Plugins - README

NAME

Plugins - Generic plugins framework

SYNOPSIS

use Plugins;

     $plugins = Plugins->new context => $context;
     $plugins->readconfig($config_file, self => $self);
     $plugins->initialize();

     $plugins->invoke($method, @args);

     $plugins->invoke_until($method, sub { scalar(@_) }, @args);

     my $iterator = $plugins->iterator();
     while (@results = &$iterator(@args)) {
     }

     for my $plugin ($plugins->plugins()) {
            $plugin->invoke($method);
     }

DESCRIPTION

Plugins provides a simple way for a programs to be assembled at runtime via configuration files.

Generally, there are only a few ways that a module in a library can be customized for an application: (1) You can change the code of the module; (2) if it presents an object-oriented interface you can subclass it; or (3) the module in question can have a configuration file that allows you to do what you need. Plugins makes it easier to allow behavior to be modified by a configuration file by allowing other code to be mixed in.

Plugins allows plugins have plugins and for all the plugins to share a single configuration file. This isn't required but sometimes it's nice to have everything in one place.

Each plugin is implemented by a perl module.

There can be more than one instance (object) for each plugin (class).

The Plugins module itself isn't complete and must be subclassed. An example subclass that completes Plugins is Plugins::Style1. Plugins written for use with the Plugins module generally don't need to know how Plugins has been subclassed because the $context that is passed to a plugin allows it to use Plugins directly even if its ancestor did not.

NAMING CONVENTION

Since plugins can have plugins, some plugins will have Plugins objects themselves. Some won't. We will term a user of Plugins to be requestor. A requestor that is not itself a plugin will be termed the root. A plugin will be termed a child and the requestor that invoked it will be termed the parent. A plugin that has plugins is a child requestor.

CONSTRUCTION AND INITIALIAZATION

While there are similarities, using Plugins for the first time (by the root) is different than using it as a plugin that has plugins (child requestor).

root initialization.
The root requestor will need to create a plugins object. Since Plugins needs to be subclassed it will create the object using the subclass. For example, Plugins::Style1:

     $plugins = Plugins::Style1->new(%args);
     $plugins->readconfig($configfile, %args);
     $plugins->initialize();

child requestor initialization
There are three steps for a requestor to take to start using plugins. Each step is a call to Plugins:

     $plugins = Plugins->new(context => $context, %args);
     $plugins->readconfig($configfile, %args);
     $plugins->initialize();

The most important argument for "Plugins::new()" is "context =" $context>. The $context comes from the first argument to child->new() when Plugins creates plugin object instances.

For child requestors, no %args are needed for new() except for "context =" $context>.

Likewise, no %args are needed for "readconfig()".

%args for new()
There may be additional parameters depending on how Plugins is subclassed.

The %args that "new()" userstands are:

configfile => "/config/file"

        Provide a configuration file name. If this is done here then "undef"
        can be passwd for the configfile to "readconfig()".

api => $api

        Provide a Plugins::API object that will be passed to any plugins's
        "new()" invocation.

%args for readconfig()
Readconfig has a positional argument: $configfile:

$plugins->readconfig($configfile, %args);

%args for "readconfig()" depend upon how Plugins is subclassed.

USING PLUGINS

Plugins provides the following methods for requestors:

invoke($method, @args)

        This calls each plugin in turn. Plugins are called in the order in
        which they were configured. No return value is defined. The calls
        are not eval-wrapped so a "die" in a plugin is fatal.

invoke_until($method, $testfunc, @args)

        This calls each plugin in turn. Plugins are called in the order in
        which they were configured. After each call, the return value from
        the plugin method invocation is evaluated with "&$testfunc()". If
        "&$testfunc()" returns a true value, then the return value from the
        plugin method invocation is returned and no further calls are made.

plugins()

        This returns the list of plugin objects. This will be in the order
        in which the plugins were defined.

iterator($method)

        This returns an anonymous function that when invoked will call the
        first plugin ("$plugin-"method(@args)). Each successive call will
        call another plugin until it returns undef.

startconfig()

        This method can be used instead of "readconfig()" to start the
        configuration process. It does not read any configuration files. It
        is required prior to "parseconfig()" or "initialize()".

parseconfig($configfile, %args)

        This parses a configuration file. Unlike "readconfig()" it does not
        call "startconfig()" first.

api($api)

        This will set an $api variable that will be passed to "new()" when
        creating new plugin instances. This is expected to be a Plugins::API
        object.

