Elinext was contacted by a German company who were interested in developing a platform that would serve as a non-conventional source of delivering advertisement.
The company had in mind the idea to transform the existing platform into an ad and software distribution network. The software publishers are able to upload their software to a backend, or, in most cases, link with a bundled installer that allows software monetization.
The project outsourced to Elinext was to make the required modifications of the platform, including the following parts: the installer, the download server, the admin panel, and the design change.
Challenges
Elinext team faced the following challenges:
- Find a way of installing addons without conflicts with antiviruses.
- Allow admins of the application to make changes to builds with installers anytime it is needed.
- Provide the ability for seamless, automatic installation of the addons in the requested browsers.
- Create different types of profiles for different user roles.
- Allow statistics gathering and report generation.
Approach
We developed installers supporting multiple languages, in this way reducing chances for antiviruses to block installations.
Builds flexibility was achieved through re-configuration: before each installation process, contents of installers update in accordance with info stored on remote provides (AWS s3).
To ensure seamless installation regardless of browser, separate add-ons were created for Firefox and Chrome. Also, we created installation rules for both browsers, so the installer has the ability to detect which is set as default and based on that information decide whether it should install the Firefox add-on or the Chrome add-on.
Access to the admin panel of the application was secured by requests for creating accounts.
In terms of the design, we created a modern and user-friendly interface, so both software publishers and partners can easily and intuitively navigate.
Key Features
- Multiple Languages Support
- Instant, Automatic Installation of Addons
- Ability to Make Changes to Builds of Installers on Fly
- Role Management
- Tariff Management
- Statistics on Users and Installations
- PDF Generation
- Mailing System
- Communication with Remote Storage
- Visual and Silent Installers
Result
Elinext team developed a stable system that meets all requirements of a customer and gives about 70, 000 installs per month. The application is easy to use, secure, allows making changes to the builds with installers on the fly, automatically generates statistics in a PDF format, and manages tariffs when needed.
