This is the first release of Plugin Manager, which I'm calling 0.8.
This plugin essentially allows you to install and update all the existing plugins, right from inside Notepad++. It will notify you when a plugin you use has been updated, and allow you to update it, simply by clicking the "update" button. It has a centrally located list of plugins, which will be kept up to date.
Features:
- Install, Update and Remove all existing plugins
- Notify when an installed plugin has an update available, and allow the user to update directly
- Calculate dependencies between plugins, any plugin can depend on another plugin, which will be installed automatically if the user installs the initial plugin
- Install all supplemental files as well as the plugin file itself (e.g. config, doc, extra libraries)
- Automatic installation of the correct version (ANSI/Unicode) for your Notepad++
- Validation of DLLs copied, against a central list of valid files. This slightly mitigates the risk of automatically downloading updates.
- Only plugins that are compatible with your Notepad++ are shown
- Plugins can be put into categories - a suggestion was made of "Official, Common and Others". Currently all plugins are in the "Others" category, as I think there needs to be some agreement as to what determines an "Official" plugin and which plugins are "Common".
- Plugin Manager is able to update itself, and will notify the user when an update is available
- Proxies are supported, just change the setting
- Updates can be ignored, and the user will not be alerted to that update again, until a further new version of that plugin is released.
- The local plugin list file is only downloaded when something has changed - the MD5sum of the file is compared to the server's version, and if it is different, then a new copy is downloaded.
Just put the PluginManager.dll in the plugins directory, and the gpup.exe in the updater directory under your Notepad++ program directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Notepad++\updater)
More information on the XML list of plugins, the installation options and how to submit updates to it are given here: http://www.brotherstone.co.uk/npp/pm
The primary aim of this plugin is to make it easy to install and update plugins, but also to give more exposure to plugins that sometimes don't make it past the forums.
Any feedback will be much appreciated,
Cheers,
Dave.
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Congratulations. This plugin is awesome and should absolutely be included in the regular notepad++ release. I was also surprised by the perfectly planned process. I placed the update in the wrong folder, got a good to understand error message and on the next start the procedure continued instead of a needed restart :).
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So this is why there is still no MRU enabled File Switcher Plugin available?! *lol*
It would be more correct to have the PluginManager.DLL placed under the plugins folder, just as the gpup.exe has the correct Path listed.
I have a few versions of the (layout) Export Plugin enabled, with different names (version number added to the filename). The "current" version I use is really a previous version. Can I expect problems or strange behavior from the Plugin Manager telling me I have to update either my "current" version or any of the other versions which may also not be up-to-date anymore?
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Hmmm... multiple installed versions of the same plugin isn't something it explicitly copes with at the moment. I think it should be quite easy to list it once for each copy installed on the installed tab, then you can selectively update each one as you want it, and leave the ones you don't.
I'll add it to the list for the next version to at least do something sensible with multiple versions of the same plugin.
I think you're right about the DLL in a plugins directory in the release zip. Will be changed in the next release.
As ever, thanks for the feedback,
Dave.
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Is there any fall back plan in case an update goes wrong?
I usually download the Plugins myself and store them in a Downloads folder.
For big changes, I make a backup of my current Notepad++ program folder first.
I can install new Plugins etc. In case anything goes wrong, I still have my backup folder (I always keep one), or revert to previous versions from my Downloads folder.
With the Plugin Manager I can't really get any clue about what was downloaded last. Perhaps you could add an option to set a folder to download the files to, although I do not know what (type of) files you download.
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CChris,
It doesn't really relate to it - I did try some conversion from the wiki to XML, but it just wasn't feasible - I need direct links, the wiki needs "home page" links and so on. I think if I fill out a <homepage> element for all the plugins (currently it's only on a few that have a web page of info), then we could maybe do an XSLT to convert the XML into wiki markup. The wiki has slightly more info than the plugin manager on a number of plugins, I had to cut it down or reword it for the description - I'm not sure how you feel about that. Maybe when I"m done filling out the last few plugins (hopefully this weekend), we can have a go and see how it looks?
