Launch Condition for Adobe apps

[moniuch]

Since I'm on the free version it is currently not critical to me, but just as an idea - why don't you implement a custom launch condition for installed Adobe apps. It could come in helpful for authors of commercial scripts or plugins.
In general, Adobe creates /Program Files/Adobe/{app} directories, but the names depend on a version. A safer way to go would be to check for env variable (assuming it installs such).

[Cosmin]

Hi,

Please note that Advanced Installer already has predefined launch conditions for Adobe Acrobat Reader. If this is not what you need, can you please give me more details about the applications you are referring to?

Regards,
Comin

[moniuch]

Hmmm, I'm not Adobe expert, so you'd rather get details from them, but the applications to consider include: Illustrator, Bridge, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Dreamweaver... a whole bunch of them. I'd have to point you to adobe.com instead of listing all of them

Since most of the Adobe apps are extensible, developers like myself, may want to deliver commercial scripts or plugins and install them into predefined locations. Once again, since I am on the free version, I cannot test it, but before installing the product, I'd have to check whether the client has the target application installed. For instance, If I am about to install an Illustrator script, I should test whether a directory [Program Files]/Adobe/[Adobe Illustrator CS#]/Presets/Scripts/ exists. CS# stands for Illustrator version, which is also important to test for, for product compatibility reasons.

If the directory does not exist, user may still want to install the product, but as a developer I would not want to create an artificial directory path, only to mimic Illustrator's buried directory, but I'd rather install the assets into a user-selectable folder, where user can read my product help, release notes and such.

That's how I see it.
Art

[Cosmin]

Hi Art,

We will consider adding predefined launch conditions for the Adobe products in a future version of Advanced Installer. Thank you for your suggestion.

Until then, you can use custom launch conditions to stop the installation if a file or a folder does not exist. The Free version supports custom launch conditions, but it doesn't support searches which would allow you to detect a file or a folder (they are available only in Professional, Java Application and Enterprise projects).

If the directory does not exist, user may still want to install the product, but as a developer I would not want to create an artificial directory path, only to mimic Illustrator's buried directory, but I'd rather install the assets into a user-selectable folder, where user can read my product help, release notes and such.

This could be handled easily in a Professional project. Basically, you can use a search to find out if the third party software is installed. The property of this search can then be used to condition a custom action which sets the default installation folder (the APPDIR property). When the installation runs the user can install in the default location you specify or he can choose the one he wants.

Regards,
Cosmin

[moniuch]

Hi,

After a long break in my project, let me check: any update on the above-mentioned feature?

Cheers,
Moniuch

[SillyPutty1000]

I also think this is a super feature. I would love the installer to detect which versions of the Adobe Products are installed, that too for compatibility. For example, I need to know which version of Photoshop CS is installed....Also, if they have CS4 for Windows, Photoshop comes in 32 bit and 64 bit so I need to install scripts and plugins in the appropriate folders.

Right now I have to do a custom Search in Registry in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Photoshop\11.0\PluginPath to get the plugin path. It would be cool if I had a property called "PhotoshopPlugins32" and "PhotoshopPlugins64" and if a particular version of CS4 doesnt exist, we can display a msgbox.

Please add this!!

thanks

[moniuch]

Plus, the branch folder names may be localized depending on the language version of the Adobe componetn(s) installed. For example:
C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator CS4/Presets/Scripts
may not be the path to search for on Hungarian or Swedish system.
So many variables around it, that the more I think of it, the more I start to believe that this would require some kind of a collaboration between Adobe and Advanced Installer. I think Adobe should provide a DLL library for inclusion into AI installer apps, with ready-to-use methods returning desired path info.

Let's believe it's feasible, just as implementing conditions for MS Office and Acrobat Reader were.

[SillyPutty1000]

If caphyon wants to get started on a contact....you can pm me. I'll give you the email address for the Senior Photoshop Product Manager and start there.

[Cosmin]

Hi,

I added on our TODO list predefined searches for Adobe products. They will be available in a future version of Advanced Installer. Thank you for your suggestion.

Regards,
Cosmin