Speed up the development process - plugin - smart client

MIP
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1

Hi All, I’m in the process of developing new plugin for Smart Client. Currently I have to:

  1. Build project in Visual studio
  2. Stop Event server
  3. Close Smart client
  4. Copy dll file
  5. Run Event server
  6. Run Smart client

Is there any way to optimize this process? It just takes too much time.

Thanks!

2

You should only have to restart event server if the plugin includes a background plugin. Otherwise the event server will read plugin.def and see there’s nothing there for it to load, and it will not lock any DLL’s. Make sure plugin.def only declares the client plugin unless you have a background or admin plugin.

Otherwise, you may want to add a post build script to automate stopping services or killing processes, copying the plugin files, and restarting the service/clients.​

3

While developing I usually run the plugin in debug mode from the Visual Studio. How I do this is described here: - https://developer.milestonesys.com/s/article/debugging-techniques-for-Smart-Client-plugins

I agree 100% with Josh. I hope the knowledge base article will add more information and clarity. You will see the example of a post build script that will work.