Notepad++ 7.6.1

[donho]

Notepad++ 7.6.1 is out there.

In version 7.6.1, Plugins Admin is enhanced on several aspects. However, the enhancement could bring some plugins issues for people who update their Notepad++, due to the new location for plugins. Sorry for the inconvenient.

In order to remedy this problem, after the update, if you update from 7.6 :
Move all %LOCALAPPDATA%\Notepad++\plugins\ (except “Config” folder) to %PROGRAMDATA%\Notepad++\plugins.

Otherwise, you update from v7.5.9 or version older than v7.5.9:
Find the name of plugin you want to migrate in %PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Notepad++\plugins\myAwesomePlugin.dll (or %PROGRAMFILES%\Notepad++\plugins\myAwesomePlugin.dll, according the achetecture of your Notepad++).
go to %PROGRAMDATA%\Notepad++\plugins\ to create myAwesomePlugin folder.
move the plungin myAwesomePlugin.dll from %PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Notepad++\plugins\ to %PROGRAMDATA%\Notepad++\plugins\myAwesomePlugin.

[pnedev]

Hi @donho ,

After install the plugins sub-folder is still created in Notepad++ install folder. This is not needed anymore.

As far as I remember, you mentioned adding SHA computing functionality next to the MD5 in the Tools sub-menu (now that the Plugin Admin validates the plugins by SHA). Am I mistaken?

Thank you.

[dinkumoil]

There is a known bug in the unzipping code for plugin ZIP packages. If a plugin comes with companion files, plugin installer GUP.exe may produce 0-byte files when unzipping them. Affected plugins may fail to work.

See here , here and here .

[donho]

@pnedev said:

After install the plugins sub-folder is still created in Notepad++ install folder. This is not needed anymore.

Which one? Could you provide me the path please?

As far as I remember, you mentioned adding SHA computing functionality next to the MD5 in the Tools sub-menu (now that the Plugin Admin validates the plugins by SHA). Am I mistaken?

Yes indeed. I’m implement it. It’ll be in the next version.

[donho]

@dinkumoil said:

There is a known bug in the unzipping code for plugin ZIP packages. If a plugin comes with companion files, plugin installer GUP.exe may produce 0-byte files when unzipping them. Affected plugins may fail to work.

See here , here and here .

It’ll be fixed in the next release. Thank you for the heads up.

[pnedev]

@donho said:

Which one? Could you provide me the path please?

Yes, %ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\plugins is the path. It contains only the disabled sub-folder.
This was the plugins location in versions prior 7.6.

[Meta Chuh]

@pnedev
in my case C:\Applications\Notepad++\plugins
(default install but custom location)
also contains the APIs folder containing c.xml and all others.
where is your APIs folder located ?

[Meta Chuh]

i’ve just tested a fresh install and all looks normal to me:

autoCompletion.nsh puts APIs into “$INSTDIR\plugins\APIs” (if autocomplete is not deselected when installing notepad++)

and AutoCompletion.cpp expects APIs there.

i personally don’t mind at all that the base folder for APIs is called plugins like it is now.

i would leave this as it is unless anyone really wants to clean up a lot more than just using a different folder name for $INSTDIR\plugins\APIs, except if everyone is willing to do a fresh install and to do a manual migration of their custom APIs if they have some.

[dinkumoil]

@donho

I have tested an update installation from v7.5.9 (32 bit) to v7.6.1 (32 bit) (local installation in directory %ProgramFiles(x86)%).

The installer of Notepad++ seems to have a hard-coded list of plugins which are considered to be unstable. One plugin on this list is the HEX-Editor plugin. The installer of v7.6.1 still moves it to <Notepad++-installation-folder>\plugins\disabled. This should be changed to the location where plugins are actually stored, particularly because the directory <Notepad++-installation-folder>\plugins will be removed in the future.

In general it’s the question if this hard coded plugin list is useful. I use the HEX-Editor plugin with my productive v7.5.6 installation and I’m not facing any problems.

[pnedev]

@donho , @Meta-Chuh ,

I understand now, thanks to @Meta-Chuh ’ s post.

During install I disable Autocompletion in the installer so the APIs are not installed.
I didn’t know those were put in plugins sub-folder as well. Now it makes sense why the plugins sub-folder is still in Notepad++ install folder.
I would prefer though to have
%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Notepad++\APIs
instead of
%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Notepad++\plugins\APIs
and remove
%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Notepad++\plugins altogether.
This helps avoid confusion in the future as plugins are not going to live anymore in Notepad++'s install folder (excluding here the portable variant).

[dinkumoil]

@donho @Meta-Chuh @pnedev

Regarding APIs directory: As far as I know there are plugins wich are indeed lexers for a certain language. I actually found the WLangLexer which is part of the plugin list of old Plugin Manager. This plugin requests during its installation to copy an XML file to plugins\APIs.

I don’t use lexer plugins, thus I don’t know anything about them. But I think further investigations have to be done before making a decision regarding plugins and plugins\APIs directories.

[pnedev]

Good point @dinkumoil ,
I don’t use additional lexers and missed that subtlety totally.

@donho ,

I just tried installing SessionManager plugin through 7.6.1 Plugin Admin - Notepad++ restarted but the plugin did not install. There wasn’t any notification about that failure. I believe we need to have some kind of status on plugin’s install - success, fail, progress…

Do you guys experience the same or it is again due to me using Wine?

[pnedev]

BTW, SessionMgr-1.4.2-plugin.zip stays as zero-bytes file in my user’s Temp folder after the installation fail. We should remove the plugin’s zip after the fail as well @donho .

[pnedev]

@donho , @dinkumoil , @Meta-Chuh ,

Perhaps the APIs sub-folder needs to be located also in %PROGRAMDATA% :
%PROGRAMDATA%\Notepad++\APIs
instead of
%PROGRAMFILES%\Notepad++\plugins\APIs
because of what @dinkumoil just pointed above - some lexer plugins might want to add some files to APIs as well.

[dinkumoil]

@pnedev

I miss installation progress too and when a plugin installation/update failed I was facing error messages that stated the wrong reason for that.

I already requested user feedback some weeks ago (see here ). And @SinghRajenM has put some effort in writing code that extends GUP.exe to do so (see here and here ). But for what ever reasons these PRs have been closed.

[dinkumoil]

@pnedev

We should remove the plugin’s zip after the fail as well @donho .

No! Gup.exe should be fixed. The plugin is the victim and not the cause of this error.

[pnedev]

@dinkumoil said:

… I was facing error messages that stated the wrong reason for that.

I assume Wine is the reason why I don’t get the error notifications then, thanks.

No! Gup.exe should be fixed. …

OK, it is perhaps this post of yours.

[Meta Chuh]

@pnedev

I would prefer though to have
%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Notepad++\APIs
instead of
%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Notepad++\plugins\APIs

it would be a cleaner, more logical structure, but at the moment there are many scenarios where it can break a functionality if you update an older installation, if they are not considered prior to coding the path changes, and i guess this means a lot of coding work for a cleanup which few people will ever notice or appreciate.

BTW, SessionMgr-1.4.2-plugin.zip stays as zero-bytes file in my user’s Temp folder after the installation fail.

it installs fine for me, but it is missing the menu title on both windows and osx.

@donho
thanks again for the wine path and installer mods, all works like a charm so far. 👍

[pnedev]

@Meta-Chuh said:

it installs fine for me, but it is missing the menu title on both windows and osx.

It is Session Manager’s known issue that is fixed but not officially merged.

[graphixillusion]

I’m trying the new version, the portable one, but i can’t see the plugin manager anywhere. Any clue?