Install and Deploy Plugins

After you build a plugin component, you can deploy it to other computers for use by others. To do this, you must copy all of the appropriate files built with the plugin to the other computer. This includes the WSC and script files for Windows Script Components, and all relevant DLL files for compiled components.

Registering a UI plugin

The plugin type determines how it is registered:

• .NET UI plugin. If the plugin is a .NET UI plugin, you must place the appropriate XML manifest file in a registration search folder, but you do not need to register the plugin in Windows. For instructions, see .NET Managed (UI) Plugins.
• COM UI plugin. If the plugin is a COM UI plugin, you must register it in the Windows registry and place an appropriate XML manifest file in a registration search folder. For more information, see COM UI Plugins.

When you build a plugin in Debug mode, rather than Release mode, the component runs using Microsoft debug dynamic link libraries that are supplied with Visual Studio .NET. The plugin will not be able to run on a computer that does not have those Debug libraries. Debug libraries are not redistributable and are not part of the standard Windows operating system installation. In most cases, you should build a plugin for deployment to other machines using Release mode.

Use plugin components

After you install a plugin, you can choose to use a plugin by selecting its ProgID or DisplayName from the user interface. The plugin may choose to declare certain parameters as being editable by the user. If so, then the user interface enables a user to edit these settings as well.