Plugins

Plugins extend the UNICOREpro client dynamically by additional software. They are developed according to the open plugin concept of the Client and are loaded at start-up.

The UNICOREpro Client distribution contains five packages which are realised as plugins: the ''Script Task'' (in file scriptPlugin.jar in the lib/ directory), the ''Command Task'' (commandPlugin.jar), the ''Compile Task'' (compilePlugin.jar), the ''Watch Jobs'' tool (autoupdatePlugin.jar), and the "Small Service" (smallServicePlugin.jar, mainly intended as an example for plugin developers).

Selecting ''Help->Plugin_Info'' will inform you about the loaded plugins. If loaded, the Command, Compile, and Script Task are available in the ''File Preparation'' menu, and ''Watch Jobs'' in the ''Extensions'' menu.The Small Service plugin can be selected from a button in the Vsite panel.

Application specific plugins have been developed already within several projects. At least the following plugins are or will be available soon for this version of the UNICOREpro client.

Plugins which are not bundled with the Client are available from different sites, one point of distribution is the download page at the UNICORE Forum (cf. section Contact).

First time installation

In case of a first time installation the `Help->Plugin_Info' will be empty before the Security Setup. Also the `File Preparation' menu will neither offer a Command, Compile or Script Task. And the Extensions menu will not open. The reason for this is that the plugins are signed by the certificate of the distributor and the certificate will be stored in the client keystore which does not exist before the security setup.

After the Security Setup the plugins are automatically (re-)loaded. However, a plugin can be loaded only if two conditions are fulfilled:

If you select in the dialog to add the distributor's certificate permanently to your keystore, the next visit of the `Settings->Keystore_Editor' dialog will show you that the distributor's certificate has been added to the trusted certificates.

While loading the plugins you will be informed that system defaults for the plugin tasks will be generated, which are stored in related files in your configuration directory. The system defaults can be edited in the User Defaults dialog.

Without any additional application plugins `Help->Plugin_Info' will now provide the following information.