Cheers,
Dave.
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I don't feel anything about it. I plainly collect descriptions I found from authors, or those Don had on his plugin page (in the process of being replced by a reference to the wiki). I cobbled something in rare cases where no description was available - if you can find something better for NppSortPlugin, then please feel freee to change that.
I m not very familiar with XSLT, so, if you are and see ways to change the markip in ways that keep current data and makes it easier reusing it, no problem.
CChris
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XSLT isn't a problem, but my wiki markup is nowhere near yours! I'll finish the list off, then produce a page, and perhaps put it up on a separate page, then we can see how it looks. You'll have to let me know where I've gone wrong with the markup though! :)
Thanks again,
Dave.
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Thanks for the feedback exte, I'm glad someone likes it! I needed to see if there were any bugs or issues first, and the couple that have been reported are fixed in my current development version. When I've fixed a couple of other bits up, I'll be releasing 0.9, which could probably go on npp-plugins site, if it's ok with Jens.
I think I lost my rights to the project when sourceforge moved over to their "new look" though, I'll try and find out how to fix that.
Cheers,
Dave.
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This Plugin is indeed TSS (The Supreme Shiz)! The functionality is something that I have yearned for on numerous occassions over the years. Glad someone finally did it up.!.
I concur on a previous user's assertion that it would be appropriate and desirable for your plugin to have a proper home on the NPP-Plugins site. Hopefully it will find it's way into the standard NPP distros too.
Wicked kewl. Good job. Kudos!
-t
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
This is the first release of Plugin Manager, which I'm calling 0.8.
This plugin essentially allows you to install and update all the existing plugins, right from inside Notepad++. It will notify you when a plugin you use has been updated, and allow you to update it, simply by clicking the "update" button. It has a centrally located list of plugins, which will be kept up to date.
Features:
- Install, Update and Remove all existing plugins
- Notify when an installed plugin has an update available, and allow the user to update directly
- Calculate dependencies between plugins, any plugin can depend on another plugin, which will be installed automatically if the user installs the initial plugin
- Install all supplemental files as well as the plugin file itself (e.g. config, doc, extra libraries)
- Automatic installation of the correct version (ANSI/Unicode) for your Notepad++
- Validation of DLLs copied, against a central list of valid files. This slightly mitigates the risk of automatically downloading updates.
- Only plugins that are compatible with your Notepad++ are shown
- Plugins can be put into categories - a suggestion was made of "Official, Common and Others". Currently all plugins are in the "Others" category, as I think there needs to be some agreement as to what determines an "Official" plugin and which plugins are "Common".
- Plugin Manager is able to update itself, and will notify the user when an update is available
- Proxies are supported, just change the setting
- Updates can be ignored, and the user will not be alerted to that update again, until a further new version of that plugin is released.
- The local plugin list file is only downloaded when something has changed - the MD5sum of the file is compared to the server's version, and if it is different, then a new copy is downloaded.
Unicode:
http://www.brotherstone.co.uk/npp/pm/PluginManager_0.8_UNI.zip
ANSI:
http://www.brotherstone.co.uk/npp/pm/PluginManager_0.8_ANSI.zip
Source code is on github: http://github.com/davegb3/nppPluginManager
Just put the PluginManager.dll in the plugins directory, and the gpup.exe in the updater directory under your Notepad++ program directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Notepad++\updater)
More information on the XML list of plugins, the installation options and how to submit updates to it are given here:
http://www.brotherstone.co.uk/npp/pm
The primary aim of this plugin is to make it easy to install and update plugins, but also to give more exposure to plugins that sometimes don't make it past the forums.
Any feedback will be much appreciated,
Cheers,
Dave.
Congratulations. This plugin is awesome and should absolutely be included in the regular notepad++ release. I was also surprised by the perfectly planned process. I placed the update in the wrong folder, got a good to understand error message and on the next start the procedure continued instead of a needed restart :).
