In an upcoming release of Windows Live Writer, we are changing the location that Windows Live Writer’s program files are installed into as well as the location of our registry settings. These changes could have an impact upon plug-in authors, though we have done our best to maintain backward compatibility. The following describes the changes in more detail and specifically discusses the impact that this will have upon existing plug-ins.

Installation Directory

In an upcoming release of Windows Live Writer, the location where Writer’s program files are installed will change. In previous betas, Writer the files would be installed to

<program files>\Windows Live Writer\

Starting in the next release, they will be installed to

<program files>\Windows Live\Writer\

Many plug-ins that are currently distributed simply install into <program files>\Windows Live Writer\plugins\. Though this isn't the most desirable installation location, we will continue to load plug-ins that are installed into <program files>\Windows Live Writer\plugins\. However, there are still cases where this change could cause problems for existing plug-ins.

1) At install time, the plug-in installer may validate that Writer is installed by looking in <program files>\Windows Live Writer\ . This validation will fail starting with the next release, and so the plug-in will not be installable. The installer should be updated to use this registry key to detect the directory in which Writer is installed into:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Live Writer\InstallDir

This value will only be present when Writer is installed (Writer un-installs the key when Writer is uninstalled).

2) At runtime, the plug-in may rely on loading assemblies or other resources based upon the application working directory. If the resource is located in <program files>\Windows Live Writer\plugins\ and the current working directory is <program files>\Windows Live\Writer\plugins\ then the resource may fail to load. Starting with Beta 2 of Windows Live Writer, plug-in authors could install their plug-ins into independent directories and register those directories with Writer, as described here (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa738841.aspx). For plug-ins with external dependencies, this is probably the best model since you will then have the freedom to create arbitrary file and directory structure without risk of collision with other installed plug-ins. If you do continue to install into the ‘plugins’ directory, it would be best if your plug-in did not depend on the working directory of the current application to resolve full paths to resources or external dependencies.

Since the above scenarios can cause install time or runtime errors, these scenarios should be addressed as soon as possible. The changes suggested above can be made immediately and will work correctly with the existing version of Windows Live Writer that is currently available as well as the upcoming release.

Registry Key Paths

In addition, the registry path where plug-ins should register themselves will also be updated from

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Windows Live Writer\PluginAssemblies
or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Windows Live Writer\PluginAssemblies

to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Windows Live\Writer\PluginAssemblies
or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Windows Live\Writer\PluginAssemblies

We will continue to load plug-ins registered in the old registry locations, so plug-in installers should be updated to use the correct location when the opportunity presents itself. Since the old location is used by both Beta 2 and the upcoming release of Writer, plug-in developers should likely wait to make this change until the upcoming release is broadly distributed.

If you haven’t read the most recent version of the SDK documentation for Windows Live Writer, you may want to take a quick look.

• Windows Live Writer SDK (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa738906.aspx )
• Distributing Plug-ins (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa738841.aspx )

As always, we really appreciate the community of developers out there that are making Writer better for our users - thanks!

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to drop us a line!

-Charles Teague

The Writer team has been working hard on a new release and we're excited that it is now available for download!

This release incorporates a ton of feedback from our discussion forums and your blogs. Here are some of the new features you'll find in Beta 2:

New Authoring Capabilities Inline spell checking Table editing Ability to add categories Page authoring for WordPress and TypePad Support for excerpts and extended entries Improved hyperlinking and image insertion Paste Special Integration and Compatibility SharePoint 2007 support New APIs enabling custom extensions by weblog providers Automatic synchronization of local and online edits Integration with Windows Live Gallery Support for Blogger Labels Plus... New look and feel Available in 6 languages Improved accessibility and keyboard support Many other frequently requested enhancements!

Tables and spell checking     Adding categories Page authoring

We're also excited to announce that Windows Live Spaces, WordPress, and TypePad have all taken advantage of our new Provider Customization API to expose additional service-specific features within the Writer UI.

These APIs enable both rich customization of Writer's behavior as well as the opportunity to add new functionality to the product.

If you are a weblog provider check out the API documentation here and don't hesitate to contact us with your feedback and questions.

Final note: Along with Writer, new beta releases of Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Messenger are also available today. Hope you enjoy the new releases and keep letting us know what's on your mind so we can make all of the products better!

