An Instruction for Using Plugin Manager

To try out Plugin Manager, the two requirements should be met:

• JAR version:  10.0.16 and higher

• WiFi available

Note:

1. If the JAR version of your local designer is earlier than the required, you need to upgrade your designer.Nevertheless, you can restore to the original JAR version afterwards.

2. If you would like to try out the plugin manager on your server, the JAR version of the server should also meet the requirements. Since it is quite troublesome to restore the JAR version of a server, it is highly recommended that you use a test environment if you have one.

3. Our technical support is in place, so if you need support for upgrading/restoring JAR version and installing the plugin manager, we can book a date to complete the operations remotely.

1) Download the zip file.

2) Unzip it and get a plugin folder.

3) Change its name to plugin-com.fr.plugin.overseas.store-1.2.

4) Copy the folder to the following 2 folders:

• %FR_HOME%/webapps/webroot/WEB-INF/plugins

• %FR_HOME%/plugins

If you use a server to try out Plugin Manager, ignore the operations on %FR_HOME%/plugins.

5) If the following two plugins exist in

• %FR_HOME%/webapps/webroot/WEB-INF/plugins, and

• %FR_HOME%/plugins

   delete them.

If you use a server to try out Plugin Manager, ignore the operations on %FR_HOME%/plugins.

Note: You should delete the two plugins regardless of the version number (e.g. 1.3.1 and 1.1); otherwise, you cannot find Plugin Manager in designer and decision-making platform.

Restart designer, and you can find Plugin Manager in the designer and decision-making platform.

Note:

1. Whether open Plugin Manager in the designer or decision-making platform, the functions are the same.

2. If you install Plugin Manager on the server (i.e. the plugin folder is copied to Tomcat), you can only use Plugin Manager on the decision-making platform. In this circumstance, please login the decision-making platform using the administrator's account to use Plugin Manager. If you link the server via remove design, you can not find Plugin Manager in designer.

Note: If you have logged in this help doc platform, you actually have already had an account on FineReport community. In this case, just skip this section and go to the next section.

1) If you want to install, download and update plugins, firstly you need to register an account on FineReport community.

2) After registration, you can directly sign in the community.

1) You can install a plugin directly by clicking the plugin and then click [Install].

2) When clicking the [Install] button, you are asked to log in using the account you've registered just now.

3) After the login, the installation process will start automatically.

4) All the installed plugins are shown in the right pane.

5) You can check %FR_HOME%/webapps/webroot/WEB-INF/plugins, and the plugin folder should already be loaded.

Another way to install a plugin is to firstly acquire a local file (in the form of zip file) and then install from the local file.

Here is an example. 

1) Move your mouse over a plugin and click [More].

2) If you have signed in on FineReport community, you can be directed to a landing page of the plugin. Click [90 Day's Free Trial] to download the local file.

4) Go back to Plugin Manager. Click [Local Install] and choose the local file.

5) The plugin will be installed very quickly.

Note:

1. The function of "Local Install" is usually used when users need a customized plugin or users work in a non-WIFI environment.

2. The steps introduced are just to let you get familiar with this function, yet in a real-world situation, a customized plugin will not be displayed on the left pane. After requesting for a customized plugin, our technical support will provide the local file and users can install them using this function.

You can view all the plugins available on the plugin market, and the plugins here are the same with those in the left pane of Plugin Manager.

Note: We are going to publish more plugins for our clients.

In most cases, the installed plugins should be the latest version. However, if modifications are made to a plugin, we will upload a new version to the plugin market and you can view an update tip locally.

Here is an example.

1) Delete plugin "Extended Chart".

2) Install the plugin with a lower version.

3) The plugin with a lower version is available in this Google Drive.

4) After installing a lower version, a label saying "NEW" will exist in the higher-left corner, indicating that the version on the plugin market is higher than the installed one. (You may view some Chinese characters since the lower version is not fully localized)

5) Choose the plugin and click [update], and then the system will automatically update "Extended Chart" to the newest version.

Note: Similar to "Local Install", the function of "Local Update" is usually used when users need to update a customized plugin, or users need to update a plugin in a non-WIFI environment.