plugin path in MAC OS

[vincentdoan]

Anyone know how to find the AI plugin path on Mac?

On Windows, we look in the registry, but how about in MAC?

[LeoTaro]

Which process are you trying to get the path from? An installer? A running plugin?

[vincentdoan]

Thanks for reply,

I need to create and installer for the plugin.

Also, what software do you use to write the installer?

I am thinking of Qt for that, what do you think?

Vincent

[panduvittala]

Installer in MAC is dicey. MAC people are not used to traditional next-next installers, but more of double click dmg, drag drop the app into application folder types. There are few softwares like package maker, etc. Check this out WhiteBox - Packaging  .  Building installer using qt is really a headache.

For plugin location, you can assume /Applications/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator/Plugins.localized. If you don't find this directory, you can prompt user for install dir.

For windows use innosetup, beats everything else handsdown.

[vincentdoan]

Thanks, I agree, qt is really a headache. I will look at WhiteBox. I guess, assuming the install path at /Application/... is ok, but I thought Adobe would log the path at a known location in a standard file when user install the application.

[panduvittala]

The way illustrator is installed is by copying the install into application folder from dmg, so there is no question of log. Also mac does not have anything equivalent to registry, so I am not sure if the app paths are logged at all.

[LeoTaro]

I know of 2 mac functions for getting application paths.

NSWorkspace absolutePathForAppBundleWithIdentifier

LSFindApplicationForInfo

Note that if there are multiple versions of Illustrator installed, these two functions may return different results.

For my plugins I create zxp files that can be installed using the Extension Manager, though there are rumours that Adobe are going to drop the Extension Manager and make developers build their own installers.