Hi all,
I have a plugin which consists of PS filters, a UXP panel, and several external resources.
Therefore it has a own installer which installs the complete suite (Setup.exe / Setup.dmg) in one run.
In the CEP days it was easy to install the CEP plug-ins with a own installer. We just put the files in the extension folders:
Win: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CEP\extensions
Mac: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/
So my questions is: What is the best practice to do the same with a UXP plugin?
According to the UXP documentation there are only two ways to install a UXP plugin.
Either using the Marketplace or using the Creative Cloud App.
Using the Marketplace makes not really sense for this use case.
The Creative Cloud App starts a second installer with separate user prompts which would deliver a poor UX.
I found out that I could - as in CEP - just paste the UXP plugin here:
%appdata%/Adobe/UXP/Plugins/External
but this would also require to maintain the %appdata%\Adobe\UXP\PluginsInfo\v1 config json which should probably not be touched by users.
I also read (here) that it is planned to provide a command line support in future. Would this do the job without showing user prompts?
Does someone have any ideas or experiences how to install a UXP Plugin using a own installer?
As far I know there is some adobe made helper app to install UXP plugins and I think you can pass file path as an argument to install that file. Check file association in Windows registry to find out how double click on extension file works.
If you look in the registry for UnifiedPluginInstallerAgent, you’ll find the entry that has the flag /doubleClick.
I agree “install” makes more sense.
is doing the same as directly opening the *.ccx via CMD…
"C:\plugin.ccx"
… It opens up the Creative Cloud App installer.
I would like to avoid showing up the CC installer, because I’m already within a installer wizard.
That’s why I’m searching for a “silent install” option for ccx plugins.
Do you mean the permission dialog from the OS?
Showing that would be OK. The external installation wizard is already asking for permissions so that we have admin permissions during the installation.
Using that rights I could already paste the plugin to %appdata%/Adobe/UXP/Plugins/External (and adjust the config JSON %appdata%\Adobe\UXP\PluginsInfo\v1 )
to install it silently.
So showing the CC App dialog wouldn’t be a noteworthy security improvement in this use case.
But I think it is not wanted from Adobe that users adjust the config JSON manually.
I think the CC dialog about install would be shown under any circumstances.
Btw I got an “evil” idea… I wonder what happens when you install plugin with zero permissions and change the permissions/pluginID/content afterward @kerrishotts
Can someone give me a tip whether this chapter covers the usage of 3rd party installers?
In that case I’ll just get the book. The previous CEP book was already a tremendous help.
Hi Jens,
I’m afraid it is about the CC Desktop app and it briefly mentions the Unified Plugin Installer Agent (UPIA).
If you have the need to install additional/external components (e.g. with a dmg/exe), there once was a workaround but I’m pretty sure it’s been removed in more recent versions due to security concerns. Alas the Marketplace isn’t ready to deliver extra files, e.g. like it was possible with CEP thanks to MXI config files, folder tokens, etc. so we’re out of luck. @kerrishotts may have more up-to-date news, though!
Cheers,
