Plugin hosted on external website

As a new developer, If I decided to submit my extension only as ‘‘Listed Page’’ and host the download on my company web page, is there any way that when we launch a new version we can still have the plugin user be alerted about the new release?

Also, does the code will still be encrypted by SketchUp?

Thanks!

Julien

When you edit the extension page on Extension Wahrehouse, you can increment the version number. I believe this should notify the user even if it is a listing page, but I have not tried.

Your extension will only be encrypted if someone encrypts it. Extension Warehouse does it for extensions that are uploaded there, but if it is hosted on your website, EWH is not involved and it is logically not encrypted automatically. There used to exist an official SketchUp Ruby Scrambler that you could use, but giving away encryption software will always enable attackers to crack it. So the scrambler only makes it harder to read your source code but does not prevent it because a cracked “unscrambler” exists already out there on the internet.

Why not upload the extension to Extension Warehouse and save your users some additional steps and confusion?

You can still sign and encrypt your extension, even if you don’t upload it on the Extension Warehouse :
https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/developer_center/extension_signature

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@Aerilius Thanks for your help, I want to keep the file on my website to request email address and offer free training for the use of the plugin.

Listing pages are exceptions to the rule. Mainly they are allowed only if there are techincal limitations due to need of an installer or license system.

As jiminybillybob, if you distribute your extension outside of EW you need to do the encryption yourself via the signing portal.

And you lose the update notifications because Ew cannot track external versions.

If that is the use case to not host on EW, then how about an alternative approach? You can have your extension ask for email address and promote your offer upon first use of your extension. Would that work for you?

Does the signing portal assign an extension ID, and create an "extension_info.txt" file ?

Thanks about the idea, I will talk about it with my partner today!

No, the signing portal only signs. extension_info.txt is generated only for RBZs uploaded to Extension Warehouse.

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Okay, then,… IF it (the signing portal) did (create a "extension_info.txt",) for a service fee, then newer version notices could be sent via the Extension Manager for externally hosted extensions.

Basically, if Trimble’s EW doesn’t provide this service, some other entity is likely to.

Just build in an update check in your plugin. You can inform the user when a newer version is available. It is even possible to write your own update function. For Skalp we check if a newer version is available and the user can update to the new version with one click from inside the plugin.

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