plugins.txt

Java编程 使用javamail 实现邮件管理系统

$Id: plugins.txt 140 2008-10-31 21:49:50Z unsaved $

WebMail Plugin support
======================

Since version v0.6.0, WebMail supports so-called plugins that are loaded at
WebMail boot time and are all singletons that provide some functionality.
They can all be found in a special directory and all implement the interface
webmail.server.Plugin.

Initialization of the Plugins
-----------------------------
- The PluginHandler class searches for *.class files in the Plugin directory and
  constructs the corresponding "Class" object (with class.forName() and the CLASSPATH
  set to the plugin path).
- If a class is an instance of webmail.server.plugin, an object is created with
  Class.newInstance().
- The object is then appended to a queue
- A PluginDependencyTree is created to create the dependency structure of the
  plugins.
- While the queue is not empty, Webmail will try to add the next element of the Queue
  to the tree. If it fails (no element in the tree provides the required functionality),
  the element is added to the end of the queue again.
- Then the root node register method is called which in turn does a depth search
  to all leaves and calls the register methods of them

Plugin registration
-------------------
Each plugin is registered calling the "public void register(WebMailServer parent)"
method. Thus, each plugin has access to the necessary instances of WebMail classes.
On registration, the plugin should perform some action, perhaps add itself to the
URLHandlers or some other sort of thing

Dependency resolution
---------------------
All WebMail plugins have two methods:
- public String provides() returns the name of the functionality this plugin provides
  e.g. composer for the "Composer" plugin or "content bar" for the HTMLContentBar
- public String requires() returns the name of the functionality that is required
  for this plugin (currently there can only be one requirement, but that will perhaps
  change if necessary). For example, WebMailHelp depends on some sort of "content bar".

Dependencies are resolved using a simple tree structure that has the dependency "" in
its root and therefore all Plugins with a returnvalue of requires() of "" as its
children. All other plugins are tried to add to this structure, each as a direct child
of its requirement.
If all plugins are added, the method register is called on the root node, thus
performing a depth first search on all its nodes and registering plugins in a
(one of many) valid order.

Special plugins
---------------
There are two kinds of "special" plugins: URLHandler and ContentProvider
- URLHandler
  URLHandler can register with the WebMailServer's ToplevelURLHandler and will
  then be called whenever the registered URL or anything that starts with it and
  cannot be handled by another handler. They must implement the handleURL method
  that has the HTTP-header, the Session and the remaining suburl as parameters.
  All URLHandlers are stored in a hierarchical URLHandler tree to speed up calls
- ContentProvider
  ContentProviders can register with their own icon and URL in the left-hand
  content bar. Otherwise they are like URLHandlers. They provide a number to
  determine the order where they appear on the content bar.