Plugins configuration

The configuration for a Plugin will be automatically retrieved by the application by calling the Plugin.getPluginConfiguration() method. This method returns the Configuration associated with the Plugin.

For example:

   public class OpenImagePlugin extends AbstractMDIPlugin {
      
     public OpenImagePlugin() {
     }   
      
     public Configuration getPluginConfiguration() {
       return MyConfiguration.getInstance();
     }           

Serializing or deserializing the Plugin configuration

The Configuration associated with the Plugin can be deserialized or serialized by the methods used for the configuration:

• The Configuration.getConfiguration(Preferences pref, File dir) method, called when serializing the configuration. It is expected that the Configuration will use the various put methods in the Preferences class
• The Configuration.putConfiguration(Preferences pref, File dir) method, called when serializing the configuration. It is expected that the Configuration will use the various get methods in the Preferences class

Specifying named configurations

In some cases it can be useful to specify one or several named configurations for a Plugin.

This can be useful if you want to share a configuration between several Plugins. In that case you will have only one set of properties associated with a configuration name, and you can refer to this same configuration for more than one Plugin.

Defining configurations for a Plugin

The MDIPluginConfig manifest property allows to specify the configuration or configurations associated with the Plugin. For example:

   MDIPluginClass: my.plugin.MyPluginClass
   MDIPluginConfig: myConfig

It must be a list of names separated by ";" characters. For example, the following declaration specifies two configurations:

   MDIPluginClass: my.plugin.MyPluginClass
   MDIPluginConfig: myConfig;myConfig2

Deserializing and serializing a named configuration

The Configuration associated with the Plugin can be deserialized or serialized for each named configuration associated by the methods used for the configuration:

• The NamedConfiguration.getConfiguration(Preferences pref, File dir, String config) method, called when serializing the configuration. It is expected that the Configuration will use the various put methods in the Preferences class for each named configuration in the Plugin
• The NamedConfiguration.putConfiguration(Preferences pref, File dir, String config) method, called when serializing the configuration. It is expected that the Configuration will use the various get methods in the Preferences class for each named configuration in the Plugin