Regarding the plugin ID, is getting a plugin ID from Adobe only needed if distributing a plugin on the Adobe marketplace? Or is that something I should be getting for plugins that I distribute to other people from my own website?
I realize the plugins will work if I just assign my own unique ID. However, I was a little confused about what Adobe is wanting developers to do for plugins they distribute on their own through their own websites to other people.
Also, if I create an ID through Adobe and distribute on my own then I would assume if I decided to distribute through the Adobe Marketplace at a later time then the plugin could retain the same ID. Is that correct?
One thing to be aware of is that if you distribute your plugin both ways (Adobe marketplace + third party marketplace) and use the same ID, you’ll run into problems where people who bought the plugin from third party marketplaces will be navigated to the product page on the Adobe marketplace. They’re then asked to purchase it (again), as they never bought it there, and therefore can’t install it.
That’s why I assigned a different ID for the version I distribute elsewhere.
For plugins that are only distributed on my website, but not on the Adobe Marketplace, are you suggesting I still use an Adobe ID from Adobe even though the program won’t be distributed on the Marketplace?
The same ID being used by someone else won’t be an issue because I’m adding my company name into the ID. My IDs are formatted as com.myCompanyName.pluginName.
With the entitlements, are you referring to licensing? One of the main reasons why I’m going to be distributing on my own website is because I already have an established website with an established set of multiple plugins, with 1000s of users spanning back for 10 years of sales. Those people already have license keys. I keep the latest plugins releases available to download on my website and they just use their existing license key to activate any upgrades. The downloads run with a watermark as trial and are activated with the license keys. I also have a license key lookup system for existing users.
I was really interested in distributing on the Adobe Marketplace. However, I wasn’t sure how to handle licensing for the existing user base and it seems like it would generate a lot of customer support on my end if I made the switch in the distribution, especially if it affected how the licensing worked.
So moving forward, I think I will get plugin IDs from Adobe and use those even though I’m distributing on my website. That way, if I decide to distribute on the Marketplace later then I won’t need to switch IDs later. I still am interested in distributing on the Marketplace… just need to figure out how to handle the existing licensing for all of the users who already purchased since 2010.
I have only released 4 of 10 plugins on UXP so far and just recently too. People who already installed will then have 2 installs when they install an update with the new IDs I get from Adobe. However, it’s probably better to make the switch now since I just recently released and not many people have likely updated yet anyway. I’ll just communicate how to remove the old version if they end up with 2 installs.
I should have started off doing it this way but I was confused about what to do when only distributing on my site and not the marketplace. i was thinking the IDs were only for when distributing on the Marketplace.
And, to be fair, right now, the most obvious use for IDs (and requirement) is when distributing through the marketplace. But there will be things coming down the pike that will make having an ID very useful, so my suggestion would be to get one anyway (may as well reserve your ID now), and then get the benefits when these other features become available.
It’s not the end of the world today if you use reverse domain IDs in your plugins today with some degree of namespacing, so it really depends on if/when you want to make those changes. If you use IDs from the console today, you’ll save your and your users some effort later.
I don’t want to go into too much detail about the entitlements stuff we’re thinking about – a lot of it is still thoughts, and not something terribly concrete, but one idea we’ve had is a way for you as the developer to let Adobe know of out-of-marketplace entitlements… that way you could conceivably have that path forward into the marketplace. No promises here, but we’re definitely aware of the difficulties here when it comes to established customer bases.
OK, thanks for the additional info. I’ll make the changes asap. It’s one line of code in the manifest to change so I think I can handle the programming changes easily enough