Windows Live Writer Team

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It came to our attention today that the ISmartContent.Files.AddFile method has a bug that will cause the file being added to be re-written to a zero byte file.  Use of this API should be strictly avoided by developers to prevent deleting the contents of files you may be using to test the plugins you are developing.  This API is not used internally by any built-in Writer plugins, so it does not affect end-users.

In the next beta refresh, ISmartContent.Files.AddFile() will be marked as obsolete and will be replaced by a new ISmartContent.Files.Add() method.  This will prevent future plugins from using this API so that they don't accidentally cause corruption of end-user files when the plugin is installed on un-fixed versions of Writer.  Plugin developers interested in attaching local images to blog posts can still use the ISmartContent.AddImage() method.  Developers who need to attach non-image files will need to wait until the next beta refresh is available so that you can use the new ISmartContent.Files.Add() method.

This bug affects Windows Live Writer Beta (build 109).

[Update 11/10/2006: the ISmartContent.Files.Add() method is now available for developers to use in the latest Writer builds.]

We're excited to announce that in late September, there will be a new section for Windows Live Writer plugins on the Windows Live Gallery that will allow developers to share plugins they have created using the Windows Live Writer SDK. 

In preparation for the launch of the Writer plugins gallery, we're trying to engage the developer community so that plugins submitted by developers can be pre-approved for the gallery when the new section is launched.

The gallery will be a great way to let other users discover the cool Writer plugins you have created, so please participate in the pre-approval program if you have plugins you'd like to share!

Writer Plugin Pre-approval Program

To minimize frustration to Writer users when installing plugins, we will be doing a preliminary review of plugin submissions to verify that they meet the minimum quality-level and packaging requirements.  After the review of a plugin is completed, we will send feedback to the submitter to let them know about any issues that need to resolved prior to the final submission deadline.

If you are interested in participating, please be sure to review the Windows Live Gallery content submission agreement.  The preliminary review deadline is Friday, September 4.  The deadline for the final review is Friday, September 15.  To submit your plugin for pre-approval, please follow these steps:

1. Package your plugin an Microsoft Installer (MSI).
2. Before Friday, September 4th, send an email with your plugin MSI attached as .zip file to wlwplgns@microsoft.com.  Please include your contact information and a short description of what your plugin does and how to use it.
3. After the plugin is received, your submission will be reviewed and you will be contacted with any changes required for approval as well as any other feedback or suggestions.
4. If, after receiving the preliminary feedback, further development on your plugin is necessary please resubmit your updated plugin by the final review deadline.
5. After the final review is completed, we let you know if your plugin has been pre-approved for the gallery. We will also provide any instructions for posting to the gallery.

If you happen to miss any of the deadlines for pre-approval, don't fret, you can still use the standard gallery submission form to kick off the normal approval process after the Gallery launches.

Plugin Submission Guidelines

To make the review process as painless as possible, please review the following guidelines.

Installation Guidelines

• Plugins must be packed as a Microsoft Installer (MSI) that installs the plugin DLL into the Writer's plugins folder.  Please see the "Distributing Plugins" of the Writer SDK.
• Plugins that require .NET Framework 2.0  must provide bootstrap support in their installers so that users can upgrade to .NET Framework 2.0 as part of the installation.  For more information about bootstraping .NET Framework 2.0, please read the following articles:
  • Using Visual Studio 2005 to Redistribute the .NET Framework 2.0
  • Use the Visual Studio 2005 Bootstrapper to Kick-Start Your Installation

Plugin Design Guidelines

• Plugins should provide appropriate error handling and display messages
• Plugins should not cause any unhandled exceptions
• Smart content plugins should provide a sidebar control and handle resizing appropriately.
• Plugin dialogs and controls should provide reasonable tab ordering.
• Plugins must not contain any copyright/intellectual property violations
• Plugins should not expose undue security risks

Learning More About Plugins...

There are many opportunities for developers to create Writer plugins that make blogging easier and more fun.  If you are interested in learning more about creating plugins for Windows Live Writer, please check out some of these resources:

• Windows Live Writer SDK
• Creating Video Players for Writer
• Write a Windows Live Writer plugin using C#