[oXygen-sdk] Installation location of oXygen on Windows.

[Oxygen XML Editor Support]

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 at 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 at 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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>
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