power of plugins

[carlblanchard]

If im writing an application using a plugin model, what power do i have, im like getting confused to what can be done with plugins...

ok so, say for example ive made my app and the first .exe is the host to the plugins, some of the features of the .exe will be already there for the user.

So ok my customer decides to buy a Human Resources Plugin for example, So the setup installer for this plugin simply sticks the dll in the plugins folder, now when he opens my app(host) it checks to see what plugins are installed by searching the plugins directory. I guess here i would have to code the menu items

ie = (below code is just a example- it wont work)

If pluginame = "HumandResources" then
mainMenu.button17.visable = true
End if

ok so my host application shows the menu items to the win forms within my plugin. My main real question is = Would i code the HR forms within the vb.class plugins so when it calls a interface of a certain HR dll it will load the form from that interface.

If this is how the forms are loaded can someone give me examples of the form code to go into the interface.......

I guess this whole thing is a massive concept and would need more QandA that can be provided on a forum, So if any of your nice people would like to advise and help me on this my MSN is [email protected] please feel free to add me to your list and advise me of stuff ref this....


Many Thanks

Carl Blanchard

[Edneeis]

Actually the plugin should provide the menu names it needs so there shouldn't be any 'If pluginame ='. In fact there should be little to no IF statements that try to figure out what the plugin is.

Did you find the previous plugin posts on this forum? There should also be some good examples floating around the net. If you can't find one then I have one here. It's not MDI or anything but it should get you rolling.

[carlblanchard]

Hi Edneeis ive tried to open your example an stright away i get an error with VS saying couldnt read all the properties "something like that" then when i run your example it would let me load the dll.

This is what i wish to do, wonder if you can help

my main application is just a mdi parent just a shell if you were.
contained in there is a blank menubar, left navigation bar, and a status bar.

when i run the application i would like to

A build the menu bar with a list of buttons and stuff which will be contained in a dll called MBSettings.dll

then i will have lots of others dll's each dll is a representation of a certain aspect of the program i.e. CustomerManagement.dll
will contain forms and classes of Add new customer, search customer etc.

So when i come to deploy the app the MBSettings.dll will create the menu buttons for say "Customers" with submenus of Add customer, search customer etc when they select one of them it will load the right one from the DLL

Could you please help me with this, i think maybe we could start with the MBSettings.dll what do i need to do inorder to load a list of dlls into my application ?

Many Thanks

[Justy]

each plugin of yours could have a 'menu name' property. as you scan your plugin directory for plugin dlls, each time it encounters a 'menu name' property you could create a menu item in your host... or something along those lines.

you want to make sure that you can add a plugin to the host with the host knowing as little as possible about the plugin you're adding.

i'm making lots of use of plugin architectures these days.. it's a very powerful way to do things

good article on this site

[Edneeis]

Are you using VS 2002? If so the example is in VS 2003 and you'll need to download the converter (see the link in my signature) and run it. It covers what you mentioned if you can check it out.

[carlblanchard]

IM pretty certain its 2003, i got it end of last year so must be

[carlblanchard]

hey Edneeis, Do you snowboard ????
If so wana fly over to NH in a weeks time im heading out there, and it would be great to catch up with ya


Laters

[Redth]

Another article


http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/Pl...target=plugins


this one deals with gui's with plugins as well....

[carlblanchard]

i have no understanding of C#, the article seems better than the ones ive already seen, can anyone please refer me to a decent article in VB.Net with a **** load of detail explaining how it all goes together, first person to do a step by step article would be a god in lots of peoples eyes, im sure, im not the only one who is blinding by the PLUG IN structure........

[carlblanchard]

edneeis this is what i get when i try to open your example

The solution appears to be under source control, but its binding information cannot be found. It is possible that the MSSCCPRJ.SCC file or another item that holds the source control settings for the solution, has been deleted. Because it is not possible to recover this missing information automatically, the projects whose bindings are missing will be treated as not under source control.

then another warning saying

Some of the properties assoicated with this project could not be read

[Mike Hildner]

Sorry to jump in here, just want to throw in my 2 euros...

In your original post, you've got it right about the interface business. That's exactly what you want to do. Your plug in server and your plug in clients will share this interface - it's the contract.

Don't believe you answered Edneesis' first question about "Did you find the previous plugin posts on this forum?" That will help.

i have no understanding of C#

Yes you do You know .NET and it's only code, anyway. You can figure it out if you spend a little time.

Examples are out there, it's up to you to learn it rather than being told what to do.

Mike

[carlblanchard]

Hi all Firstly yes ive read loads and loads about plugins all the samples ive seen on the web are the same adding numbers etc edneeis is the only one different(maybe cos he wrote it and not copied it) Edneeis ive read your example and manage to relay and understand a bit whats going on, however i slight problem. im using the real nice controls from http://www.divil.co.uk/net/
the sandbar control, and eyefinder control, and normal statusbar

edneeis could you please pretty please with suger and cream on top, mod your code to reflect this controls.

ive only been doing this (vb.net) for seven months and kinda out of my league at the mo and my head cant take any more bashings

thanks loads (ive uploaded the two controls within a zip

[Edneeis]

Yeah Carl! You can check if you are running 2002 or 2003 by going to the Help menu then the About menuitem. It will say 2003 (or 2002) at the top and also what framework it's targetting (2002=1.0, 2003=1.1). Or did you get it to open up proper? I thought I deleted any SourceSafe files but if you get any other who-ha about it just press unbind or disconnect on the little dialog that pops up.

I haven't tried snowboarding yet, in fact I don't make it to the snow very often (although I wouldn't mind changing that).

I just started a new job and have to commute an hour and a half one way so I'm a bit limited on time lately. I also have family down this weekend so I don't think I'll have time to hook you up with any code but if I get a chance I'll try.

You should just be able to change the control types in the example (where I have MainMenu, Toolbar, ect...).

Good luck man!