net.sourceforge.mflow.impl
Class PluginLocator

java.lang.Object
  net.sourceforge.mflow.impl.PluginLocator

public class PluginLocator

extends java.lang.Object

Used to locate plugins within JAR files. Plugins must have an activator, which serves as the entry point to the plugin. All attributes of plugins are specified in the manifest of their JAR file.

Example:

Name: net.sourceforge.mflow.folder.sftp.Activator.class
 PluginName: SFTP Folder
 Type: Folder
 DescriptionFile: net/sourceforge/mflow/folder/sftp/description.txt
 IconFile: net/sourceforge/mflow/folder/sftp/images/icon.gif
 ConfigurationDialog: net.sourceforge.mflow.folder.sftp.ConfigurationDialog
 Version: 1.0

The Name field identifies the Activator class file in the JAR. The PluginName field provides a textual name for the plugin, and the Type field identifies the type of the plugin. These fields must be present in the entry, whereas the remaining fields are optional.

The DescriptionFile field identifies a text file in the JAR that contains a detailed description of the plugin (and may optionally include a copyright message or other related information). IconFile identifies an icon image for the plugin. ConfigurationDialog is the fully-qualified name of a class within the JAR that provides a GUI for configuring the plugin. Finally, Version specifies the version number of the plugin.

The PluginLocator reads a JAR Manifest, searching for entries that include a PluginName field. For each valid entry that is found, a Plugin object is constructed which encapsulates all of the information specified in the entry.

Author:

carrd

Method Summary

void	addFiles(java.util.List files)
java.util.Iterator	findPlugins(java.io.File file) Find all plugins in the specified JAR file.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

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

Method Detail

addFiles

public void addFiles(java.util.List files)

Parameters:

files -

findPlugins

public java.util.Iterator findPlugins(java.io.File file)

Find all plugins in the specified JAR file.

Parameters:

file - The path of a JAR file.

Returns:

A (possibly empty) Iterator of Plugin objects representing the plugins found in the JAR file.