Adding Add-In files to a local Add-In folder and how are they processed

Question

Hi there,

I have setup ArcGIS Pro V2.5 to use a local folder to load in several .esriAddinX files from the Add-In Manager option

What is the best practice/correct way to store the .esriAddinX files in this directory?

Option 1 - Is it the files straight in the directory

Option 2 - Should they be in their individual folder (eg. GUID - ID from the config.daml file) and then the file which is the same if you double-click the file and it's installed in your 'Documents' folder

The get started documentation talks about 'manually copying the file to a well-known folder'. What does it really mean by this?

After this is known, now for the next part.

With all these .estiAddinX files, how are they processed?

* Is it based on the filename alphabetically in the folder and it processes the tab, groups, etc per file and hope for the best it all loads correctly

Or

* Does it read all the info in config.daml files, determines the tabs to add, which new groups to add to new/existing tabs and then the other controls, etc?

Thank you for any help in this area is greatly appreciated

AnthonyRyanEQL · Answer

Christopher,

Thank you for this information and this is very useful. I have started to review the documentation and have already started to think of more questions to ask around this.

Anonymous User · Answer

Hello Anthony,

Your options 1 and 2 are equally valid approaches. The GUID folder is created when compiling your add-in, but is not required for use in any well-known folders you've designated which Pro reads at start-up. The manual copying does literally mean copying (whichever method you choose) of the .esriAddinX file to a well-known folder that you've designated via the Add-In Manager or by a registry key. At startup, Pro will then read those folder locations and load the .esriAddinX files found there.

On the second part of your question, add-ins within a given well-known folder are loaded in alphabetical order determined by their ID.  You can find further information here in the Advanced Topics document Add-In Loading section. You can learn about add-in loading and admin options for managing well-known folders, etc.

Hope this helps. We'll move this post, and please post future Pro add-in questions on the Pro SDK Questions board:
https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-sdk-questions/bd-p/arcgis-pro-sdk-questions