NAME

Jifty::Plugin - Describes a plugin to the Jifty framework

DESCRIPTION

Plugins are like mini-apps. They come in packages with share directories which provide static and template files; they provide actions; they have dispatcher rules. To create the skeleton of a new plugin, you can use the command: jifty plugin --name SomePlugin

To use a plugin in your Jifty application, find the "Plugins:" line in the "config.yml" file:

      Plugins:
        - SpiffyThing: {}
        - SomePlugin:
            arguments: to
            the: constructor

The dispatcher for a plugin should live in "Jifty::Plugin::name::Dispatcher"; it is written like any other Jifty::Dispatcher. Plugin dispatcher rules are checked before the application's rules; however, see "Plugins and rule ordering" in Jifty::Dispatcher for how to manually specify exceptions to this.

Actions and models under a plugin's namespace are automatically discovered and made available to applications.

new

Sets up a new instance of this plugin. This is called by Jifty after reading the configuration file, and is supplied whatever plugin-specific settings were in the config file. Note that because plugins affect Mason's component roots, adding plugins during runtime is not supported.

init [ARGS]

Called by "new", this does any custom configuration that the plugin might need. It is passed the same parameters as "new", gleaned from the configuration file.

new_request

Called right before every request. By default, does nothing.

template_root

Returns the root of the "HTML::Mason" template directory for this plugin

po_root

Returns the plugin's message catalog directory. Returns undef if it doesn't exist.

template_class

Returns the Template::Declare view package for this plugin

static_root

Returns the root of the static directory for this plugin

dispatcher

Returns the classname of the dispatcher class for this plugin

prereq_plugins

Returns an array of plugin module names that this plugin depends on.

version

Returns the database version of the plugin. Needs to be bumped any time the database schema needs to be updated. Plugins that do not directly define any models don't need to worry about this.

bootstrapper

Returns the name of the class that can be used to bootstrap the database models. This normally returns the plugin's class name with "::Bootstrap" added to the end. Plugin bootstrappers can be built in exactly the same way as application bootstraps.

See Jifty::Bootstrap.

upgrade_class

Returns the name of the class that can be used to upgrade the database models and schema (such as adding new data, fixing default values, and renaming columns). This normally returns the plugin's class name with "::Upgrade" added to the end. Plugin upgrade classes can be built in exactly the same was as application upgrade classes.

See Jifty::Upgrade.