How can I write my own plugins/modules?

Put into the installation directory, subdirectory lib, a JAR named UserServices.jar with one ore more implementations of org.jphototagger.api.plugin.Plugin or org.jphototagger.api.modules.Module and publish them through the Java Service Provider Interface (SPI).

To avoid compiler errors, the minimum JAR file in the class path you need, is API.jar. If you do not want manually create the META-INF/services folder and stay relaxed during refactorings, you should include org-openide-util-lookup.jar and use the @ServiceProvider annotations. If you want receive messages, include eventbus.jar. To access domain objects, such as stored metadata info, include Domain.jar. Some other common used library is jsl.jar. All JARs located in the lib sub directory of JPhotoTagger's installation directory.

The best way to find reference implementations, is browsing the source code. Even better is, clone it and open in in the NetBeans IDE. The clone contains all source code and libraries.

Minimum Example for a user defined Module (Displays a message as soon as the module is loaded):

package org.myorg.jphototaggerplugin;

import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import org.openide.util.lookup.ServiceProvider;
import org.jphototagger.api.modules.Module;

@ServiceProvider(service = Module.class)
public final class MyModule implements Module {

    @Override
    public void init() {
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "My module");
    }

    @Override
    public void remove() {
    }
}

Within the UserServices.jar you can implement as many Plugins/Modules as you need.

Author: Elmar
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Status of this document: 2011-10-10

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How can I write my own plugins/modules?