Show release download totals (data is already parsed, just not summed)

[kellylford]

Summary

FastGH already reads release asset download counts — it just never totals them. I'd like to surface the totals, but wanted to ask before writing anything, in case this isn't a direction you want.

What's already there

ReleaseAsset parses download_count, and ReleaseAsset.format_display() renders it, so the Assets list in the release dialog already shows per-file counts:

MyApp-setup.exe (92.7 MB, 27 downloads)

That part works well, and tests/test_models_release.py already covers the parsing.

What's missing

There's no aggregation, so a release never shows a download number anywhere:

• Release has no total. Release.format_display() shows (3 assets) — the asset count, not downloads.
• show_release_preview() in GUI/releases.py prints Assets: 3 with no downloads line.
• ReleaseDialog.update_info_text() does the same.

So to find out how many times a release was downloaded, you have to open it and add the asset numbers up yourself.

What I'd propose

Small and contained — the data is already in the model:

1. A property on Release:

@property
def total_downloads(self) -> int:
    """Total downloads across every asset in this release."""
    return sum(a.download_count for a in self.assets)

2. Include it in Release.format_display(), so the releases list reads:

v1.2.0: Some Release - Release (3 assets, 61 downloads) - 2w ago

3. A Downloads: 61 line in both show_release_preview() and ReleaseDialog.update_info_text(), next to the existing Assets: line.

4. Tests alongside the existing ones in tests/test_models_release.py, including the zero-asset case.

Deliberately not proposing

• A repo-wide total across releases. Useful, but it needs a home in the UI and that's a design call that's yours to make, not something to slip into this.
• Reordering the assets list by download count. It's arguably more useful when you're looking at counts, but it changes existing behaviour, so I'd rather leave it alone unless you want it.

Why I think it's worth it

GitHub records these counts and shows them nowhere in its own web UI — the only way to see them is the API. A GitHub client that surfaces them is doing something the website can't, and the numbers are genuinely useful if you ship software and want to know whether anyone is taking it.

Happy to send a PR in the same shape as #17 if you're interested. If not, no problem at all — I'd rather ask first than send something unwanted.

[masonasons]

Hi,

Sure! This sounds great. Go ahead and submit a PR! :)

[masonasons]

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for your PR! If you'd like, you can create a second PR adding an option to reorder the releases list by download count, via a combo box in the dialog or similar. That would be cool to have and I missed that part of your initial issue text.

[masonasons]

regarding a repo wide download count, what would that look like? Where would that appear in the UI? I like the idea, I just don't fully understand your vision for that yet and I'd like to.

[kellylford]

Thanks for merging that so quickly!

Both of those are good ideas and I'll be back soon with another PR making more improvements in this space — sorting by download count is the obvious next one.

On the repo-wide total: rather than guess at the UI, I want to spend some time actually using FastGH on my own repos first. The number itself is easy; where it belongs so it reads well when you're moving through the dialog by keyboard is the real question, and I'd rather answer that from use than from theory. I'll come back with a concrete proposal once I have a better feel for it.