Defining Component Types

Many basic component types are included with the Sun N1 Service Provisioning System product. Some of these basic component types include such items as files and directories. You can also define specific component types for use with a specific application or platform. For example, perhaps your application has some specific file types that would always exist for this application. You could then define a new component type for your application that is based on the system#CR Simple Base component type but extends that component type for your specific application.

The component type definition is stored in an XML file like any other component XML file. When you define your plug-in, you provide a path to the file for the backing component in the <component> element in the descriptor file. You use the <componentType> child element of the <component> element to provide additional information, such as its name, description, and so on. For more information, see Example 2–15.

Component types are not versioned. If a plug-in attempts to create a component type that matches the name of an existing component type, the plug-in name is prepended to the name of the new component type to avoid naming conflicts.

For information about how to create a component type, see <componentType> Element in Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 XML Schema Reference Guide.