org.gjt.sp.jedit
Class PluginJAR

java.lang.Object
  org.gjt.sp.jedit.PluginJAR

public class PluginJAR
extends java.lang.Object

Loads and unloads plugins.

JAR file contents

When loading a plugin, jEdit looks for the following resources:

• A file named actions.xml defining plugin actions. Only one such file per plugin is allowed. See ActionSet for syntax.
• A file named browser.actions.xml defining file system browser actions. Only one such file per plugin is allowed. See ActionSet for syntax.
• A file named dockables.xml defining dockable windows. Only one such file per plugin is allowed. See DockableWindowManager for syntax.
• A file named services.xml defining additional services offered by the plugin, such as virtual file systems. Only one such file per plugin is allowed. See ServiceManager for syntax.
• File with extension .props containing name/value pairs separated by an equals sign. A plugin can supply any number of property files. Property files are used to define plugin men items, plugin option panes, as well as arbitriary settings and strings used by the plugin. See EditPlugin for information about properties used by jEdit. See java.util.Properties for property file syntax.

For a plugin to actually do something once it is resident in memory, it must contain a class whose name ends with Plugin. This class, known as the plugin core class must extend EditPlugin and define a few required properties, otherwise it is ignored.

Dynamic and deferred loading

Unlike in prior jEdit versions, jEdit 4.2 and later allow plugins to be added and removed to the resident set at any time using the jEdit.addPluginJAR(String) and jEdit.removePluginJAR(PluginJAR,boolean) methods. Furthermore, the plugin core class might not be loaded until the plugin is first used. See EditPlugin.start() for a full description.

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre1

See Also:

jEdit.getProperty(String), jEdit.getPlugin(String), jEdit.getPlugins(), jEdit.getPluginJAR(String), jEdit.getPluginJARs(), jEdit.addPluginJAR(String), jEdit.removePluginJAR(PluginJAR,boolean), ActionSet, DockableWindowManager, OptionPane, PluginJAR, ServiceManager

Nested Class Summary

static class

PluginJAR.PluginCacheEntry Used by the DockableWindowManager and ServiceManager to handle caching.

Method Summary

void	activatePlugin() Loads the plugin core class.
void	activatePluginIfNecessary() Should be called after a new plugin is installed.
boolean	checkDependencies() Returns true if all dependencies are satisified, false otherwise.
void	deactivatePlugin(boolean exit) Unloads the plugin core class.
ActionSet	getActions() Deprecated. Call getActionSet() instead
ActionSet	getActionSet() Returns the plugin's action set for the jEdit action context jEdit.getActionContext().
ActionSet	getBrowserActionSet() Returns the plugin's action set for the file system browser action context VFSBrowser.getActionContext().
java.lang.String	getCachePath() Returns the full path name of this plugin's summary file.
JARClassLoader	getClassLoader() Returns the plugin's class loader.
java.lang.String[]	getDependentPlugins() Returns an array of all plugins that depend on this one.
java.net.URL	getDockablesURI() Returns the location of the plugin's dockables.xml file.
java.io.File	getFile() Returns a file pointing to the plugin JAR.
java.lang.String	getPath() Returns the full path name of this plugin's JAR file.
EditPlugin	getPlugin() Returns the plugin core class for this JAR file.
java.net.URL	getServicesURI() Returns the location of the plugin's services.xml file.
java.util.zip.ZipFile	getZipFile() Returns the plugin's JAR file, opening it if necessary.
java.lang.String	toString()

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Method Detail

getPath

public java.lang.String getPath()

Returns the full path name of this plugin's JAR file.

getCachePath

public java.lang.String getCachePath()

Returns the full path name of this plugin's summary file. The summary file is used to store certain information which allows loading of the plugin's resources and core class to be deferred until the plugin is first used. As long as a plugin is using the jEdit 4.2 plugin API, no extra effort is required to take advantage of the summary cache.

getFile

public java.io.File getFile()

Returns a file pointing to the plugin JAR.

getClassLoader

public JARClassLoader getClassLoader()

Returns the plugin's class loader.

getZipFile

public java.util.zip.ZipFile getZipFile()
                                 throws java.io.IOException

Returns the plugin's JAR file, opening it if necessary.

Throws:

java.io.IOException

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre1

getActions

public ActionSet getActions()

Deprecated. Call getActionSet() instead

getActionSet

public ActionSet getActionSet()

Returns the plugin's action set for the jEdit action context jEdit.getActionContext(). These actions are loaded from the actions.xml file; see ActionSet. .

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre1

getBrowserActionSet

public ActionSet getBrowserActionSet()

Returns the plugin's action set for the file system browser action context VFSBrowser.getActionContext(). These actions are loaded from the browser.actions.xml file; see ActionSet. .

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre1

checkDependencies

public boolean checkDependencies()

Returns true if all dependencies are satisified, false otherwise. Also if dependencies are not satisfied, the plugin is marked as "broken".

getDependentPlugins

public java.lang.String[] getDependentPlugins()

Returns an array of all plugins that depend on this one.

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre2

getPlugin

public EditPlugin getPlugin()

Returns the plugin core class for this JAR file. Note that if the plugin has not been activated, this will return an instance of EditPlugin.Deferred. If you need the actual plugin core class instance, call activatePlugin() first.

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre1

activatePlugin

public void activatePlugin()

Loads the plugin core class. Does nothing if the plugin core class has already been loaded. This method might be called on startup, depending on what properties are set. See EditPlugin.start(). This method is thread-safe.

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre1

activatePluginIfNecessary

public void activatePluginIfNecessary()

Should be called after a new plugin is installed.

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre2

deactivatePlugin

public void deactivatePlugin(boolean exit)

Unloads the plugin core class. Does nothing if the plugin core class has not been loaded. This method can only be called from the AWT event dispatch thread!

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre3

See Also:

EditPlugin.stop()

getDockablesURI

public java.net.URL getDockablesURI()

Returns the location of the plugin's dockables.xml file.

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre1

getServicesURI

public java.net.URL getServicesURI()

Returns the location of the plugin's services.xml file.

Since:

jEdit 4.2pre1

toString

public java.lang.String toString()

Overrides:

toString in class java.lang.Object