X2 Standard  Version 1.24
Installing Your X2 Driver

The x2 developer should provide a means to install/update their driver independent of TheSkyX. For cross platform drivers, there is the need for a Windows/Mac installer.
Unfortunately, we are not aware of any good, free, cross platform installers (Installshield and bitrock are expensive). On Windows consider the MSI or nullsoft installer.

At a minimum, your own x2 installer will need to distribute two files, your own "hardwarelist <Company Name>.txt" with your list of hardware and the corresponding plug in binary.
Any other libraries your binary requires also need distributed. Please strive to minimize dependencies and static link libraries whenever possible.

With the above being said, a vision Software Bisque is for TheSkyX to come with drivers (x2 or native) for the most popular hardware and for everything to work "out of the box."
IOW, install TheSkyX, and immediately control your dome, mount, camera, autoguider, filter wheel, focuser, rotator, etc, on either Windows and Mac. This is another primary reason we've architected x2 the way we did, to keep the x2 driver footprint small, efficient and with as few as possible dependencies. If you have confidence in your x2 driver and are willing to stand behind it, TheSkyX's installer would love to include it, please contact Software Bisque to discuss.

Where Is TheSkyX Installed?

There are many ways to find out where TheSkyX is installed. TheSkyX has the following convention to hopefully make it easier to write an installer and works on both Mac and or Windows...

Conventionally, TheSkyX 10.1.11 (build 4630 and later) provides a way for third parties easily find out where TheSkyX is installed. The file TheSkyXInstallPath.txt holds the path to where TheSkyX is installed. TheSkyXInstallPath.txt file is found in the folder...

on Windows: <Documents>/Software Bisque/TheSkyX Professional Edition

on Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Software Bisque/TheSkyX Professional Edition

(For installations targeting TheSkyX Serious Astronomer Edition, replace the "TheSkyX Professional Edition" with "TheSkyX Serious Astronomer Edition" in the folder paths above.)

Notes:

  • TheSkyX has to be run at least once before TheSkyXInstallPath.txt exists.
  • This convention is purposfully not dependent upon the Windows registry.
  • TheSkyXInstallPath.txt is updated each time TheSkyX runs, so this convention still allows moving TheSkyX from one hard driver or folder to another. (Installsheild's HKLM\App\TheSkyX.exe registry convention is only written on install.)

Here is a Windows script for determining the <Documents> folder:

Set WshShell = Wscript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
path=WshShell.RegRead("HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Personal")
MsgBox path

X2 Examples
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