Plug-In Generator Java Classes

For the Isight SDK Generator to represent/store the information for the plug-in and present specific GUI panels for the plug-in type, you must create certain Java classes. Most of the functionality is provided by abstract classes. This section describes the methods you can use to implement for your specific plug-in generator.

PluginController

This class is the primary class for the generator. It is responsible for both populating an SDKDescriptor object that holds all the information for the plug-in being generated and for generating the XML descriptor and ultimately the jar file for the plug-in. Most of the functionality is provided by the base abstract PluginController class, which you can extend.

The PluginController class provides the following methods:

  • getPluginType() returns a String that specifies the type of plug-in that will be created by this generator (e.g., “DOE Technique”).
  • getTemplate(String templateName) returns a URL that points to a file that serves as a template for the specified template name. For example, the DOE Technique generator provides templates for the “Editor” and for the “Executor.”
  • validateModel() returns a list of SDKError objects that hold information about any errors in the configuration of the plug-in being developed.
  • initializeVariables() allows you to create variables that will be added to the plug-in to store configuration information for the plug-in.

PluginPresenter

This class serves as the main governing class for the GUI that will be presented to the developer for defining the information for the plug-in.

The PluginPresenter class provides the following methods:

  • createPageList() builds a list of Page objects to represent the pages of the GUI that the developer will fill out when defining the new plug-in.
  • getRootPage() specifies the root page, which corresponds to the root node in the GUI for this plug-in type.

Page

This class represents a page in the GUI.