Plugin Architecture

From DOC

Overview

Plugins contain program, configuration, and content used to assemble a functioning instance of the Tolven system. Bespoke plugins can be added to the over 100 plugins that comprise the Tolven plugin framework.

how plugins work

Think of Tolven as not a program or even an EAR file but rather a collection of components that, when assembled, provide an application. This approach provides an extra layer of flexibility in constructing a customized Tolven implementation. Tolven plugins are located in a number of Library Repositories, which can be accessed via http. Tolven Plugin Example is a very simple example of a Tolven plugin.

In order to use the code provided by Tolven plugins, the user needs to download a subset of them to a local Plugin Runtime Repository. Tolven plugins located in the Runtime Repository must have all of their dependent plugins also downloaded to that repository. The Tolven Primer provides an environment and a number of commands to help the user install (see Tolven Primer Installation) a local Runtime Repository. Once installed, the user is in a position to:

• Execute plugins, which can carry out a number of basic functions like creating SSL credentials for the application server, ldap server and database server
• Generate and deploy configuration files for the servers
• Plugins exist for assembling tolven components into java modules, ejb modules and war modules
• Plugins exist for assembling java modules, ejb modules and war modules into the tolven.ear file, which can then be deployed to the application server
• Plugins can then be executed to interact with the application server to update both the database and ldap servers, via components defined within them