Installation location of oXygen on Windows.

Hi, We are creating a plugin for oXygen (14.1, 32-bit, windows only for the moment) and want to install that plugin (and all the related files) in the plugins folder. In order to find the installation location of oXygen we found the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\8531-1 278-6363-8538\InstallLocation Can we rely on this particular key? Does it change with a new version (minor, major) of oXygen? Kind regards, Pascal

Hello Pascal, 1. First I'd like to mention that starting with v14.0 Oxygen provides an add-ons deployment mechanism for plugins and frameworks from a remote location (HTTP server). This allows you to pack your plugin and configure an add-ons update site (an XML file) that you can then refer in Oxygen (URL to file on an HTTP server). This is also useful for managing versioning for both the add-on and the required version of Oxygen for that add-on. You can find out more here (see the video demonstration linked at the top of the page): http://www.oxygenxml.com/addons.html 2. The installer that Oxygen uses is install4j. Most of what it does(especially in the Windows registry) is transparent to us. The key (application ID) you have found in the registry is specific to Oxygen XML Editor. The application ID is the same for all versions of a product (13.2, 14, etc) but each product (Editor, Author, Developer) has a different ID: Oxygen XML Editor 8531-1278-6363-8538 Oxygen XML Author 7012-7398-7717-6547 Oxygen XML Developer 7012-7398-7717-7456 Note that Oxygen provides both 32 and 64-bit installers and that both can be installed and used on a 64-bit Windows OS. The two editions have the same application ID. You should know that the location of Uninstall registry key you have found differs depending on the Windows architecture/bitness (32/64) and installed application's architecture/bitness (32/64). For a 32-bit Windows the application ID is listed in: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall For a 64-bit Windows, the 64 bit applications are listed in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall (the same as the 32-bit Windows) However, for a 64-bit Windows, the 32 bit applications are listed in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall So for a 64-bit Windows, you should look in both locations from the registry for Oxygen, since either a 32 or a 64-bit edition can be installed. If there are multiple installations (various versions in different installation directories) of the same product (same ID) on a machine, the registry key from Uninstall changes (adds a suffix). e.g. First Oxygen XML Editor installation: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\8531-1278-6363-8538 Second installation: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\8531-1278-6363-8538-1 Third installation: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\8531-1278-6363-8538-2 So, if you want to look out for this situation, you should check all keys that begin with the ID of the application and look for the version of the application that you support. This suffix is just something that we've observed in the registry, so I'm not sure if this is a well established behavior of install4j or even if it's documented somewhere. In the end, I would suggest allowing the user to choose or adjust the proposed installation directory of the plugin/connector, even if you detect the location of the Oxygen installation (or multiple installations). 3. In my opinion, the simplest solution if you want to have an offline deployment for an Oxygen plugin, would be to use the same type of installer for your connector. Install4j has support for "Add-on installers", installers which deploy patches and plugins for a specific application(identified with the application ID). Search for "Add-on installer" in: http://resources.ej-technologies.com/install4j/help/doc/help.pdf Please note that install4j is a commercial product. 4. It's also possible to contact our legal department (support@oxygenxml.com) and sign an agreement to distribute Oxygen with your plugin as a bundle. Let me know if you need additional assistance. Regards, Adrian Adrian Buza oXygen XML Editor and Author Support Tel: +1-650-352-1250 ext.202 Fax: +40-251-461482 support@oxygenxml.com http://www.oxygenxml.com Pascal Beutels wrote:
Hi,
We are creating a plugin for oXygen (14.1, 32-bit, windows only for the moment) and want to install that plugin (and all the related files) in the plugins folder.
In order to find the installation location of oXygen we found the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\8531-1278-6363-8538\InstallLocation
Can we rely on this particular key? Does it change with a new version (minor, major) of oXygen?
Kind regards,
Pascal
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Oxygen XML Editor Support
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Pascal Beutels