This chapter provides information about how to work with plug-in projects in Oracle Communications Design Studio. It provides a short overview of plug-in projects and provides instructions for creating, packaging, and distributing plug-in projects.
A plug-in is a modular, extendable, and sharable unit of code that enables integration of tools within Eclipse. Plug-ins are saved in Eclipse plug-in projects. You use plug-in projects to package and deliver guided assistance, design patterns, and reports to other design studio users.
Plug-in projects include a MANIFEST.MF file that describes the plug-in, the dependencies, a plugin.xml file to identify the extension points, and a set of Java classes to implement the extension points.
Plug-in projects are grouped into feature projects. Feature projects are groups of plug-ins packaged together into a single unit. You use update sites to organize feature projects and to make the feature projects available to your team members for installation. In this manner, team members can install and update the groups of plug-ins as a single unit.
For example, a plug-in project can include any number of design patterns or report designs, and a feature project can be associated with any number of plug-in projects. Feature projects are associated with update site projects, and update sites are distributed to solution designers to enable access to the design patterns.
See the Eclipse Plug-in Development Environment Guide for more information.
To create a new plug-in project:
In Design Studio, from the File menu, select New, and then select Project.
The New Project dialog box appears.
Expand the Plug-in Development folder and then select Plug-in Project.
Click Next.
In the Project Name, enter a name for the plug-in project.
Set the values for the remaining fields with information specific to your installation.
For more information about the Plug-in Project wizard fields, see the Eclipse Plug-in Development Environment Guide.
Click Next.
The Content page appears, which enables you to customize the plug-in data.
In the Options area, deselect the Generate an activator option.
Set the values for the remaining fields with information specific to your installation.
For more information about the Plug-in Project wizard fields, see the Eclipse Plug-in Development Environment Guide.
Click Finish.
Design Studio prompts you to open the Plug-in Development perspective.
Click Yes.
Design Studio switches to the Plug-in Development perspective and displays the project manifest (MANIFEST.MF) in the Plug-in Project editor.
To package a plug-in project:
Create a feature project to contain the plug-in project. See "Creating Feature Projects" for more information.
Create an update site project in which you bundle the feature projects. See "Creating Update Site Projects" for more information.
To create a feature project:
From the File menu, select New and then select Other.
The New Project wizard appears.
Expand the Plug-in Development folder.
Select Feature Project and click Next.
In Project name field, enter a name for the feature project.
Accept the defaults for the remaining fields, or enter values specific to your feature project.
Click Next.
The Referenced Plug-ins and Fragments page appears.
Select the plug-in projects to include in the feature.
Click Finish.
To create an update site project:
From the File menu, select New and then select Other.
The New Project wizard appears.
Expand the Plug-in Development folder.
Select Update Site Project and click Next.
In Project name field, enter a name for the update site project.
Click Finish.
The new project opens in the Update Site Map editor.
Click New Category.
The Category Properties area appears.
In the ID field, enter a unique ID for the new category.
In the Name field, enter a name that will appear for the category in the update site.
In the Managing the Site area, select the new category and click Add Feature.
The Feature Select dialog box appears.
Select the feature project that contains your plug-in projects and click OK.
If you do not see your feature listed, begin typing the name of the feature in the Feature Selection dialog box.
In the Managing the Site area, click the Build All button.
Plug-in projects are grouped into features, and features are made available to users through update sites. To distribute custom functionality, such as report designs and design patterns, you create a feature project using the Feature Project Creation wizard and add the plug-in project to the feature project. When you are finished, contact your system administrator to request that the new feature be added to the Design Studio update site.
See Eclipse Plug-in Development Environment Guide for information about using the Feature Project Creation wizards. Design Studio report design examples demonstrate how to configure a feature project.