How To Update Installed Plugin

Question

OK, I give up. How do I update an already installed plugin in ARC? I asked once before and was told ARC automatically asks if I want to update the plugin when it opens. I've never been asked and I have the Bing Voice Recognition plugin installed. I know from another post that this plugin has been recently updated.

In my ARC Options, my box is Unchecked for "Do not check for ARC and plugin updates". confused

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

When you open a new project a plug-in control will appear (see circled in the picture below) indicating what plug-ins need updating... click on each plug-in in the control to update that particular plug-in. In the screen shot below it indicates that I have 3 updates for installed plug-ins that need to be updated.... Microsoft cognitive emotion, vision and Bing speech

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

You can also just download the plug-in again and run it separately... That will update it to the newest version...

DJ Sures · Answer

Yes - and you will also need an internet connection when ARC loads for the update to occur. Without an internet connection, ARC has no way to know about the update.

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Thanks guys. This totally worked. The trick was that I had to start a new project from the ARC .exe file before the update option would pop up. I usually start my already built project from a desktop shortcut or when Windows starts up. No plugin update that way. BUG? In fact I don't ever remember getting a update notice even when ARC has a update. I have to go get it manually when I see a post about one being available. Odd. confused RR, just to be clear, I tried to add a new Bing control to my project and I didn't get a notice to update. Only when I started a new project from the .exe file did I get a notice.

DJ Sures · Answer

Not a bug - ARC only checks for updates when it first loads with an empty project, not with an existing project. If you load a project from a shortcut, you're loading the project program - therefore, no update is checked. Just like there are no other prompts, such as bookmarks, etc..

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Thanks for the explanation. I don't want to question your wisdom but that seems odd. If there is an option in the settings for checking for updates on ARC and Plugins and I have it enabled, I'd expect to be prompted when one is available and be able to upgrade without dancing around like this. I'd expect this to be true no matter if I loaded an existing project from a shortcut or opened a new project from the .exe file. I'm sure there's a good reason but it's frustrating and confusing in my opinion.

thetechguru · Answer

Dave, This allows virtually unattended control. You can have the project set to load when the computer boots up, have a script which manages your connection, and have a headless computer on board that just runs your project when you power up your computer and know that it will always just work. If you need to confirm or dismiss upgrade dialogs, then you would never be able to trust that a headless computer robot would start correctly. If every few weeks you start ARC and open the file to check (or if you have a seperate development system, and only update the robot when the development system updates) that you have the best of both worlds. Alan

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Alan, I can understand that and appreciate it. However the bottom line that I'm taking away from this is that there is an option in the settings section that is useless. Furthermore, as far as I can find this method of update is undocumented. How may I ask did you find out how to update plugins? Maybe I didn't read a lesson somewhere. I'll say it again, plus reading and confusing. However with everything else this control system has going for it I'm not going to complain and be thankful I have it to controlling my robots and to learn about robotics.

thetechguru · Answer

Quote:
How may I ask did you find out how to update plugins?

I usually open ARC first, then select my project. Doing that, I am prompted to update.

I think the majority of users open that way. Since you are mostly working with a single, highly customized robot, it makes sense for you to open via a custom shortcut or just opening the project, and I think not being prompted for updates would be the preferred method in that environment.

I am all for more choice, so if DJ could make it an option to automatically check or not check, I would be happy, but I also think he has more important stuff on the todo list.

Alan

Dunning-Kruger · Answer

I do it the same way @Alan does... I have many ARC projects for this that and the other thing... I open ARC first and then open or create a new project from there...

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Thanks guys. I understand. I really hadn't considered having many robots using different projects being controlled from the same computer at different times.

Dave Schulpius

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