## org.gjt.sp.jedit
Class EditPlugin

    java.lang.Object
      org.gjt.sp.jedit.EditPlugin

Direct Known Subclasses:
  EBPlugin, EditPlugin.Broken, EditPlugin.Deferred

public abstract class EditPlugin
extends java.lang.Object

The abstract base class that every plugin must implement. Alternatively, instead of extending this class, a plugin core class can extend `EBPlugin` to automatically receive EditBus messages.

### Basic plugin information properties

Note that in all cases above where a class name is needed, the fully qualified class name, including the package name, if any, must be used.

The following properties are required for jEdit to load the plugin:

- `plugin.class name.activate` - set this to `defer` if your plugin only needs to be loaded when it is first invoked; set it to `startup` if your plugin must be loaded at startup regardless; set it to a whitespace-separated list of property names if your plugin should be loaded if at least one of these properties is set. Note that if this property is not set, the plugin is loaded like an old-style jEdit 4.1 plugin.
- `plugin.class name.name`
- `plugin.class name.version`
- `plugin.class name.jars` - only needed if your plugin bundles external JAR files. Contains a whitespace-separated list of JAR file names. Without this property, the plugin manager will leave behind the external JAR files when removing the plugin.

The following properties are optional but recommended:

- `plugin.class name.author`
- `plugin.class name.docs` - the path to plugin documentation in HTML format within the JAR file.

### Plugin dependency properties

Plugin dependencies are also specified using properties. Each dependency is defined in a property named with `plugin.class name.depend.` followed by a number. Dependencies must be numbered in order, starting from zero.

The value of a dependency property has one of the following forms:

- `jdk minimum Java version`
- `jedit minimum jEdit version` - note that this must be a version number in the form returned by `jEdit.getBuild()`, not `jEdit.getVersion()`. Note that the documentation here describes the jEdit 4.2 plugin API, so this dependency must be set to at least `04.02.01.00`.
- `plugin plugin version` - the fully quailified plugin class name must be specified.

### Plugin menu item properties

To add your plugin to the view's Plugins menu, define one of these two properties:

- `plugin.class name.menu-item` - if this is defined, the action named by this property is added to the Plugins menu.
- `plugin.class name.menu` - if this is defined, a sub-menu is added to the Plugins menu whose content is the whitespace-separated list of action names in this property. A separator may be added to the sub-menu by listing `-` in the property.

If you want the plugin's menu items to be determined at runtime, define a property `plugin.class name.menu.code` to be BeanShell code that evaluates to an implementation of `DynamicMenuProvider`.

To add your plugin to the file system browser's Plugins menu, define one of these two properties:

- `plugin.class name.browser-menu-item` - if this is defined, the action named by this property is added to the Plugins menu.
- `plugin.class name.browser-menu` - if this is defined, a sub-menu is added to the Plugins menu whose content is the whitespace-separated list of action names in this property. A separator may be added to the sub-menu by listing `-` in the property.

In all cases, each action's menu item label is taken from the `action name.label` property. View actions are defined in an `actions.xml` file, file system browser actions are defined in a `browser.actions.xml` file; see `ActionSet`.

### Plugin option pane properties

To add your plugin to the Plugin Options dialog box, define one of these two properties:

- `plugin.class name.option-pane` - if this is defined, the option pane named by this property is added to the Plugin Options menu.
- `plugin.class name.option-group` - if this is defined, a branch node is added to the Plugin Options dialog box whose content is the whitespace-separated list of option pane names in this property.

Then for each option pane name, define these two properties:

- `options.option pane name.label` - the label to show for the pane in the dialog box.
- `options.option pane name.code` - BeanShell code that evaluates to an instance of the `OptionPane` class.

### Example

Here is an example set of plugin properties:

    plugin.QuickNotepadPlugin.activate=defer
    plugin.QuickNotepadPlugin.name=QuickNotepad
    plugin.QuickNotepadPlugin.author=John Gellene
    plugin.QuickNotepadPlugin.version=4.2
    plugin.QuickNotepadPlugin.docs=QuickNotepad.html
    plugin.QuickNotepadPlugin.depend.0=jedit 04.02.01.00
    plugin.QuickNotepadPlugin.menu=quicknotepad \
        - \
        quicknotepad.choose-file \
        quicknotepad.save-file \
        quicknotepad.copy-to-buffer
    plugin.QuickNotepadPlugin.option-pane=quicknotepad

Note that action and option pane labels are not shown in the above example.

