I’ve finally released “Dazzle”, a “check for updates” JavaScript framework for Dashboard widgets. It was inspired by Andy Matuschak’s Sparkle framework for Cocoa applications.
Dazzle uses appcasts to determine if a new update is available, and if there is, displays an alert box to the user, telling them that a new version is available and giving them the option to download the update or dismiss the alert box. Dazzle currently uses Safari to download and install the update, and so, by default, opens the URL in Safari regardless of the user’s default browser (you can change this, however).
Dazzle also can display a link to the release notes for the widget in the alert box, although the link is hidden by default.
I’ve tried to make Dazzle customisable, so that you can tweak Dazzle’s behaviour without actually modifying the Dazzle code.
There are instructions on the Dazzle main page on how to get it working in your widget. There is also a “Guide” page to show you Dazzle’s features (and how to use them), and a “Reference” page, which lists all of Dazzle’s methods/options with a brief description of each.
Finally, here’s a screenshot of the demo widget included with Dazzle, “DazzleDemo”:
