Description of the Update Information

OpenOffice.org Developer's Guide

Extensions

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• Extension Manager

• Extension Repositories
• The Active Extension
• Updating Extensions
• Processing Extensions
• Packaging Notes For Bundled Extensions
• Deployment Items
• Installing Extensions for All or a Single User
• Extension Manager in OpenOffice.org
• unopkg
• Location of Installed Extensions
• Extension Layers

• Checklist for Writing Extensions
• File Format
• description.xml

• Description of XML Elements
• Localized XML Elements
• Example

• Display Name
• Icon
• Extension Description
• Extension Identifiers
• Extension Versions
• Target Platform
• Simple License
• Dependencies
• Publisher Information
• System Integration
• Online Update of Extensions

• Running Online - Update
• Concept
• Example Scenario for Providing Updates
• Migration of Update Information
• Description of the Update Information
• Description of Atom Feed
• Examples

• Options Dialog

• Creating the GUI of the Options Page
• Saving and Reading Data for the Options Page
• Defining the Usage of Options Pages

• Adding a Leaf to an Existing Node
• Adding Several Leaves
• Grouping of Leaves
• Adding Nodes
• Adding Several Nodes
• Absolute Position of Leaves
• Grouping of Nodes
• Assigning Nodes to Modules
• Defining a Module
• Absolute Position of Nodes

• The Options Dialog of the Extension Manager

• Help Content

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The update information can be contained in a file which can be directly accessed through a URL or it can be generated on demand (HTTP get request). If it is a file then it could be named according to this pattern:

 <extension_file_name>.update.xml

For example, the update information file for the extension myextension.oxt is myextension.update.xml. The .oxt file extension is not used.

It follows the description of the XML structure of the update information data:

Element /description

• Parent element: document root
• Children:
  • <identifier>
  • <version>
  • <update-download>
  • <update-website>
  • <dependencies>
  • <publisher>
  • <release-notes>
• Since: OOo 2.2

<description> is the root element of the update information XML document.

Attribute <description>

Attribute	Description
xmlns	The default namespace of element description and all children must be defined as https://openoffice.org/extensions/update/2006
xmlns:dep	The namespace for dependency information must be defined as https://openoffice.org/extensions/description/2006
xmlns:xlink	The xlink namespace must be defined as https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink
other namespace definitions	Other namespaces can be added as necessary.

Element /description/identifier

• Parent element: <description>
• Children: none
• Since OOo 2.2

Attributes of <identifier>

Attribute	Description
value	Required. The extension identifier.

Element /description/version

• Parent element: <description>
• Children: none
• Since: OOo 2.2

Attributes of <version>

Attribute	Description
value	Required. A textual representation of the extension version.

Element /description/update-download

• Parent element: <description>
• Children:
  • <src>
• Since: OOo 2.2

<update-download> must have at least one <src> child element. If <update-download> is provided then there must not be a <update-website> element.

The second, third, etc. <src> element are regarded as fallback, that is, the elements provide URLs to mirrors. The Extension Manager will try to download the extension by using the first URL and only uses the next URL if an error occurred, for example because the the connection was interrupted.

Example:

<update-download>
  <src xlink:href="http://my.company.com/product/download/extension.oxt" />
  <src xlink:href="http://my.company.com/product/download-mirror/extension.oxt" />
</update-download>

Element /description/update-download/src

• Parent element: <update-download>
• Children: none
• Since: OOo 2.2

Attributes of <src>

Attribute	Description
xlink:href	Required. The value is a URL which refers to the extension

Element /description/update-website

• Parent: <description>
• Children:
  • <src>
• Since: OOo 2.4

<update-website> must have at least one <src> child element. If <update-website> is provided then there must not be a <update-download> element.

The children of this element provide a URL to the web site where the new version of the extension can be downloaded. There can be multiple localized web sites with different URLs. Each URL can be provided by a separate <src> element. See Localized XML Elements about how the Extension Manager chooses the proper <src> element.