Since:
  jEdit 2.1pre1
Version:
  $Id: EditPlugin.java,v 1.31 2003/05/03 20:34:25 spestov Exp $
Author:
  Slava Pestov, John Gellene (API documentation)
See Also:
  `jEdit.getProperty(String)`, `jEdit.getPlugin(String)`, `jEdit.getPlugins()`, `jEdit.getPluginJAR(String)`, `jEdit.getPluginJARs()`, `jEdit.addPluginJAR(String)`, `jEdit.removePluginJAR(PluginJAR,boolean)`, `ActionSet`, `DockableWindowManager`, `OptionPane`, `PluginJAR`, `ServiceManager`

Nested Class Summary
`static class` `EditPlugin.Broken` A placeholder for a plugin that didn't load.
`static class` `EditPlugin.Deferred` A placeholder for a plugin that hasn't been loaded yet.
`static class` `EditPlugin.JAR` Deprecated. Use `PluginJAR` instead.

Constructor Summary
`EditPlugin()`

Method Summary
`javax.swing.JMenuItem` `createBrowserMenuItems()` Called by the filesystem browser when constructing its Plugins menu.
`javax.swing.JMenuItem` `createMenuItems()` Called by the view when constructing its Plugins menu.
`void` `createMenuItems(java.util.Vector menuItems)` Deprecated. Instead of overriding this method, define properties as specified in the description of this class.
`void` `createOptionPanes(OptionsDialog optionsDialog)` Deprecated. Instead of overriding this method, define properties as specified in the description of this class.
`java.lang.String` `getClassName()` Returns the plugin's class name.
`EditPlugin.JAR` `getJAR()` Deprecated. Call `getPluginJAR()` instead.
`PluginJAR` `getPluginJAR()` Returns the JAR file containing this plugin.
`void` `start()` jEdit calls this method when the plugin is being activated, either during startup or at any other time.
`void` `stop()` jEdit calls this method when the plugin is being unloaded.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
`clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait`

Constructor Detail

### EditPlugin

    public EditPlugin()

Method Detail

### start

    public void start()

  jEdit calls this method when the plugin is being activated, either during startup or at any other time. A plugin can get activated for a number of reasons:
  - The plugin is written for jEdit 4.1 or older, in which case it will always be loaded at startup.
  - The plugin has its `activate` property set to `startup`, in which case it will always be loaded at startup.
  - One of the properties listed in the plugin's `activate` property is set to `true`, in which case it will always be loaded at startup.
  - One of the plugin's classes is being accessed by another plugin, a macro, or a BeanShell snippet in a plugin API XML file.
  Note that this method is always called from the event dispatch thread, even if the activation resulted from a class being loaded from another thread. A side effect of this is that some of your plugin's code might get executed before this method finishes running.

  When this method is being called for plugins written for jEdit 4.1 and below, no views or buffers are open. However, this is not the case for plugins using the new API. For example, if your plugin adds tool bars to views, make sure you correctly handle the case where views are already open when the plugin is loaded.

  If your plugin must be loaded on startup, take care to have this method return as quickly as possible.

  The default implementation of this method does nothing.

  Since:
    jEdit 2.1pre1

### stop

    public void stop()

  jEdit calls this method when the plugin is being unloaded. This can be when the program is exiting, or at any other time.

  If a plugin uses state information or other persistent data that should be stored in a special format, this would be a good place to write the data to storage. If the plugin uses jEdit's properties API to hold settings, no special processing is needed for them on exit, since they will be saved automatically.

  With plugins written for jEdit 4.1 and below, this method is only called when the program is exiting. However, this is not the case for plugins using the new API. For example, if your plugin adds tool bars to views, make sure you correctly handle the case where views are still open when the plugin is unloaded.

  To avoid memory leaks, this method should ensure that no references to any objects created by this plugin remain in the heap. In the case of actions, dockable windows and services, jEdit ensures this automatically. For other objects, your plugin must clean up maually.

  The default implementation of this method does nothing.

  Since:
    jEdit 2.1pre1

### getClassName

    public java.lang.String getClassName()

  Returns the plugin's class name. This might not be the same as the class of the actual `EditPlugin` instance, for example if the plugin is not loaded yet.

  Since:
    jEdit 2.5pre3

### getPluginJAR

    public PluginJAR getPluginJAR()

  Returns the JAR file containing this plugin.

  Since:
    jEdit 4.2pre1

### createMenuItems

    public final javax.swing.JMenuItem createMenuItems()

  Called by the view when constructing its Plugins menu. See the description of this class for details about how the menu items are constructed from plugin properties.

  Since:
    jEdit 4.2pre1

### createBrowserMenuItems

    public final javax.swing.JMenuItem createBrowserMenuItems()

  Called by the filesystem browser when constructing its Plugins menu. See the description of this class for details about how the menu items are constructed from plugin properties.

  Since:
    jEdit 4.2pre1

### createMenuItems

    public void createMenuItems(java.util.Vector menuItems)

  Deprecated. Instead of overriding this method, define properties as specified in the description of this class.

### createOptionPanes

    public void createOptionPanes(OptionsDialog optionsDialog)

  Deprecated. Instead of overriding this method, define properties as specified in the description of this class.

### getJAR

    public EditPlugin.JAR getJAR()

  Deprecated. Call `getPluginJAR()` instead.