integrated into mantid startup for release builds

Also added docs, and neatened things up a bit.
Improved handling of if-modified-since returns.
re #12064

Code/Mantid/Framework/API/inc/MantidAPI/FrameworkManager.h

@@ -117,8 +117,12 @@ class MANTID_API_DLL FrameworkManagerImpl {
   void setGlobalLocaleToAscii();
   /// Silence NeXus output
   void disableNexusOutput();
+  /// Starts asynchronous tasks that are done as part of Start-up
+  void AsynchronousStartupTasks();
   /// Update instrument definitions from github
   void UpdateInstrumentDefinitions();
+  ///check if a newer version of Mantid is available
+  void CheckIfNewerVersionIsAvailable();
   /// Sends startup usage information
   void SendStartupUsageInfo();
 

Code/Mantid/Framework/API/src/FrameworkManager.cpp

@@ -82,24 +82,43 @@ FrameworkManagerImpl::FrameworkManagerImpl()
 
   g_log.debug() << "FrameworkManager created." << std::endl;
 
+  AsynchronousStartupTasks();
+}
+
+/// Destructor
+FrameworkManagerImpl::~FrameworkManagerImpl() {}
+
+/// Starts asynchronous tasks that are done as part of Start-up.
+void FrameworkManagerImpl::AsynchronousStartupTasks()
+{
   int updateInstrumentDefinitions = 0;
   int retVal = Kernel::ConfigService::Instance().getValue(
-      "UpdateInstrumentDefinitions.OnStartup", updateInstrumentDefinitions);
+    "UpdateInstrumentDefinitions.OnStartup", updateInstrumentDefinitions);
   if ((retVal == 1) && (updateInstrumentDefinitions == 1)) {
     UpdateInstrumentDefinitions();
   } else {
     g_log.information()
-        << "Instrument updates disabled - cannot update instrument definitions."
-        << std::endl;
+      << "Instrument updates disabled - cannot update instrument definitions."
+      << std::endl;
   }
 
+  int checkIfNewerVersionIsAvailable= 0;
+  int retValVersionCheck = Kernel::ConfigService::Instance().getValue(
+    "CheckMantidVersion.OnStartup", checkIfNewerVersionIsAvailable);
+  if ((retValVersionCheck == 1) && (checkIfNewerVersionIsAvailable == 1)) {
+    CheckIfNewerVersionIsAvailable();
+  } else {
+    g_log.information()
+      << "Version check disabled."
+      << std::endl;
+  }
+
+
   // the algorithm will see if it should run
+
   SendStartupUsageInfo();
 }
 
-/// Destructor
-FrameworkManagerImpl::~FrameworkManagerImpl() {}
-
 /// Update instrument definitions from github
 void FrameworkManagerImpl::UpdateInstrumentDefinitions() {
   try {
@@ -113,6 +132,20 @@ void FrameworkManagerImpl::UpdateInstrumentDefinitions() {
   }
 }
 
+
+/// Update instrument definitions from github
+void FrameworkManagerImpl::CheckIfNewerVersionIsAvailable() {
+  try {
+    IAlgorithm *algCheckVersion =
+        this->createAlgorithm("CheckMantidVersion");
+    algCheckVersion->setAlgStartupLogging(false);
+    Poco::ActiveResult<bool> result = algCheckVersion->executeAsync();
+  } catch (Kernel::Exception::NotFoundError &) {
+    g_log.debug() << "CheckMantidVersion algorithm is not available - cannot "
+                     "ucheck if a newer version is available." << std::endl;
+  }
+}
+
 /// Sends startup information about OS and Mantid version
 void FrameworkManagerImpl::SendStartupUsageInfo()
 {

Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/CheckMantidVersion.cpp

@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@ const std::string CheckMantidVersion::summary() const {
 /** Initialize the algorithm's properties.
  */
 void CheckMantidVersion::init() {
-  declareProperty("CurrentVersion", "", Direction::Output);
-  declareProperty("MostRecentVersion", "", Direction::Output);
-  declareProperty("IsNewVersionAvailable", false, Direction::Output);
+  declareProperty("CurrentVersion", "", "The version string of the currently running version", Direction::Output);
+  declareProperty("MostRecentVersion", "", "The version string of most recent full or patch release available for download", Direction::Output);
+  declareProperty("IsNewVersionAvailable", false,"True if a newer version is available, otherwise false", Direction::Output);
 }
 
   //----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -82,35 +82,40 @@ void CheckMantidVersion::exec() {
   }
 
   std::string json = "";
+  bool skipVersionCheck = false;
   try {
     json = getVersionsFromGitHub(gitHubReleaseUrl);
   } catch (Exception::InternetError &ex) {
     if (ex.errorCode() == InternetHelper::HTTP_NOT_MODIFIED) {
       // No changes since last release
-      mostRecentVersion = getCurrentVersion();
+      //mostRecentVersion = getCurrentVersion();
+      mostRecentVersion = "No new versions since " + 
+        std::string(MantidVersion::releaseDate());
     } else {
       throw;
     }
   }
 
