Overview

How do you publish an extension so it displays in the MPEI Installer and Extensions plugin?

How to Publish your Extension

Author: huha (taken from forum post)     Date: Oct 20, 2011

First Time Publishing of a New Extension

1. Open the MPE Maker and create a new project. This will automatically assign to the project a unique identifier, so that you can change later the name of the project, but never touch or copy the project number to a new project.
2. Work through the MPEI Maker steps, but keep the fields for all online URL locations empty.
   Note: See Skins Installer for a step by step guide to creating your installer.
3. Build the .mpe1 file
4. Create a new listing for your extension in the MP Repository page (Download Plugins and Skins)
   1. Select your category and click "Add your extension here"
   2. Fill the form and upload your mpe1 file from step 2 and
   3. Upload all your pictures and online icons.
   4. In the field for the update.xml you have to add a dummy file e.g. update.xml. Note: For more details about adding your Extension to the Repository, see the Downloads Repository > Add Extension wiki page.
5. Submit your extension and wait until it is published (usually less than a day or two)
6. Once it is published you must copy the links for:
   1.  the .mpe1 file
   2.  the dummy update.xml file
   3.  all pictures and online icons
7. Open your .xmp2 file in MPE Maker and fill in all the fields containing online information for the mpe1 file, i.e. the update.xml file and all your pictures and online icons from step 6 in the Additional Parameters section.
8.  Generate the XML file by clicking the button, and name the file e.g. TvWishList.update.xml. The file name must not contain the version number since the name must not be changed for future upgrades. Before you click the "Generate XML" button you must delete any old file with the same name in the target folder. Save your .xmp2 project.
9. Go back to your listing in the MP repository, click edit after you log on, and upload the new update.xml file into the update.xml field. then submit your changes.
10. Finally, open your xmp2 project file again and click publish once. You have to click publish only once for a project.

Note: If your plugin supports more than one version of MP, such as  MP1.1.x and MP1.2.x with your own installer file you have to make the version control optional. For that open the .xmp2 file in an editor after step 2 above, and search for "<WarnOnly>false</WarnOnly>" and change it to "<WarnOnly>true</WarnOnly>" save the file and include some text for warning like "in MP1.1.x this warning can be ignored".

Updating a New Extension Installer

1. Copy your original .xmp2 project file. Do not create a new project for an update.
2. Open the project and update:
   • the version number
   • the change history
   • the project files and paths
   • the release date
3. Build a new .mpe1 file (e.g. TvWishList.Ver1.2.0.15.mpe1)
4. Delete any old update.xml files in the target folder
5. Generate a new update.xml file with the same name as the original one (e.g. TvWishList.update.xml). This file must not contain the version number.
6. Open your plugin/skin at the MP repository web page, enter the changes and upload your new .mpei1 file and your newly generated update.xml file and click submit

That´s it. If you want to add or change pictures you must upload them before step 1. to the MP repository and copy the links of the pictures first in order to add/update them in step 2 in the .xmp2 file with the MPE Maker.

If your .mpe1 file and your update.xml file are stored in different locations, you just have to enter the corresponding URLs into the .xmp2 file via the MPE Maker. Just make sure you have only one version of your update.xml file. If you want to give the user a choice of installing older versions, you must not delete the older update.xml file in the target folder before generating a new one. However, this implies that each mpe2 version file has its own download URL link (which is not currently available in the MP Repository). In the MP Repository you can use the link files for archived files (find them by first uploading a dummy file) and then manipulate the .xml file in an editor manually for the different links.

Removing Your Extension from the MPEI installer list

If for some reason you want to remove the plugin from the MPEI installer, please send a private forum message (PM) to our MP web administrator high.

If you mistakenly publish several versions of your extensions please PM high to remove them, as this speeds up the MPEI Installer update for all users.

Example

An example xmp2 file is attached. It would be nice if a few more plugin developers could also add their .xmp2 file as an example (especially one for a skin and one for a simple plugin without using a separate installer).

Related

• Extensions Installer