Digital Workshop

Hello,
I use Opus 5.5

I attempted to run a plugin-based exe on a machine that does not have the plugin installed. I purposely ran it on a machine that is not connected to the internet because I wanted to see what would happen. The "downloading" message displays and of course never connects to the download site. I click Cancel several times and it never works. I have to open task manager and quit the process. This isn't just on my PC. The same thing happened to my client.

This is a big issue for my client, because several of his clients do not have internet, and need to rely on the standalone plugin installer. However, if they should happen to click the pub without installing the plugin first, or if they move the pub to a PC that doesn't have the plugin installed, they will get stuck on the downloading message.

Is there any chance of a patch for this?

Thanks,
Mike

I've seen this on numerous occasions during the last couple of years and it's a real annoyance.
I had an IO'd demo pub in the showcase a while ago and got numerous emails about the plugin not installing properly.

Paul

Thanks for your input, Paul. While I am sorry you have had to deal with that, it's helpful to kow it's not some weird glitch that is only happening to me and my clients.

We have been doing standalone .exe files for years, but his clients use so many of my pubs that using plugin-based executables woulf really save them a large amount of hard drive space and downloading time.

But I can't transition to the plugin-based pubs if they aren't reliable.

DW, Please address this issue...

On June 23, I sent you an email about this.

You wrote back the very same day saying that you all were in the process of upgrading the plugin, and that you'd ask development to address the issue as soon as possible.

On July 11, I wrote you back asking for an update. I got no response.

On August 22, I wrote back again, and still no response.

My client would benefit greatly from being able to use the plugin .exe instead of standalone. But until the Cancel button works, we can't go that route. I would think that this type of Cancel button issue would be a simple fix.

Please let me know what's going on.

I've stopped using plugin based pubs because of this issue and consequent support problems.

Paul

I feel your pain, my friend.

It's a shame that one little button not working can ruin your plans like that, because the plugin-based exe is so much smaller than the standalone. But we can't issue them to our clients if they're so unreliable.

Keep hope alive; maybe we'll get a fix yet.

Paul, today I received this email from Support:

"We're still working on this but it is not as straightforward as we had hoped.

DW Support "

Maybe we'll have a fix soon.

Thanks for the info, Mike.
Good to know.
However, I'll probably continue using the full exe pubs -- one less thing to worry about
With broadband speeds increasing, file size is not the issue it used to be, thankfully.

cheers
Paul

I'd add that part of the equation is the 'who' of it. 'Who' is the target market or users... and are there obstacles to them installing programs?

Corp users may have Admins that either don't want things installed, or that want some control over it. (virtualizing eases that concern a bit).

Vista OS has its way of doing things... may frustrate novice users.

etc.
All that by way of saying... 'yes' it is important to fix that and have plug-in as an option.

I have delivered one plugin based publication and will never do it again. There are so many problems with downloading and installing the plugin beside of the necessity to download a (at least for my customers) "strange" plugin which is not possible on a lot of machines.

DW: Please don't forget there are users who don't like it when an application starts downloading and installing something they don't know. This all the more when they cannot understand the given infos because they are non-english speakers.

At least give the developer a possibility to create a custom dialog box that is shown before the download starts.

T.

DW,
is this ever going to get fixed?

Hello?
Does Tech Support even come around anymore?

I was wondering the same thing myself.
It's been nearly six months since this thread started.

Paul

As I think I've said before this is a user discussion forum. Technical support questions should be emailed to technical support (preferably via the Help menu option so we have system details where relevant).

This cancel button issue was fixed in v6.4 as per the announcement on Oct 16. If it still doesn't work for you please download the plugin install from the main website. If it still doesn't work let us know - by emailing support.

I'm afraid everyone at DW is very busy at present as will become clearer later in the new year - but we do keep looking in here when we can to see if you need our help but if you need support then email, as this is worked through each and every day.

Hope this helps.

Paul Harris

Paul,

Thanks for the update on the plugin. I don't have version 6, as I don't really need the new features. However, I'm not sure I should have to spend money on an upgrade in order to get a working feature that should have been working in the version I did buy. A downloadable plugin that doesn't give the user the choice to install or not and in which the Cancel button doesn't work is useless.

As for how to get tech support, emailing would be nice, but the results have been iffy for at least a year. On one occasion, I got an email reply within a day, but on most, the replies don't come for a week or more (usually more) if ever. I understand that not all problems can be fixed quickly, but users should at least get timely replies stating that the issue is being addressed.

I've been using Opus since 1999 or 2000, and I can attest that the tech support experience was the absolute best. I believe I even wrote an email to you once telling you so.

Mike