Install FAQ: Pls Clarify, Make Easier to Find & Revamp Install Buttons!

Three things about three minor install FAQ answers from the WA file: common_installation_issues.pdf

"Common Alerts During the installation process, there are three alerts that may appear.

•The same version of a file exists
•A newer copy of a file exists
•An older version of a file exists

When any of these alerts display, you can choose Yes to All to proceed with the installation. This should not cause any problems."

This has driven me nuts from upgrade one... I will [for now] trust the info I found in the PDF (thankfully not a long one), but if you could make this a flying banner, or, Ooh, a pop up hint inside Extension Mgr when the offending boxes appear! Anything more obvious, maybe even in more than one place would likely help many of your customers at least save time by not having to open several pages and a couple PDFs.

I do like how it says "should" not cause any problems! [NOT!]
Can you clarify & perhaps do better than "should not cause any problems?"

If you can't,
Can you add a button so during install users can choose "No to All Newer" to not replace newer copies and "Yes to All Older" to replace Older Copies. I say this because I have been in the middle of clicking "No" hundreds of times for newer copies and then been thrown several sporadic "older copies" that I would rather replace than run into "possible" problems!

Also, following the previous comment...
~We've got Web Standards... I'd like WA to lead the way in Extension Standards! ;-)
i.e. Can you make all of the dialog boxes (where I've been clicking "yes" or "no") the same dimensions so the buttons don't move? I know the file names are different lengths, but to avoid ANY danger of leaving an "older copy," I usually go through the same box many times, wanting to quickly give the same answer (simple click w/o moving the cursor), only to find the button moves slightly up or down due to the file name length. That makes it even more aggravating. I know I am being overly cautious, but I don't want to be "that guy" who has the theoretical "possible" problems!

Thanks!
~Riish

Hello

I second this request. I've often thought that it's a bit risky to say "Yes to all", particularly when I've been having problems in getting the software to work properly in my situation. "Yes to older" and "No to newer/ the same" would be better than a blanket "Yes to all".

Thanks!

Unfortunately this would be a feature request that would need to be brought up to Adobe, since the alert messages are brought up by Extension Manager. When it is installing and runs into a duplicate file, the extension manager will ask if you want to replace the files, not the extension itself, so we have no control over how the messages are displayed or if a button to replace all older or all newer files will be implemented.

From our testing, as long as you are installing the newest updated extension, replacing the files will not cause any issues.

Although I will address this with Adobe, I don't hold out much hope that they will implement a change. I do, however, have an alternate suggestion based on the following most recent "issue" with my WA extensions.

Having followed the "Yes to all" instruction, I came across issues that deleting the cache did not fix. So, once again, I uninstalled about 5 extensions (time I cannot bill), then re-installed the one I was trying to use. I agree that, in theory, installing the latest extension should not cause a problem, but DW can get pretty bloated, and different projects require different extensions...

So, how hard would it be to do either or both of the following:
1) let WA users know when an important file has changed so we know that extension has the latest [whatever] file(s).
2) periodically update all current extension versions with the latest files, even if several extensions have not "changed."

I think that would not be too much to ask, given the number of times I have received errors, and inordinate amount of time I have spent installing and uninstalling some of my WA extensions.

Or is there another suggestion?
Perhaps the ability to temporarily disable extensions to check for the offender / prevent DW bloating? Maybe by adjusting DW's config file?

Thanks, and Happy Holidays!
Rich

SuperSuite is nice in concept, except that there is no option to install all of the extensions at one time. And updates aren't handled cleanly as stated above. Adobe may be the one that controls the pop-up messages, but WA could do much better in the way it handles the extensions themselves. For example, would it not be possible to run a pre-install check that would say, IF XYZ.mxp exists, THEN don't load ABC.gif? The fact that extension updates try and reload existing, unchanged files is beyond explanation.

If you want to give additional value to the Suite, it would be good to treat the extensions as if they are actually expected to be installed on the same system at the same time. Every time I install an update, I think that much less of WA. This really does need to be addressed. Oh, and that is separate from the frustration that I paid $400 more for SuperSuite than the going price. Thanks for that too, by the way.

Adobe controls the entire extension installation process, so I don't know how WA would be able to check any of those things. People have been complaining about Extension Manager for years so I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for any changes.

The recommended procedure is to tell Extension Manager to overwrite all files regardless of new, old, or same.