root/gaphor/tags/gaphor-0.13.0/doc/plugins.txt

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1 Plugins
2 -------
3
4 Gaphor is growing and the need arises to add optional modules: plugins.
5
6 A plugin is loaded on startup of the application (and possibly on demand).
7
8 Before a plugin is loaded an xml file is read which contains some definitions
9 for the plugin:
10  - information such as author, version, and of course the name
11  - requirements: other plugins this one depends on, modules
12  - definitions of Actions
13  - Code that should be ran before and after installation, before and after
14    removal.
15
16 A typical plugin.xml file looks like this:
17
18 <?xml version="1.0"?>
19 <plugin name="UML metamodel sanity check"
20         version="0.1"
21         author="Arjan Molenaar">
22   <description>
23     A description of what this thing does.
24   </description>
25
26   <require>
27     <!--
28       Define modules and plugins that are needed for this plugin to function
29       properly.
30     -->
31     <module name="os.path"/>
32     <plugin name="anotherPlugin"/>
33   </require>
34
35   <provide>
36     <!--
37       Actions should be defined on the module's toplevel (like in __init__.py).
38     -->
39     <action id="MyPlugin"
40             label="Do a typical thing with the plugin"
41             icon-file="myicon.png"
42             tooltip="bla bla"
43             class="MyPluginAction" slot="WindowSlot">
44       <!--
45         Add optional dependencies to this action. The action is then updated
46         when actions defined in the depends tag are executed.
47       -->
48       <depends action="ItemFocus"/>
49     </action>
50   </provide>
51 </plugin>
52
53
54 A plugin contains three sections:
55 description
56         A description of the plugin (could be shown in a plugin browser for example)
57         This is just a text field.
58 require
59         Prerequisits for this plugin (such as exptic modules and other plugins)
60 provide
61         Actions that are provided by this plugin
62        
63 The require section can contain modules and plugins that are needed for this plugin
64 to work.
65
66 The <provide> section contains the actions that can be added to the application.
67 An action is a Python class that extends gaphor.plugin.Action (or CheckAction for
68 checkbox actions or RadioAction for radiobutton actions). An action has an
69 id
70         Id is a unique identifier for the action
71 label
72         A label that is shown in the menu
73 tooltip
74         some extra information
75 icon-file
76         A file containing a nice (24x24) image, preferbly a PNG image.
77 class
78         The Action class to load from the module. The Action class should be
79         visible through __init__.py (class names like 'test.TestAction' do not
80         work)
81 slot
82         Slots are predefined places in a menu where new actions can be added.
83
84 Slots
85 -----
86 Currently the following slots are defined:
87
88 Main window
89
90 main menu:
91         slot name               menu            comment
92         FileOpenSlot            File            after the 'Open' item
93         FileSaveSlot            File            after the 'Save' item
94         FileExportSlot          File/Export     
95         FileSlot                File            After the 'Close' item
96         EditSlot                Edit
97         DiagramSlot             Diagram
98         WindowSlot              Window
99         HelpSlot                Help
100
101 Items in a diagram can have additional actions too:
102
103         item:   slot name:
104         Class   ClassPopupSlot
105
106 More slots are likely to be defined in the future.
107
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