org.pentaho.di.core.plugins
Interface PluginInterface

All Known Implementing Classes:

Plugin

public interface PluginInterface

This interface describes the plugin itself, the IDs it listens too, what libraries (jar files) it uses, the names, the i18n detailes, etc.

Author:

matt

Method Summary

String	getCategory()
Map<Class<?>,String>	getClassMap()
String	getDescription()
String	getErrorHelpFile()
String[]	getIds()
String	getImageFile()
List<String>	getLibraries()
Class<?>	getMainType()
String	getName()
URL	getPluginDirectory()
Class<? extends PluginTypeInterface>	getPluginType()
boolean	isNativePlugin()
boolean	isSeparateClassLoaderNeeded()
boolean	matches(String id)

Method Detail

getIds

String[] getIds()

Returns:

All the possible IDs that this plugin corresponds with.
Multiple IDs are typically used when you migrate 2 different plugins into a single one with the same functionality.
It can also happen if you deprecate an older plugin and you want to have a new one provide compatibility for it.

getPluginType

Class<? extends PluginTypeInterface> getPluginType()

Returns:

The type of plugin

getMainType

Class<?> getMainType()

Returns:

The main class assigned to this Plugin.

getLibraries

List<String> getLibraries()

Returns:

The libraries (jar file names) that are used by this plugin

getName

String getName()

Returns:

The name of the plugin

getDescription

String getDescription()

Returns:

The description of the plugin

getImageFile

String getImageFile()

Returns:

The location of the image (icon) file for this plugin

getCategory

String getCategory()

Returns:

The category of this plugin or null if this is not applicable

isSeparateClassLoaderNeeded

boolean isSeparateClassLoaderNeeded()

Returns:

True if a separate class loader is needed every time this class is instantiated

isNativePlugin

boolean isNativePlugin()

Returns:

true if this is considered to be a standard native plugin.

getClassMap

Map<Class<?>,String> getClassMap()

Returns:

All the possible class names that can be loaded with this plugin, split up by type.

matches

boolean matches(String id)

Parameters:

id - the plugin id to match

Returns:

true if one of the ids matches the given argument. Return false if it doesn't.

getErrorHelpFile

String getErrorHelpFile()

Returns:

An optional location to a help file that the plugin can refer to in case there is a loading problem. This usually happens if a jar file is not installed correctly (class not found exceptions) etc.

getPluginDirectory

URL getPluginDirectory()