Reactor Implementation Guide
There are two main ways you can deploy the plugin with a runtime:
The first method has the advantage that no installation is required, however the second method is much more robust, and here's why:
All versions of FileMaker from 9 onwards including runtimes look into the local user Application Support directory for extensions FIRST, then resort to the old location of the application's own Extensions sub folder. Therefore even if you follow method one above, if the user has an older version installed, your runtime will use that in preference!
The ultimate approach is to use both 1 and 2 above: that way, if there's no Reactor installed in the common area (user's own application support directory) then the runtime will use the copy from within the runtime application folder and no installation will be required. However if there is an existing older version, the standard Reactor installer will detect that and install the updated version you're shipping.
If you're including the plugin and resources, you need to know that you need the Reactor plugin file and the Reactor directory of Blackboxes, all of which can be found in the Application Support directory:
On the Mac it's: ~/Library/Application Support/FileMaker/Extensions/
(where ~ means the current user directory)
On Windows it's: C:/Documents and Settings/{UserName}/Local Settings/Application Data/FileMaker/Extensions/
(varies slightly depending on which version of Windows you're using)
When you copy those items over, be sure to remove the file called registration.plist because that contains your Development code!!
After you generate your runtimes, complete with all the auxiliary files you get, create a folder within the runtime folder called "Extensions" and place the actual plugin file within that. Do that for both the Windows and the Mac runtime folders.
You should be aware that your runtime databases can be opened in FileMaker by anyone, just by dragging the file onto the FileMaker Pro application, or selecting your runtime file through FileMaker's 'Open' command.
Therefore your registration code is not secure just because it's in a runtime: we require you to use a secure password for full access and strongly recommend you also consider using the "Remove admin access from files permanently" option when creating your runtime.
Also, NEVER put your Development code in a runtime you're distributing: Development codes install permanently and therefore apply to all FileMaker databases opened by that user. Use the Deployment code only.
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