at.mug.iqm.api.plugin

Interface IPlugin

All Superinterfaces:

Serializable

All Known Implementing Classes:

AbstractPlugin

public interface IPlugin
extends Serializable

This is the method declaration for a plugin in IQM.

Each class implementing this interface must be accompanied with an XML-file named iqm-plugin.xml containing an XML representation of a Properties instance. This file is read at the init() call and split into atomic strings.

Author:

Philipp Kainz

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
String	getActionCommand() This is a wrapper method and returns the UID of the plugin.
ImageIcon	getDisabledMenuIcon() Gets the menu icon for the disabled menu item of this plugin.
ImageIcon	getEnabledMenuIcon() Gets the menu icon for the enabled menu item of this plugin.
String	getName() The name of the plugin, which will be used for menu entry creation.
Properties	getProperties() Get the whole iqm-plugin.xml file as Properties.
String	getType() Get the type of the plugin.
String	getUID() The unique identifier of the plugin.
String	getVersion() Get the version of the plugin.
IPlugin	init() Initialize this plugin.

Method Detail

init

IPlugin init()
      throws Exception

Initialize this plugin. On this method, the plugin has to call at least the IPluginRegistry.register(IPlugin, String) using a self-reference as parameter.

If the plugin furthermore contains an IOperator, the second call will the registration of the operator descriptor.

Throws:

Exception

getUID

String getUID()

The unique identifier of the plugin. This is usually the fully-qualified path name to the implementing plugin class.

Returns:

the UID of the plugin

getName

String getName()

The name of the plugin, which will be used for menu entry creation.

Returns:

the name of the plugin (menu entry)

getActionCommand

String getActionCommand()

This is a wrapper method and returns the UID of the plugin.

The UID will furthermore be used for adding ActionListener interfaces to the plugin.

Returns:

the action command, usually the UID of the plugin

getVersion

String getVersion()

Get the version of the plugin.

Returns:

the version of the plugin

getType

String getType()

Get the type of the plugin. This information is used for menu hierarchy construction.

Returns:

the type of the plugin

getProperties

Properties getProperties()

Get the whole iqm-plugin.xml file as Properties.

Returns:

the plugin properties

getEnabledMenuIcon

ImageIcon getEnabledMenuIcon()

Gets the menu icon for the enabled menu item of this plugin.

The class loader searches for a file named menu-item-enabled.png in the resource sub package icons of the IPlugin instance. For instance, if the implementing class of IPlugin is located in the package my.plugins, the loader looks up resources/my/plugins/icons/menu-item-enabled.png and constructs a new ImageIcon.

If menu-item-enabled.png is not contained in this package, the default icon from the public API is used.

One may specify a custom file name to be searched for in the mentioned resource directory. If these files are not found, the default icon is loaded.

Returns:

the menu icon for enabled menu items, if present, or the default enabled plugin menu item icon

getDisabledMenuIcon

ImageIcon getDisabledMenuIcon()

Gets the menu icon for the disabled menu item of this plugin.

The class loader searches for a file named menu-item-disabled.png in the resource sub package icons of the IPlugin instance. For instance, if the implementing class of IPlugin is located in the package my.plugins, the loader looks up resources/my/plugins/icons/menu-item-disabled.png and constructs a new ImageIcon.

If menu-item-disabled.png is not contained in this package, the default icon from the public API is used.

One may specify a custom file name to be searched for in the mentioned resource directory. If these files are not found, the default icon is loaded.

Returns:

the menu icon for disabled menu items, if present, or the default disabled plugin menu item icon