RE-CONFIGURATION

The "readconfig()" method may be called more than once. Each time it is called, "initialize()" may be called again. When "initialize()" is called a second time, it calls "$plugin->shutdown()" for each of the old plugins before calling "$plugin->new()" to create the new ones.

Each call to "readconfig()" starts fresh. If you want to add to an existing set of plugins rather than replace them, use "parseconfig()" instead of "readconfig()".

WRITING PLUGINS

Plugins can be either a perl module that can be found by looking in @INC or they can be files that are wrapped and eval'ed by the Plugins module.

For plugins that are files, they will be wrapped with a bit of code:

            package Plugins::AutoGenerated::A_UNIQUE_GENERATED_VALUE;
            our @ISA = qw(Plugins::Plugin);
            use strict;
            THE_CONTENTS_OF_THE_FILE

This wrapping is done by "file_plugin()" method.

For plugins that are regular perl modules and thus not auto-wrapped, they should declare themselves to be subclasses of "Plugins::Plugin".

Plugin objects provide the following methods:

invoke($method, @args)

        Basically this just does "$plugin->method(@args)". If $method does
        not exist, just return undef.

new()

The default "new()" does the following:

         sub new
         {
                my ($pkg, $pconfig, %args) = @_;
                return bless { 
                        context => $pconfig->{context}, 
                        api     => $pconfig->{api}, 
                        config  => \%args 
                }, $pkg;
         }

        You'll often want to override "new()".

Plugin-defined methods
Plugins will need to define methods to be called. What methods need to be defined depends upon what they are a plugin for. Plugins for programs that are a Daemon::Generic will generally need "preconfig()" and "postconfig()" methods. Look at the documentation or code of the requestor.

The following methods are called directly by Plugins:

new($pconfig, @args)

        Invoked to create an object instance of a plugin. The @args come
        from the configuration file. The $pconfig is used to pass in
        plugin-related configuration data. It's a reference to a hash and
        "$pconfig->{context}" needs to be passed to any child requestors
        so that they can fit themselves in properly.

shutdown()

        Called when a object instance is no longer needed due to a reconfig
        after the configuration file has been changed. On a reconfiguration,
        all the old objects are destoryed and a new set are created. The
        default "shutdown()" doesn't do anything.

AUTOLOAD with Plugins::API
The Plugins module has defines an "AUTOLOAD" function in Plugins::Plugin base class to map unknown method invocations into "invoke()". It does this through the Plugins::API module. Plugins that invoke a method that isn't formally defined will have the attempted method invocation redirected through "$self->{myapi}->invoke()" or "$self->{api}->invoke()".

The default "new()" for plugins will capture a Plugins::API object passed in from Plugins as "$self->{api}". Plugins that have plugins might want to name their Plugins::API object "$self->{myapi}" (assuming they have one).

Plugins with plugins
Plugins that themselves have plugins (child requestors) will need to invoke Plugins themselves. If the overall program uses Daemon::Generic, then doing this in a "preconfig()" method is reccomended. In other contexts this may need to be done in "new()".

     sub new
     {
            my ($pkg, $pconfig, %args) = @_;
            return bless { 
                    context => $pconfig->{context}, 
                    api     => $pconfig->{api}, 
                    config  => \%args 
            }, $pkg;
     }

     sub preconfig
     {
            my ($self, $configfile) = @_;
            my $config = $self->{config}{configfile} || $configfile;
            $self->{plugins} = new Plugins %{$self->{context};
            $self->{plugins}->readconfig($config, self => $self);
            $self->{plugins}->initialize();
            $self->{plugins}->invoke('preconfig', $config);
     }

It is expected that whichever subclass of Plugins is used by the parent should also be used by the child. The following snippet will supress this behavior. This is probably a bad idea unless the child uses a different configuration file than then parent.

     local($self->{context}{pkg_override}{$config});
     $self->{plugins} = new Plugins context => $self->{context};
     $self->{plugins}->readconfig($config, self => $self);

SUBCLASSING

If you don't want to use an existing configuration file format, you don't have to.

