Unregistering custom interface extensions

Unregistering a custom interface extension is more complicated than it first seems. To understand the implications for unregistering an interface extension, it may help to remember what the effects of registering an interface extension are:

• The extension is associated with certain vault objects
• The extended vault objects become dependent on the interface extension, even in the vault’s history.

Therefore, if you unregister a custom extension, the extension will no longer be accessible by the objects in the vault’s history to which the extension was applied. For example, if you register an interface extension for a document type that implements some custom properties, create some documents with that extension, and then later unregister the extension, the documents that you created will no longer be able to present the custom property data. If the vault is configured so that it doesn’t retain revision history, this may not be a problem for you, but if the vault is configured to retain history, the custom data will not be accessible. As well, error messages will be shown to users when they access the documents in the vault’s history because the extension cannot be found (if it was also removed from the client computers). The messages can be safely ignored, but they are unwanted.

If you decide to proceed with unregistering an interface extension, you might encounter an unexpected error message that reads Removing this item is not allowed.

To unregister an interface extension:

1. In Configurator, expand Extensions in the left pane. The list of currently registered extensions appears.
2. Select the extension that you want to unregister. The extension’s property pages appear in the right pane.
3. Click the Applies to tab. The Applies to page appears, listing the objects to which the extension has been applied.
4. Click the Edit button.
5. Select each object in the Applied to list and click the Remove button.
6. When the Applied to list is empty, click the OK button to save your changes.
7. On the Edit menu, select Delete. A confirmation prompt appears.
8. Click Yes. The extension is unregistered from the vault.

Although the extension is now unregistered from the vault, the extension files remain installed on the Meridian server and on the client computers that have downloaded the extension.

Tip    So that the extension will be available in history mode as described above, you may not want to uninstall extensions that you no longer want to use. Because the extension is no longer applied to the vault objects, it will not be associated with any new objects, but it will be available for the existing objects to which it was applied.

If the extension does not implement custom properties, the vault is not configured to retain history, or you simply want to uninstall the extension from the server completely, after unregistering the extension in the Meridian Enterprise Configurator, you can delete the extension packages that reside in the BC-Meridian Extensions\Packages folder and its subfolders. Do this if the extension was packaged by the Visual Basic Package and Deployment Wizard and the .CAB file was manually copied to the BC-Meridian Extensions\Packages folder. If the package was created by the PackageBuilder tool (for use with Visual Basic .NET as described in the BlueCielo Meridian Developer’s Guide) then uninstall it from Windows Vista (or higher) from the Programs and Features list or the Add or Remove Programs list in earlier versions of Windows.