Included plugins

You can use optional plugins (also called external plugins) with your Xojo apps to add additional functionality in the form of classes or UI controls. These plugins are files that are copied to the Plugins folder and are then loaded the next time Xojo starts. By default, Xojo ships with these database plugins installed into the Plugins folder:

You can remove any of the plugins you are not using in order to reduce start time and lower memory usage.

To use the Microsoft Office Automation classes, you will have to copy the MSOfficeAutomation plugin to the Plugin folder.

Many third-party developers also offer plugins for use with Xojo, which you can also copy to the Plugins folder to use with Xojo the next time it starts.

To see what plugins have been loaded by Xojo, go to the Help menu, select About Xojo and then click the "Loaded Plugins" tab where you'll see a list of loaded plugins.

Loading plugins takes additional startup time and uses additional memory even if you don't use them in your project, so it is best to only put the plugins you are actually using in the Plugins folder and not necessarily include every plugin you have.

Apps can use a plugin that contain 32-bit parts, but it must also have 64-bit parts in order for the plugin to be recognized by Xojo.

Windows plugin placement

Since a number of items are implemented as internal plugins, you may well see a Libs folder even when you have not installed any external (or 3rd party) plugins.

For 32-bit apps on Windows:

  • GUI apps include XojoGUIFramework32.dll in the Libs folder

  • All plugin DLLs appear in the Libs folder.

For 64-bit apps on Windows:

  • Several DLLs now appear in the same folder as the exe itself. For more information about this refer to 64-bit Guidelines.

    • GUI apps include XojoGUIFramework64.dll in the same folder as the exe itself.

    • Visual Studio runtime DLLs appear in the same folder as the exe itself.

    • CEF3 (Chromium Embedded Framework) DLLs (and related files) appear in the same folder as the exe itself if your project is using the DesktopHTMLViewer.

  • Other plugin DLLs appear in the Libs folder.

Linux plugin placement

All plugins are included in the Libs folder. Since a number of items are implemented as internal plugins, you may well see a Lib folder even when you have not installed any external (or 3rd party) plugins.

Internal plugins

The items and classes listed in this section are currently implemented as internal plugins in Xojo. This is an implementation detail that is subject to change at any time.

Some high-level classes internally use functions implemented as internal plugins. For example, HTTPSocket and POP3Socket both use the MD5 function for authentication purpose thus causing the MD5 plugin to be included in the Libs folder.

  • Appearance Pak

    • DesktopBevelButton

    • DesktopDisclosureTriangle

    • DesktopHTMLViewer

    • DesktopImageViewer

    • DesktopPopupArrow

    • DesktopProgressWheel

    • DesktopSegmentedButton

    • DesktopSeparator

    • DesktopUpDownArrows

  • Game Input

    • GameInputDevice

    • GameInputManager

    • GameInputElement

  • Internet Encodings

    • EncodeBase64

    • DecodeURLComponent

    • DecodeBase64

    • EncodeQuotedPrintable

    • DecodeQuotedPrintable

    • EncodeURLComponent

  • Crypto

    • MD5

    • MD5Digest

    • Any Crypto-related features

  • XojoScript

  • RegEx

    • RegEx

    • RegExOptions

    • RegExException

    • RegExSearchPatternException

    • RegExMatch

  • Shell

    • Shell

    • ShellNotRunningException

    • ShellNotAvailableException

  • Sockets

    • SSLSocket

  • XML

    • XMLAttributeList

    • XMLNodeList

    • XMLContentModel

    • XMLReader

    • XMLDocument

    • XMLReaderException

    • XMLDOMException

    • XMLXsltHandler

    • XMLElement

    • XMLNamespaces

    • Anything else that starts with "XML".