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~Elizabeth Bubkrozenobu

Mar 27, 2013, 10:33 PM

5 Posts

Plugins deployment support

Category: Application Development
Platform: All Platforms
Release: 9.0
Role: Administrator,Developer
Tags: UpdateSites
Replies: 4

I have 9 loaded on a PC, with Designer and Admin. Things work well and I can see that the 9.0 versions of Extension Library plugins have been folded into this DDE release, but there are other plugins I would like to install on this v9 PC, such as ExtLibX and DomSQL.

I have a 8.5.3 Server with an UpdateSite database that holds those plugins. I have been unable to get the Plugins on there to install on my Notes 9 PC using "Application > Install" and the UpDateSite Remote Sites dialogs, but I may not be doing it right.

Is this UpdateSite subject area going to be documented and supported for version 9? The DDE help still is talking Update Sites w/r to Composite Apps only, not the new 8.5+ features. Should I be able to load plugins on a 9 client from an UpdateSites db on an 8.5.3 server?

tia

Charles Ross

~Dean Umkrother

Apr 16, 2013, 12:23 PM

74 Posts

Forwarded to development<>

Plugins/ss

~Isaac Asalulyakol

Apr 16, 2013, 6:18 PM

18 Posts

Questions...

You should be able to install a feature/plugin into the Notes/Designer client from an 8.5.3 server UpdateSite database.

What errors are you seeing in the client user interface?
What errors are you seeing in the log file (Data/workspace/logs/trace-log-0.xml)?
What URL are you entering into to the dialog for the UpdateSite? Are you using http? Can you get to the UpdateSite from a browser?
Depending on the error you are getting, I may be able to help you understand why you cannot get the features/plugins to install.

Can you point me to the documentation you mention:
"The DDE help still is talking Update Sites w/r to Composite Apps only, not the new 8.5+ features"
Where do I find this in the DDE help topics?

What kind of documentation are you looking for? Are you looking for Documentation on using the dialogs with File/Application/Install? This feature was mainly meant for developers. It uses a slightly modified version of the Eclipse Update Manager which is documented here.
As you can see in this article here, using a Widget to install a feature/plugin is the preferred method over user-initiated install. You can easily create a widget to install the features/plugins by following the Widget documentation.
That being said, if there is an issue with the update site or with the features themselves, the widget install method will also fail.

Are you looking for Documentation on creating an UpdateSite database? You can see this in the Domino admin documentation.

~Elizabeth Bubkrozenobu

Dec 2, 2013, 4:21 PM

5 Posts

Plug ins

Thanks for the response. What I am hoping to see is full integration of this developer documentation in Domino Designer Help and some sort of cooperation in how these plugins get upgraded in a Domino server software install program (which in the case of Domino 9 uses raw files on the server) versus the use of the NSF bases update site method.

To see the DDE help I am talking about, simply look under the topic "Building Eclipse components" or "composite applicationes" or search for "updatesite". All such documents are about Composite applications, not XPages or other OSGI apps like JDBC Access or REST data service. For that you have to look at Open NTF or buy a book. I do understand some things are still beta, and open source stuff always has a beta edge, but to move the product forward, it needs to be supported in the product help for Release 9.

The link you provided to Admin help is about Composite applications, as I mentioned. It is not about The Update Site features as used by the Extension Library and XPages type of stuff, and in fact uses different terminology. The 2 tribes need to be reconciled for the sake of your technical users.

~Isaac Asalulyakol

Jan 2, 2014, 6:22 PM

18 Posts

Documentation

The documentation links I provided to you were not related to Composite Applications. They were related to installing plugins and using Widgets technology from the client. Yes Composite Apps can be used to deploy plugins into the client, but Widgets is the preferred method. I sent you some documentation links about how to deploy plugins with widgets.

The DDE help does document how to build composite applications. It does not document in general how to install plugins into the client as this subject is not specific to DDE.

I don't have the background on all the plugins you are trying to install and where you are getting them, but in general this is how deploying plugins on a client works:

1. Obtain the update site for the plugins you want deployed to the client - this can be from OpenNTF or plugins created by your developers. These would be plugins that are not shipped in the client installer.
2. Place the update site into a location where you client can access it. It can be a folder on your Domino http server or any http server or can be imported into an Update Site NSF that can be access via http or NRPC.
3a. For developers only, you can use the File/Applications/Install menu to install the plugins from the update site.
3b. For corporate site deployments, you can create Widgets to automatically deploy the plugins to your users' clients.
4. In order to deploy newer versions of the plugins on the clients, you need to obtain the new update site and perform step #2 again. Then perform step #3a again or update the widget created in step #3b.

Not all plugins created by IBM will be shipped with the product. That is where we can use OpenNTF to get these to our customers.

Can you point me to the documentation about "The Update Site features as used by the Extension Library and XPages type of stuff"? I am interested in what the documentation says and if it is incorrect or uses different terminology, I can work to get it updated.

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