About Update Centers

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An update center is nothing more than an XML file that is known as the "autoupdate descriptor", together with the modules that it describes. The autoupdate descriptor lists all the modules that you would like to make available. For each module, the autoupdate descriptor provides information such as a name, a description, and a list of modules that it depends on.

Most importantly, the autoupdate descriptor specifies a URL for each module that it describes. Each module, in binary NBM file format, must live on a server. The autoupdate descriptor itself must also live on a server. The server where the autoupdate descriptor lives need not be the same server as where the modules live. The modules can live together on the same server or be spread across different servers.

After the autoupdate descriptor and its associated modules are on a server, you must let your end users know that they are there. The URL to the autoupdate descriptor must be registered in the end users' IDEs. This can be done in one of two ways:

Once the URL to the update center is registered, your end users can access your modules via the Plugins manager, which they can find under the Tools menu. Not only new modules, but new versions of existing modules can be distributed in this way.

In the IDE, you can perform the following activities when thinking about update centers:

See Also
About NetBeans Platform and Module Development
About the NetBeans Platform

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