Subclass Plugins and override a couple of methods to change the behavior.

In addition to the methods defined above in the "USING PLUGINS" and in "CONSTRUCTION AND INITIALIAZATION" that probably shoudn't be changed, Plugins defines the following methods:

parseconfig($configfile, %args)

        This is the method that actually parses a config file. This must be
        overridden as the default just calls "die()".

        The parameters come from either a direct call from the requestor
        or are passed through unchanged from "readconfig()".

post_initialize($context, $plugin)

        Called by "initialize_plugin()" after new'ing up an instance. The
        default behavior is to do nothing. The $context is the same context
        that is passwed to "new()" and "pkg_invoke()" and "addplugin()".

genkey($context)

        This is called to generate a unique identifier for each plugin
        instance. Duplicate identifiers will result in a "die()". The
        default "genkey()" combines the configuration file name with the
        plugin package name and thus does not allow multiple instances of
        the same package.

$pkg = file_plugin($file, %opts)

        This will look for $file and then auto-wrap it with a package
        declaration to turn into a plugin perl module. The auto-generated
        package name is returned.

        %opts can be:

        search_path
            If $file isn't an absolute path, search for it in
            "@{$opts{search_path}}". No search is done if unspecified.

        referenced
            Where was $file referenced from? (eg: "/some/config-file, line
            33") Used in error messages only.

        prefile
            Code to insert in the eval just before the file's contents.

        postfile
            Code to insert in the eval just after the file's contents.

        isa The value for the generated plugin's @ISA. Defaults to
            "Plugins::Plugin".

registerplugin(%context)

        This add a plugin to a configuration. This is used after
        "startconfig()" and before "initialize()". This will "require" the
        plugin unless the symbol table for the plugin already exists. This
        method should not be overridden.

addplugin(%context)

        This is used to bypass the entire "startconfig()",
        "registerplugin()", "invoke()" process. The plugin will be
        registered and initialized all at once. This can be used after
        "initialize()" to add additional plugins. This will "require" the
        plugin unless the symbol table for the plugin already exists.
        Duplicate registrations of the same plugin will replace the old
        plugin ("shutdown()" will be called). This method should not be
        overridden.

        The %context is the same as for "%registerplugin()"

pkg_invoke($pkg, [$method, @args])

        This method will "require" a plugin and (optionally) call a class
        method. This method should not be overridden.

initialize_plugin($self, $context)

        This is used by "addplugin()" and "initialize()" to create plugin
        instances. It calls "new()" and then "post_initialize()". This
        method should not be overridden.

%context for addplugin() and registerplugin() Most of the %context has that is given to "addplugin()" and "registerplugin()" should (in theory) be passed as $context to the plugin's "new($context, %args)" and then as "context => $context" to "Plugins::new()" if the is a child requestor.

The part that is not passed to "Plugins::new()" is the part that defines the child plugin:

pkg => 'Some::Plugin::Module'

The perl package name for the plugin.

new_args => [@args]

The @args will be passed to the the plugin's "new()":

new $pkg (\%context, @args)

requestor => 'The::Parent::Module'

        The perl package name of the parent module. This will be found
        with "caller()" if it isn't supplied.

configfile => "/some/file"

        Which configuration file referenced the plugin and caused it to be
        loaded.

lineno => 38

        The of where the plugin was registered in $configfile. Used for
        error messages.

The rest will be passed to child "Plugins::new()" by way of $context:

pkg_override => "Plugins::Subclass"

        Plugins has been subclassed, this the name of the subclass.
        Subclassing should usually be inherited by child requestors and
        this is the mechenism that makes it happen.

Re-parsing the same configuration file The tricky part of subclassing Plugins is that if a configruation file is shared between root requestors and child requestors the "parseconfig()" method will be invoked on the same file more than once.

Store extra things in %context to work around this issue.

SEE ALSO

Plugins::Style1 Plugins::API

THANK THE AUTHOR

If you find this module useful and wish to show your appreciation to the author, please give me a Request-For-Quote on your next high-speed internet pipe order. I have good pricing for T1s, T3s, OC3s etc.

LICENSE