Example:

<update-website>
  <src xlink:href="http://my.company.com/product/download_de.html" lang="de" />
  <src xlink:href="http://my.company.com/product/download_en.html" lang="en" />
  <src xlink:href="http://my.company.com/product/download_de-DE.html" lang="de-DE" />
</update-website>

Element /description/update-website/src

• Parent: <update-website>
• Children: none
• Since: OOo 2.4

Attributes of <src>

Attribute	Description
xlink:href	Required. The value is a URL to the web site of the publisher of the extension.
lang	Required. A language identifier according to RFC 3066. See also Documentation/DevGuide/Extensions/Localized XML Elements.

Element /description/dependencies

• Parent element: <description>
• Children:
  • <OpenOffice.org-minimal-version>
  • <OpenOffice.org-maximal-version>
  • others
• Since: OOo 2.2

Example:

<dependencies xmlns:dep="http://openoffice.org/extensions/description/2006">
  <dep:OpenOffice.org-minimal-version value="2.1" dep:name="OpenOffice.org 2.1"/>
</dependencies>

Element /description/dependencies/OpenOffice.org-minimal-version

• Parent element: <dependencies>
• Children: none
• Since: OOo 2.2

The namespace of this element must be http://openoffice.org/extensions/description/2006.

Attributes of <OpenOffice.org-minimal-version>

Attribute	Description
xmlns:dep	The namespace for dependency information (inherited from <description>) must be defined as http://openoffice.org/extensions/description/2006
dep:name	Required. The string “OpenOffice value” (where value is the value of the attribute value).
value	Required. The required underlying OpenOffice version (“2.1”, “2.2”, etc.), starting with OpenOffice.org 2.1.

Element /description/dependencies/OpenOffice.org-maximal-version

• Parent element: <dependencies>
• Children: none
• Since: OOo 3.1

The namespace of this element must be http://openoffice.org/extensions/description/2006.

Attributes of <OpenOffice.org-maximal-version>

Attribute	Description
xmlns:dep	The namespace for dependency information (inherited from <description>) must be defined as http://openoffice.org/extensions/description/2006
dep:name	Required. The string “OpenOffice. value or older” (where value is the value of the attribute value).
value	Required. The required maximal underlying OpenOffice version (“3.0”, “3.1”, etc.).

Element /description/publisher

• Parent: <description>
• Children:
  • <name>
• Since: OOo 2.4

The children of this element provide a localized publisher name together with a URL. <publisher> must have at least one <name> child element.

The publisher name is displayed in the update dialog of the Extension Manager. Clicking on the name causes the web browser to be opened which navigates to the web site determined by the <name> element.

Example:

<publisher>
  <name xlink:href="http://my.company.com/product/download_de.html" lang="de">Meine Firma</name>
  <name xlink:href="http://my.company.com/product/download_en.html" lang="en">My Company</name>
  <name xlink:href="http://my.company.com/produc/download_de-DE.html" lang="de-DE">Meine Firma</name>
</publisher>

Element /description/publisher/name

• Parent: <publisher>
• Children: Text
• Since: OOo 2.4

The text value of this element is the publisher name.

Attributes of <name>

Attribute	Description
xlink:href	Required. The value is a URL to the web site of the publisher of the extension.
lang	Required. A language identifier according to RFC 3066. See also Documentation/DevGuide/Extensions/Localized XML Elements.

Element /description/release-notes

• Parent: <description>
• Children:
  • <src>
• Since: OOo 2.4

The children of this element provide URLs to localized release-notes. <release-notes> must have at least one <src> child element.

The update dialog of the Extension Manager shows a link to the release notes if this element is provided. Clicking on it will cause a web browser to be opened which navigates to the release notes page using the URL provided by the respective <src> element.

Example:

<release-notes>
  <src xlink:href="http://my.company.com/product/release-notes_de.txt" lang="de" />
  <src xlink:href="http://my.company.com/product/release-notes_en.txt" lang="en" />
</release-notes>

Element /description/release-notes/src

• Parent: <release-notes>
• Children: none
• Since: OOo 2.4

The element contains a URL to the release notes.

Attributes of <src>

Attribute	Description
xlink:href	Required. The value is a URL to the release notes of the extension.
lang	Required. A language identifier according to RFC 3066. See also Documentation/DevGuide/Extensions/Localized XML Elements.

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