To make your products "Clarion Desktop Compatible", Clarion 3rdParty suppliers need to do the following..

Step 1: The INI File

Inside the Clarion\3rdParty folder (keeping with the C3PA way of thinking) each supplier needs to maintain a single text file, called "[SupplierName]Accessories.ini", as in "CapeSoftAccessories.ini" or "StrategyOnlineAccessories.ini". Your INI filename should contain no spaces. If your company name contains spaces, as in "My Cool Company", then your INI filename should be "MyCoolCompanyAccessories.ini". The INI filename is not case sensitive.

Your INI file structure should look like this:

    [StrategyOnline Accessories]
    PlugITInstall=2.50
    J-FaxInstall=1.21
    J-FlowInstall=1.97

In other words, you need to have a section in the INI file called "[SupplierName] Accessories". This must match the name you use for the file itself, except for the space between the supplier name and the word "Accessories". For example "CapeSoftAccessories.ini" (no spaces) has a section called "CapeSoft Accessories", and "StrategyOnlineAccessories.ini" contains a section called "StrategyOnline Accessories". And "MyCoolCompanyAccessories.ini" would have a section called "MyCoolCompany Accessories". There is a reason why we designed it like this, I promise <g>.

Then you simply maintain your various product versions inside that section of your own INI file, as I have done in the example above. In your installers, simply update your INI file with the version number being installed. The format for storing version numbers (as shown above) is "[ProductName]Install=[version number]". Note that if your product name contains spaces, you should include those spaces here, except there must be no space between the end of the product name and the word "Install=". For example, "My Cool Product" would result in "My Cool ProductInstall=1.23". Again, there is a reason why we had to design it like that.

If you are using SetupBuilder, this is as easy as adding the following generic call to all your installer scripts:

For more advances options that can be included in the INI file please click here.

Step 2: The Web

The second step is to then tell Clarion Desktop when you have releases available for download. There are two ways in which you can do this..

Method 1: Once you have emailed me I will provide you with a username and a password so that you can login to the Supplier section at ClarionDesktop.com. You will then be able to manually manage your products via this website.

Method 2: Along with several other Clarion 3rdParty suppliers (we invited everyone to participate in the decision), we have come up with a standard way in which any Clarion developer can publish product version data on the internet, using a standardized XML format. The idea is that you can provide an XML feed from your website, and Clarion Desktop (or any other application) can then simply poll that feed and update itself automatically! In other words you don't need to login manually to update your product data, ClarionDesktop.com will automatically update itself as your XML file changes!

The agreed upon XML format is outlined here.

Please contact me for more information or if you have any comments or suggestions, or if anything on this page is unclear, or if you would like me to double check your INI file format for you.