plugin zips

[Sam_Zen]

Most TC plugins nowadays have the elegant property of coming up with a dialog to ask for confirmation
to place the plugin directly into the proper TC subdir (from the actvated zip-file).
Recently I'm replacing all .ZIP files in my archives by the .7Z format (open-source), but I hesitaded
with the TC-plugins. I thought the dialog was made with some special ZIP syntax.
But after a test, to my pleasant surprise, the 7-zip file started up with the same dialog, when unpacking.
So I wondered. Is the existence of the .INF file inside the pack causing this ? Example :

Code: Select all

[plugininstall]
description=ImgSize WDX Content Plugin
type=wdx
file=ImgSize.wdx
defaultdir=wdx_ImgSize
Readme=Readme.txt

[Hacker]

Is the existence of the .INF file inside the pack causing this ?

Yes, it is.

HTH
Roman

[nsp]

you are right !

pluginst.inf is the plugin installation info file !

For more you can also give a look to message 5463 that describe the syntax of the inf file (from 6.5)

It works with all archive type (i use) !

[Sam_Zen]

Nice ! Thanks for the link to the syntax thread. And found a useful warning about an enclosed .INI file.

I realize that this is TC-bound, but because this .INF file has quite a simple, general character,
I sub-wondered, if this could be used by other apps as well, like IrfanView, which also has its plugins.

[nsp]

I sub-wondered, if this could be used by other apps as well, like IrfanView, which also has its plugins.

Irfan View has it own format for plugin ! and already provide exe based installation pack.

You can use it to install over TC folder additional portable application from zip file but as no registering/scripting functionalities are provided this can not replace nsis /inno setup..... installer !

[Sam_Zen]

I understand.

IV indeed has exe based packs, lots of customers find that easy, but I always choose for the zip-variant,
as long as it's just unpacking and placing in the right directory.

I asked this too, because I'm one of the beta-testers of IrfanView, so I could easily pass on information
cq routines needed to read the zip files in the same way.