[MonoDevelop] Thoughts about AddIns

Mike Krueger mike@icsharpcode.net
Thu, 08 Apr 2004 13:55:08 +0200


Hi

>The problem that I see arising is enabling/disabling various addins with
>various dependencies (which may not even be written in C#) and
>installing them easily.  Most plugin-enabled apps I have used have a UI
>for managing these things, which could include the possibility of adding
>an addin automatically via a url.  Also, I think shipping most of the
>possible addins with monodevelop may become a burden and even be
>undesirable for people with simple needs.
>
>  
>
This might be ... but for SharpDevelop we have so few developers that it 
currently doesn't make sense.
We can integrate all addins and 'hide' them in the right place. From 
time to time we need to change the
menu structure a bit (like the view menu lately). But for now all is 
consistent and looks 'thin' ... what is
needed for #D is the ability to have different 'views' (gui layouts) for 
different 'modes' (for example
debugging).
But for some add-ins that might pop up it is surely better to download 
and install them additional. But
the main goal for #D was to integrate ALL avaiable tools. (Thats why 
these things are called Integrated
Development Environment and not VI).

>I think the solution will be to offer a mechanism similar to the
>following.  Enable/Disable existing addins without requiring removal of
>the dll/addin files.  Functionality to download a zip of an independent
>addin and have it automatically installed to the right place (it may
>require a xml file that self-describes the functionality and
>dependencies of the addin).  Installing an addin manually or via a rpm
>should also still work.
>
>  
>
This is something that would be really good ... a other good feature 
would be 'auto-update' of addins.
(which basically is equal to auto update the IDE).
But currently #D doesn't go in that direction ... maybe after 1.0.

Regards
Mike