Share links and editor "magic" URL confusion

Arcade Help
1

There seems to be (at least) 3 different types of share links with the same number of different behaviors when opening the links and for the “editor” button or the corresponding editor “magic” URL(arcade.makecode.com/#pub:)

  1. Underscore “old” type share links, like these: https://makecode.com/_iw2adpRK5FAH
    –Behavior: When clicked, it opens the behind lying “real link” of the form: https://arcade.makecode.com/99842-77365-57673-38391
    –Editor button and “magic” URL: Both https://arcade.makecode.com/#pub:_iw2adpRK5FAH and https://arcade.makecode.com/#pub:99842-77365-57673-38391, the editor button links to the latter.

  2. Sometimes, I see the behind lying “real link” directly as the share link, or in the shorter form without “arcade.” in front: https://arcade.makecode.com/99842-77365-57673-38391 or https://makecode.com/99842-77365-57673-38391
    –Behavior: When clicked, they both open the “real link” of the form: https://arcade.makecode.com/99842-77365-57673-38391
    –Edior button and “magic” URL: Only
    https://arcade.makecode.com/#pub:99842-77365-57673-38391 and is the same as the editor button links to.

  3. Lately, I have mostly seen share links of the “S”-form: https://arcade.makecode.com/S72437-68398-41355-55299
    –Behavior: When clicked, these have a third type of behaviour, where the link is opened directly “as is”: https://arcade.makecode.com/S72437-68398-41355-55299
    –Editor button and “magic” URL: But the editor button shows the behind lying “real link” of the form: https://arcade.makecode.com/#pub:61658-80858-81315-99544 but the “S”-form “magic” URL also works directly: https://arcade.makecode.com/#pub:S72437-68398-41355-55299

  • How many different link types are there?,
  • What is the point of the different types of share links?,
  • How to control whether you get the one or the other types of share links?, and
  • Why not, for simplicity and for every share, stick only to the behind lying “real link”(which all share links have anyways) of the form:
    https://arcade.makecode.com/99842-77365-57673-38391 ?
1 Like
2

Good questions!

There are three types of links:

  1. “Credit card” links (e.g. xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx)
  2. “Short-form” links (e.g. _xxxxxxxxxx)
  3. “Static” links (e.g. Sxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx)

The first two types are just different encodings for the same thing; they both map to anonymously shared projects. This was the only type of shared projects until we introduced static links in the most recent arcade release. Once they are published, they can never be updated/changed. In other words, they’re read-only. The reason you see both is because short-form links are what we give you in the share dialog and long-form links are what you get in the URL bar when you actually navigate to the share page.

Static links are the new default for sharing while logged in to a MakeCode account. These links point to the most recently shared version of a project and are updated every time you do another share. You can still share the old way, there’s a checkbox in the share dialog that is checked by default.

Now, to answer your question as to why we have both short-form and credit card links, it’s actually quite simple!

  1. Short-form links look better when copy/pasted. That’s why you get these by default in the share dialog
  2. Credit card links are easier to physically write down or read out loud. For example, if you are in a classroom and need to write something up on the board, students will have a much easier time writing down a bunch of numbers than a series of lower case and upper case letters
3 Likes
3

Thanks for the great and elaborate explanation, @richard!

I guess this topic can safely be marked as “Solved!” now, if possible.

4

SOOO That mean free credit cards?
()'m Jk)

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