Plugin release v0.7.2 searches help files in wrong directory

[dinkumoil]

Description

Release v0.7.2 of the plugin searches help files in folder <Npp-folder>\plugins\MarkdownPanel instead of <Npp-folder>\plugins\NppMarkdownPanel.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Navigate to (menu) Plugins -> MarkdownPanel and click on menu item Help.
2. A message box with an error message appears:

3. Afte creating folder <Npp-folder>\plugins\MarkdownPanel and moving folder help and file README.md from folder <Npp-folder>\plugins\NppMarkdownPanel to the new folder, help file is shown in Notepad++

[rdipardo]

The installation folder depends on the JSON manifest bundled with Plugins Admin, so this issue really belongs here.

The help file path is built from the PluginName field; it's always in sync with the compiled assembly:

NppMarkdownPanel/NppMarkdownPanel/MarkdownPanelController.cs

Line 214 in 0fb2004

var helpFile = Path.Combine($"{sbPluginPath}", Main.PluginName, "README.md");

[dinkumoil]

@rdipardo

this issue really belongs here.

I don't agree. The plugin's DLL name is NppMarkdownPanel.dll, thus the folder it is stored into must be <Npp-folder>\plugins\NppMarkdownPanel. This should also be the folder where plugin's companion files and folders are stored. It seems like function Main.PluginName returns the string MarkdownPanel instead of NppMarkdownPanel, so the plugin searches its help files in the wrong folder.

I guess the bug derives from recent renaming of the plugin's menu entry from NppMarkdownPanel to MarkdownPanel in commit 9872e9f. When installing a plugin, PluginAdmin generates the target folder name from the name of the DLL file it finds at the root level of the plugin's ZIP package, not from the return value of plugin interface's function getName, simply because the plugin is not (and can not be) loaded during its installation, so this function cannot be called.

[rdipardo]

The plugin's DLL name is NppMarkdownPanel.dll

I stand corrected. It seems that 9872e9f just changed the value of an internal class member. To really keep the help file path in sync, you would have to extract the directory name from the assembly's binary file information; something like this:

diff --git a/NppMarkdownPanel/MarkdownPanelController.cs b/NppMarkdownPanel/MarkdownPanelController.cs
index 5e37268..57c600f 100644
--- a/NppMarkdownPanel/MarkdownPanelController.cs
+++ b/NppMarkdownPanel/MarkdownPanelController.cs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ using System.Drawing.Imaging;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.Text;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using System.Windows.Forms;
@@ -209,9 +210,12 @@ namespace NppMarkdownPanel

         private void ShowHelp()
         {
+            var dll = (typeof(Main)).Assembly;
+            var dllVersionInfo = FileVersionInfo.GetVersionInfo(dll.Location);
+            string dllDir = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(dllVersionInfo.OriginalFilename);
             StringBuilder sbPluginPath = new StringBuilder(Win32.MAX_PATH);
             Win32.SendMessage(PluginBase.nppData._nppHandle, (uint)NppMsg.NPPM_GETPLUGINHOMEPATH, Win32.MAX_PATH, sbPluginPath);
-            var helpFile = Path.Combine($"{sbPluginPath}", Main.PluginName, "README.md");
+            var helpFile = Path.Combine($"{sbPluginPath}", dllDir, "README.md");
             Win32.SendMessage(PluginBase.nppData._nppHandle, (uint)NppMsg.NPPM_DOOPEN, 0, helpFile);
             if (!isPanelVisible)
                 TogglePanelVisible();

[mohzy83]

Like @rdipardo said, the const Main.PluginName is used to construct the path to the help file.
It's much safer to use the directory of the executing assembly and dont rely on that constant.
I will change the implementation accordingly.

[mohzy83]

fixed in version 0.7.3. @dinkumoil please verify. Thanks.

[rdipardo]

It works.

[dinkumoil]

It works.

Confirmed.