Confluence Docs 3.0 : Module Type Plugins This page last changed on Sep 07, 2009 by ggaskell. On this page: Purpose of this Module Type Configuration Attributes Elements Example Notes ## Purpose of this Module Type Module Type plugin modules allow you to dynamically add new plugin module types to the plugin framework, generally building on other plugin modules. For example, a plugin developer could create a `<dictionary>` plugin module that is used to feed a dictionary service used by still other plugins. ## Configuration The root element for the Module Type plugin module is `module-type`. It allows the following attributes and child elements for configuration: #### Attributes
Name | Required | Description | Default
--- | --- | --- | ---
class |  | The ModuleDescriptor class to instantiate when a new plugin module of this type is found. |
disabled |  | Indicate whether the plugin module should be disabled by default (value='true') or enabled by default (value='false'). | false
i18n-name-key |  | The localisation key for the human-readable name of the plugin module. |
key |  | The identifier of the plugin module. This key must be unique within the plugin where it is defined. Sometimes you will need to uniquely identify a module. Do this with the module complete key. A module with key `fred` in a plugin with key `com.example.modules` will have a complete key of `com.example.modules:fred`. I.e. the identifier of the module type. This value will be used as the XML element name to match. | N/A
name |  | The human-readable name of the plugin module. |
system |  | Indicates whether this plugin module is a system plugin module (value='true') or not (value='false'). Only available for non-OSGi plugins. | false
#### Elements
Name | Required | Description | Default
--- | --- | --- | ---
description |  | The description of the plugin module. The 'key' attribute can be specified to declare a localisation key for the value instead of text in the element body. |
## Example Here is an example `atlassian-plugin.xml` file containing a plugin module type:
    <atlassian-plugin name="Hello World" key="example.plugin.helloworld" plugins-version="2">
        <plugin-info>
            <description>A dictionary module type test</description>
            <vendor name="Atlassian Software Systems" url="http://www.atlassian.com"/>
            <version>1.0</version>
        </plugin-info>

        <module-type key="dictionary" class="example.plugin.DictionaryModuleDescriptor" />
    </atlassian-plugin>
The Java code for `DictionaryModuleDescriptor` could look like this:
    public class DictionaryModuleDescriptor extends AbstractModuleDescriptor<Dictionary>
    {
        private String language;

        @Override
        public void init(Plugin plugin, Element element) throws PluginParseException
        {
            super.init(plugin, element);
            language = element.attributeValue("lang");
        }

        public Dictionary getModule()
        {
             return (Dictionary)((AutowireCapablePlugin)plugin).autowire(getModuleClass());
        }

        public String getLanguage()
        {
            return language;
        }
    }
This will add the new module type 'dictionary' to the plugin framework, allowing other plugins to use the new module type. Here is a plugin that uses the new 'dictionary' module type:
    <atlassian-plugin name="Hello World" key="example.plugin.helloworld" plugins-version="2">
        <plugin-info>
            <description>An english dictionary</description>
            <vendor name="Atlassian Software Systems" url="http://www.atlassian.com"/>
            <version>1.0</version>
        </plugin-info>

        <dictionary key="english" class="example.plugin.english.MyDictionary" />
    </atlassian-plugin>
- ## Notes Some information to be aware of when developing or configuring a Module Type plugin module: The plugin that defines a new module type cannot use the module type in the Plugin Framework 2.1, but can in 2.2 or later. If you want to have control over the construction of the ModuleDescriptor, you can skip the 'module-type' module and make public a component registered against the ModuleDescriptorFactory interface:
      <component key="dictionaryFactory" class="example.plugin.DictionaryModuleDescriptorFactory" public="true">
        <interface>com.atlassian.plugin.ModuleDescriptorFactory</interface>
      </component>
Ensure your `ModuleDescriptorFactory` implements `com.atlassian.plugin.osgi.external.ListableModuleDescriptorFactory`. ##### RELATED TOPICS Writing Confluence Plugins Installing and Configuring Plugins Manually Information sourced from Plugin Framework documentation

Document generated by Confluence on Nov 05, 2009 23:34