Add-ons: Detecting and Displaying Add-on Version Numbers
In the past months we worked with add-on developers to release new versions of their add-ons that follow IE’s guidelines and requirements for add-on development. We used the Upgrade Advisor to help update their users to the new versions. Some add-on vendors asked how IE determines and displays an add-on’s version. This post answers this question so that all add-on developers can design their versioning schemes to be compatible with IE features such as Manage Add-ons and the Upgrade Advisor.
There are two fields denoting the version of a binary file in Windows: file version and product version. Since IE add-ons are dynamic link library (DLL) files loaded into the browser, each add-on contains both of these version numbers. Here’s a screenshot of the properties dialog for one of our sample toolbars. Though the file version and product version are separate fields, they typically contain the same version string:
The file version and the product version of the Contoso Toolbar can be seen in the DLL file’s Properties window
IE displays the add-on DLL’s product version in Manage Add-ons. This is also the version that IE checks when determining whether the Upgrade Advisor dialog needs to be displayed for the add-on. IE looks directly into the DLL’s properties to extract the product version each time, and does not store the version in the registry. This design prevents incompatibilities when an add-on is auto-updated to a newer version.
We recommend add-on developers to update both version fields at the same time for consistency. It’s important to update the right version. For example, an error may result in the Upgrade Advisor dialog showing up for the wrong version of an add-on or the user believing that they have an older version of an add-on installed when looking at Manage Add-ons.
Thanks again to add-on developers for providing feedback and submitting questions. We wanted to answer this particular question as a blog post so that all developers have access to the information. We look forward to continue working with add-on developers in the coming months.
Herman Ng
Program Manager
Comments
Anonymous
September 30, 2010
Which spellchecker Add-on does MSFT recommend using since MSFT refuses to ship IE as a complete browser with one even though it is a highly required feature of a Web Browser.Anonymous
September 30, 2010
@confused I didn't know that a spell checker was a W3C standard that a browser must follow. Altough I use iespell for my spell checking and it works so much better than a competitor's spell check.Anonymous
September 30, 2010
Hello i need a question and fast will my computer be harmed a little at all if well since i got my computer in may should i have used Disk cleanup on windows 7 and click clean up old restore points? my computer was at 105GB free of 136GB. now it says 112GB free of 136GB does that mean i did my computer a favor? or no i did a stupid thing. i am a techy geek like person but i am still getting used to windows 7.Anonymous
September 30, 2010
hi i have a question what happend to My Web Slices :( i don't see it in ie9 CRIES is there going to be a addon in the new addon gallery for web slices in ie9 i want webslices back please!.Anonymous
September 30, 2010
hi looky at my video! www.youtube.com/watchAnonymous
September 30, 2010
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September 30, 2010
Eh, ok. Just one question: since (IE) extensions are DLLs, does it mean that an extension developer must compile a 32-bit x86 version, and a 64-bit x86-64 version? Can both cohabit? (I don't remember having trouble loading the same .xpi extension file on Firefox/Win32, Minefield/Win64, Firefox/Linux32, Firefox/Linux64 and Firefox/OSX, but then, they are not compiled code).Anonymous
September 30, 2010
@Mitch074: It means exactly that. And yes, they can cohabit since the registration is done in two different registry hives on a 64-bit Windows system.Anonymous
September 30, 2010
When will IE support Add-ons written in .NET? I think it is strange that it is still necessary to develop in C++ and old fashioned COM for an extension. It is like MSFT supports .Net halfheartedly. I expect Add-on development will get a boost when it is possible to use C# and VB.NET to create extension.Anonymous
October 01, 2010
@Xennan I'm not to familiar with either, but I thought that Silverlight was supposed to provide for .NET within IE.Anonymous
October 01, 2010
=) I never thought there was Beauty in the web till Internet Explorer 9 showed up!! =D YES!! THERE IS BEAUTY IN THE WEB!!!! Thanks Microsoft for making a better and safer webbrowser that i love to use!!! :DAnonymous
October 01, 2010
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October 01, 2010
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October 02, 2010
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October 02, 2010
yes i am,Anonymous
October 02, 2010
JPEG XR image SUPPORT!! NOTE : en.wikipedia.org/.../JPEG_XRAnonymous
October 03, 2010
Looks Like The Microsoft Crew Have Did Something that is as Amazing as Windows 7. By the way i love the themes!!!Anonymous
October 06, 2010
IE team, if you can completely eliminate any loss of functionality in the IE9 release even if it's "simplified", only then it will be considered a good release. You are merely swapping features in the beta. The version is a step ahead but it's a gamble, add some, lose some customization and features. This was not a problem with previous IEs. Something breaks and you either drop it due to lack of time or you purposefully dumb down it so much that all user customization is lost. Or features get lost in the redesign or overhaul which is again a shame. Fix that and IE9 will become a solid release.Anonymous
October 06, 2010
The addon- disable toast is nice but does not understand that delays may be caused by other things such as boot process not really finished and me eagerly launching IE9. Also, please consider adding search in favourites (basic search is OK, even better if you do it with intellisense). Very useful, and how hard can it be compared with all the other good stuff you guys did?Anonymous
October 07, 2010
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October 07, 2010
@JIM It looks like MS actually has a patent for HD photo. So of course they support it in IE9.