in the 2023.2 release:
"Follow up of #14312: ensure IO completion routines and waitable timers are safe (#14627)"

Deprecations:
- Passing lambda functions to hwIo.ioThread.IoThread.queueAsApc is deprecated.
Instead, functions should be weakly referenceable.
- Importing LPOVERLAPPED_COMPLETION_ROUTINE from hwIo.base is deprecated.
Instead import from hwIo.ioThread

If API breaks or planned future breaks (deprecations) will cause difficulties for the ongoing development of an add-on you maintain, please let NVDA developers know by replying directly to emails, or via GitHub.

[NVDA Add-on API Announcements]

Add-on API changes have been merged, planned for inclusion in the 2023.2 release:

"Update Add-on Manifest spec descriptions (#14754)"

Suggested conventions have been added to the add-on manifest specification.
These are optional for NVDA compatibility, but are encouraged or required for submitting to the add-on store.
The new suggested conventions are:

• Using lowerCamelCase for the name field.
• Using <major>.<minor>.<patch> format for the version field (required for add-on datastore).
• Using https:// as the schema for the url field (required for add-on datastore).

If these suggestions cause difficulties for the ongoing development of an add-on you maintain, please let NVDA developers know by replying directly to emails, or via GitHub.
There are plans to move to a unified JSON schema, merging the manifest and add-on datastore JSON schema in 2024.1.
This will change how the add-on manifest is structured, and replacing the need for a separate schema to submit to the add-on store.

[NVDA Add-on API Announcements]

Add-on API changes have been merged, planned for inclusion in the 2023.2 release:

"Use a single APC and completion routine #14924"

Deprecations:
IoThread.autoDeleteApcReference is deprecated.
It was introduced in NVDA 2023.1 and was never meant to be part of the public API.
Until removal, it behaves as a no-op, i.e. a context manager yielding nothing.

If API breaks or planned future breaks (deprecations) will cause difficulties for the ongoing development of an add-on you maintain, please let NVDA developers know by replying directly to emails, or via GitHub.

[NVDA Add-on API Announcements]

Add-on API changes have been merged, planned for inclusion in the 2023.2 release:

"Add-on Store (#13985)"

Deprecations:

gui.MainFrame.onAddonsManagerCommand is deprecated, use gui.MainFrame.onAddonStoreCommand instead.

If API breaks or planned future breaks (deprecations) will cause difficulties for the ongoing development of an add-on you maintain, please let NVDA developers know by replying directly to emails, or via GitHub.

[NVDA Add-on API Announcements]

Add-on API changes have been merged, planned for inclusion in the 2023.2 release:

"Encapsulate NVDA state write paths (#15021)"

Deprecations:

speechDictHandler.speechDictVars.speechDictsPath is deprecated, instead use WritePaths.speechDictsDir

If API breaks or planned future breaks (deprecations) will cause difficulties for the ongoing development of an add-on you maintain, please let NVDA developers know by replying directly to emails, or via GitHub.

[NVDA Add-on API Announcements]

Add-on API changes have been merged, planned for inclusion in the 2023.2 release:

"Fix up speechDictVars deprecation (#15048)"

Deprecations:
Importing voiceDictsPath and voiceDictsBackupPath from speechDictHandler.dictFormatUpgrade is deprecated. Instead use WritePaths.voiceDictsDir and WritePaths.voiceDictsBackupDir from NVDAState.

Correction to previous deprecation -  Encapsulate NVDA state write paths (#15021)
speechDictHandler.speechDictVars.speechDictsPath is deprecated, use NVDAState.WritePaths.speechDictsDir instead. 

If API breaks or planned future breaks (deprecations) will cause difficulties for the ongoing development of an add-on you maintain, please let NVDA developers know by replying directly to emails, or via GitHub.

[NVDA Add-on API Announcements]

Add-on API changes have been merged, planned for inclusion in the 2023.2 release:

"Create registry key to force secure mode (#15049)"

Deprecations:
config.CONFIG_IN_LOCAL_APPDATA_SUBKEY is deprecated. Instead use config.RegistryKey.CONFIG_IN_LOCAL_APPDATA_SUBKEY.

If API breaks or planned future breaks (deprecations) will cause difficulties for the ongoing development of an add-on you maintain, please let NVDA developers know by replying directly to emails, or via GitHub.