So this is why there is still no MRU enabled File Switcher Plugin available?! *lol*
It would be more correct to have the PluginManager.DLL placed under the plugins folder, just as the gpup.exe has the correct Path listed.
I have a few versions of the (layout) Export Plugin enabled, with different names (version number added to the filename). The "current" version I use is really a previous version. Can I expect problems or strange behavior from the Plugin Manager telling me I have to update either my "current" version or any of the other versions which may also not be up-to-date anymore?
Hmmm... multiple installed versions of the same plugin isn't something it explicitly copes with at the moment. I think it should be quite easy to list it once for each copy installed on the installed tab, then you can selectively update each one as you want it, and leave the ones you don't.
I'll add it to the list for the next version to at least do something sensible with multiple versions of the same plugin.
I think you're right about the DLL in a plugins directory in the release zip. Will be changed in the next release.
As ever, thanks for the feedback,
Dave.
Is there any fall back plan in case an update goes wrong?
I usually download the Plugins myself and store them in a Downloads folder.
For big changes, I make a backup of my current Notepad++ program folder first.
I can install new Plugins etc. In case anything goes wrong, I still have my backup folder (I always keep one), or revert to previous versions from my Downloads folder.
With the Plugin Manager I can't really get any clue about what was downloaded last. Perhaps you could add an option to set a folder to download the files to, although I do not know what (type of) files you download.
Currently, it lists Export Plugin, Current Version = 0.2.8, New Version = 0.2.8.
The .DLL files do have a different name, but perhaps the names inside the .DLL itself can't be distinguished from one another.
this project is awesome, when your plugin will be in the list of npp-plugins site ?
i think it is a must be !!!
Dave: how does your centrally maintained list relate with the Plugin Central page? I' m open to any sort of merger, duplicating effort is no good.
CChris
CChris,
It doesn't really relate to it - I did try some conversion from the wiki to XML, but it just wasn't feasible - I need direct links, the wiki needs "home page" links and so on. I think if I fill out a <homepage> element for all the plugins (currently it's only on a few that have a web page of info), then we could maybe do an XSLT to convert the XML into wiki markup. The wiki has slightly more info than the plugin manager on a number of plugins, I had to cut it down or reword it for the description - I'm not sure how you feel about that. Maybe when I"m done filling out the last few plugins (hopefully this weekend), we can have a go and see how it looks?
Cheers,
Dave.
I don't feel anything about it. I plainly collect descriptions I found from authors, or those Don had on his plugin page (in the process of being replced by a reference to the wiki). I cobbled something in rare cases where no description was available - if you can find something better for NppSortPlugin, then please feel freee to change that.
I m not very familiar with XSLT, so, if you are and see ways to change the markip in ways that keep current data and makes it easier reusing it, no problem.
CChris
XSLT isn't a problem, but my wiki markup is nowhere near yours! I'll finish the list off, then produce a page, and perhaps put it up on a separate page, then we can see how it looks. You'll have to let me know where I've gone wrong with the markup though! :)
Thanks again,
Dave.
Thanks for the feedback exte, I'm glad someone likes it! I needed to see if there were any bugs or issues first, and the couple that have been reported are fixed in my current development version. When I've fixed a couple of other bits up, I'll be releasing 0.9, which could probably go on npp-plugins site, if it's ok with Jens.
I think I lost my rights to the project when sourceforge moved over to their "new look" though, I'll try and find out how to fix that.
Cheers,
Dave.
This Plugin is indeed TSS (The Supreme Shiz)! The functionality is something that I have yearned for on numerous occassions over the years. Glad someone finally did it up.!.
I concur on a previous user's assertion that it would be appropriate and desirable for your plugin to have a proper home on the NPP-Plugins site. Hopefully it will find it's way into the standard NPP distros too.
Wicked kewl. Good job. Kudos!
-t