How do I distribute a plug-in?

The Media Browser configuration wizard is designed to use external xml sources (also called repositories) to make addtional plug-ins available for install. Media Browser comes with a default repository that is hosted at:

http://mediabrowser.tv/plugins/plugin_info.xml

The above repository contains all the plug-ins approved by Sam (the Media Browser project owner/lead developer).

Distributing the plugin:

There are two ways to distribute a plug-in:

Method 1

  • Send a message to Sam and ask him to add the plug-in to the default plugin source. Additional requirements may apply. This method makes your plug-in available to all users of MB.

This process will be more defined as more information is available.

Method 2

  • Host your own xml and distribute the xml’s url to your users. Sample plugin_info.xml documents for Themes and non-Theme plug-ins can be found below.

It is also possible to distribute multiple plug-ins in a single plugin_info.xml file. Please reference the default MB repository, listed at the beginning of this article, as an example.

Plugin_info.xml examples:

Non-Theme plug-ins

 <Plugins>
   <Plugin>
      <Version>1.0.0.0</Version>
      <Name>My Plugin Name</Name>
      <Description>Place a description here to be shown in the MediaBrowser Config Wizard plug-in tab.</Description>
      <Filename>MyPlugIn.dll</Filename> 
      <RichDescURL>http://www.mywebsite.com/plugins/MyPluginDesc.htm&lt;/RichDescURL&gt;
      <RequiredMBVersion>2.2.3.0</RequiredMBVersion>
      <TestedMBVersion>2.2.3.0</TestedMBVersion>
   </Plugin>
</Plugins>

Theme plug-ins

Note: There are additional requirements for Plug-in Themes.

If you are hosting your own plugin_info.xml repository and want to distribute a theme, you must also use the <InstallGlobally>true</InstallGlobally> setting.

This will make the config wizard place the Theme DLL into the %SystemRoot%\Ehome directory. (e.g. C:\Windows\Ehome).

<Plugins>
   <Plugin>
      <Version>1.0.0.0</Version>
      <Name>My Theme Name</Name>
      <Description>My Theme's Description to be shown in the MediaBrowser Config Wizard plug-in tab.</Description>
      <Filename>MyTheme.dll</Filename>
      <RichDescURL>http://www.mywebsite.com/plugins/MyThemeDesc.htm&lt;/RichDescURL&gt;
      <RequiredMBVersion>2.2.3.0</RequiredMBVersion>
      <TestedMBVersion>2.2.3.0</TestedMBVersion>
      <InstallGlobally>true</InstallGlobally>
   </Plugin>
</Plugins>
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