+  bool isNewVersionAvailable = false;
   if (!json.empty()) {
     Json::Reader r;
     Json::Value root;
     r.parse(json, root);
 
     std::string gitHubVersionTag = root["tag_name"].asString();
     mostRecentVersion = cleanVersionTag(gitHubVersionTag);
-
+
+    isNewVersionAvailable = isVersionMoreRecent(currentVersion, mostRecentVersion);
+    if (isNewVersionAvailable) {
+      // output a notice level log
+      g_log.notice("A new version of Mantid(" + mostRecentVersion +
+                   ") is available for download from " + downloadUrl);
+    }
   }
 
   g_log.information("Current Mantid Version: " + currentVersion);
   g_log.information("Most Recent Mantid Version: " + mostRecentVersion);
-  bool isNewVersionAvailable = isVersionMoreRecent(currentVersion, mostRecentVersion);
-  if (isVersionMoreRecent(currentVersion, mostRecentVersion)) {
-    // output a notice level log
-    g_log.notice("A new version of Mantid(" + mostRecentVersion +
-                 ") is available for download from " + downloadUrl);
-  }
+
   setProperty("CurrentVersion", currentVersion);
   setProperty("MostRecentVersion", mostRecentVersion);
   setProperty("IsNewVersionAvailable", isNewVersionAvailable);

Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -465,6 +465,7 @@ endif ()
 set ( IGNORE_PARAVIEW "0" )
 set ( QTPLUGINS "." )
 set ( UPDATE_INSTRUMENT_DEFINTITIONS "0" )
+set ( CHECK_FOR_NEW_MANTID_VERSION "0" )
 set ( ENABLE_USAGE_REPORTS "0" )
 set ( PYTHONPLUGIN_DIRS "${MANTID_ROOT}/Framework/PythonInterface/plugins" )
 set ( DATADIRS ${ExternalData_BINARY_ROOT}/Testing/Data/UnitTest;${ExternalData_BINARY_ROOT}/Testing/Data/DocTest;${MANTID_ROOT}/instrument )
@@ -543,6 +544,7 @@ endif ()
 set ( PLUGINS ${MANTID_ROOT}/plugins )
 set ( PYTHONPLUGIN_DIRS "${PLUGINS}/python" )
 set ( UPDATE_INSTRUMENT_DEFINTITIONS "1" )
+set ( CHECK_FOR_NEW_MANTID_VERSION "1" )
 set ( ENABLE_USAGE_REPORTS "1" )
 set ( DATADIRS "" )
 set ( MANTIDPUBLISHER "http://upload.mantidproject.org/scriptrepository/payload/publish" )

Code/Mantid/Framework/Properties/Mantid.properties.template

@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@ instrumentDefinition.directory = @MANTID_ROOT@/instrument
 UpdateInstrumentDefinitions.OnStartup = @UPDATE_INSTRUMENT_DEFINTITIONS@
 UpdateInstrumentDefinitions.URL = https://api.github.com/repos/mantidproject/mantid/contents/Code/Mantid/instrument
 
+# Whether to check for newer mantid versions on startup
+CheckMantidVersion.OnStartup = @CHECK_FOR_NEW_MANTID_VERSION@
+CheckMantidVersion.GitHubReleaseURL = https://api.github.com/repos/mantidproject/mantid/releases/latest
+CheckMantidVersion.DownloadURL = http://download.mantidproject.org
+
 # Whether to report usage statistics back to central server
 usagereports.enabled = @ENABLE_USAGE_REPORTS@
 

Code/Mantid/docs/source/algorithms/CheckMantidVersion-v1.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+
+.. algorithm::
+
+.. summary::
+
+.. alias::
+
+.. properties::
+
+Description
+-----------
+
+Checks if a new release of Mantid is available using the Github API for inspecting the most recent release.  
+In order to reduce API usage and optimise performance the request is sent with a "if-modified-since" header
+with the date of the current release.
+
+This algorithm is run on asynchronously on start-up in release builds and official releases of Mantid.  
+It only outputs messages to the logs and outpus properties, it does not change anything else.
+
+If you want to disable the check on start-up add this to your mantid.user.properties file.
+
+```  
+    CheckMantidVersion.OnStartup = 0
+```
+
+Usage
+-----
+
+**Example - CheckMantidVersion**
+
+.. testcode:: CheckMantidVersionExample
+
+    (current_version, most_recent_version, is_new_version_available)=CheckMantidVersion()
+    print "Current Version: " + current_version
+    print "Most Recent Version: " + most_recent_version
+    print "Is a newer version available? " + str(is_new_version_available)
+
+Output:
+
+.. testoutput:: CheckMantidVersionExample
+   :options: +ELLIPSIS, +NORMALIZE_WHITESPACE
+
+    Current Version: ...
+    Most Recent Version: ...
+    Is a newer version available? ...
+
+
+.. categories::
+