PlugIn

[frits]

I Installed the plugin from the xara site. But now when i select a xar file (a brush from ivan) it opens the file and doesn't understand it. So I want to deinstall it. How do I do that?

Is it enough to remove the dll and the registry setting that's in this tread?

Regards,
Frits
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

[a4hire]

So just because a lot of people want to use Flash Xara will not support it's users anymore? Should we all switch to Flash? Is Xara giving up on us?
Bow down to the mighty flash plugin, we have been defeated. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

[Sean Sedwards]

My comments are just guesses. Xara Ltd didn't think the plug-in was a feature that would help them sell X so they didn't update it for the launch. Now X is out, anybody that bought it wasn't led to expect the plug-in so doesn't miss it. I don't think Xara have given up on it, they've just given it a low priority. There's a lot of work involved and it's given away free, so they only want to do it once and will make sure the features of the main program are stable first (any other way wouldn't be sensible).

If I were Xara Ltd, to minimise future development I'd want to consolidate the QuickView DLL with the browser plug-in and create a single free file interpreting module that could also be integrated into third party file previewers. The file format is too complicated and obscure to expect anybody else to write their own, so this strategy ensures it isn't marginalised. This would also allow bitmap apps. to import arbitrary sized bitmap versions of XAR files, thus further promoting the format.

John

I think you need to find a copy of IE 5.50.4134.0600IS (or later) on a cover CD (mine is an unbranded version). I'm sure a full later version will be better than a service pack.

Frits

For Netscape just remove the DLL to unintsall the plug-in. This will work for IE, but to be thorough you can also remove the reg. key I mentioned above as well as the one for .WEB files.

Regards - Sean

[raffon]

here is a story from Cnet re:the Quicktime plugin that relates to this problem:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6881773.html

The gist of it is:

With IE 5.5, Microsoft discontinued support for plug-ins, according to a Microsoft representative. Instead, the browser relies on technology developed by Microsoft known as ActiveX that links desktop applications to the Web.

ActiveX has been seen as a challenger to Sun Microsystems' Java programming language, which Microsoft has said will no longer be supported by default in its pending Windows XP operating system and IE 6.

ActiveX has also been identified as a source of serious security risks, offering a powerful tool for malicious programmers to take control of a target computer, for example. As specific security problems have come to light, Microsoft has issued repeated service pack upgrades and patches for its browser.

Thank you M$

TANSTAAFL

[This message was edited by raffon on August 18, 2001 at 08:31.]

[Sean Sedwards]

The Xara plug-in is indeed a Netscape variety, so SP2 could very well be the cause. I hope Xara Ltd haven't wasted too much time updating the plug-in using that technology!

I was also going to suggest Xara produce a Java plug-in, which would then be platform independent, but the same article goes on to say that MS are reducing support for that too. I'm not sure if that's true because Java is a far more important technology that MS support via its programming languages. Netscape plug-ins would have died a natural death anyway, but I don't think that can be said of Java.

My previous comment about merging the QuickView DLL and the plug-in now makes even more sense because QV uses ActiveX technology.

Regards - Sean

[Clements]

Thanks go to all, especially Sean and Raffon for adding needed insight as to the probable issues at hand.

I do hope Xara Ltd can come up with a practical and economic way to develop and distribute a "plug-in" so that the XAR/WEB files can be viewed.

It would sure make development of graphics for the web easier in some circumstances. Ie., there is a limited viewing area on a webpage for a schematic or map. With the plugin the user would be able to zoom in without any loss of clarity.

Regards, John

[FrankMcAree]

I would have thought that the way to go on this would be to have SVG import and export.I don't know a great deal about this, but it would seem to give a fair degree of 'future proofing'

[Sean Sedwards]

Although not as easy to use, Flash allows you to incorporate zoomable drawings in web pages. Just about everything in Xara can be adapted to work in Flash by converting lines to shapes etc. (this is also true for X features in the existing Xara plug-in). Flash already comes in ActiveX, Netscape (PC & Mac) and Java versions and will obviously be updated and improved. Since MS are pretty much guaranteed to remain compatible with Flash, it might be better for Xara to devote their time to improving SWF export, possibly to include animation etc.

Regards - Sean