Hi there!
I am writing a Servoy plugin (servoy version 3.5) and the plug in uses some 15 external jars.
What is the best practice for such situations? What happens if some of the jars are already
present in the servoy distribution?
Is it ok to create just one big jar file?
Thank you!
Create a directory to place the jars in and create a JNLP file to indicate JWS which jars are needed for every platform (have a look at one of the JNLP files of the standard plugins).
No need to create a big jar but you can if you want to.
If the same jar is distributed by default from Servoy you don’t need to include it, if you are worried about a version mismatch (maybe you need a newer one) I’m not expert enough to help you but I’m sure Patrick and Marcel will.
Thank you for your quick answer.
I run again into another problem. I am not familiar with the JNPL technology.
I also looked into servoy folder for filenames with a .jnpl extension but I could not find any.
Can you direct me to some more specifics of this problem?
thank you
Have a look at the PDF Output plugin inside the plugins folder, you’ll see 2 files (pdf_output.jar, pdf_output.jar.jnlp) and 1 directory with the extra JARS (pdf_output) it should be enough to get you started.
Of great…
it is jnlp and not jpnl…
thanks again!
One more question:
in order for the plugin to work as a JNLP, is it enough to build the xml file (the jnlp file) and put the external libs in a special folder, or
should I make something in the code as well?
thank you!
Nothing to be done in the code but remember to “sign” your jars, search the forum (and the net) for infos about signing jars for use with java webstart.
in order for the plugin to work as a JNLP, is it enough to build the xml file (the jnlp file) and put the external libs in a special folder, or
should I make something in the code as we
It is not necessary to put the libraries in a separate folder but it makes the plugins folder look cleaner.
JNLP stands for ‘Java Network Launching Protocol’ and you can best google for it to find out how you can use it. There is loads of information.
It is standard Java technology stuff and you need to make it part of your knowledge to get your plugins to work.
Nothing to be done in the code but remember to “sign” your jars, search the forum (and the net) for infos about signing jars for use with java webstart.
That depends on the tasks you want the plugin to perform Nicola.
Many of our plug-ins are unsigned, other are signed and it might even be so that you have to unsign libraries and sign all with your own signature.
Normally though, the Servoy signature is enough…
True, in my case I had to unsign the jars I was using and sign again with my own signature and that is what I suggest to avoid client issues but I’m not the expert here so, please Diana, trust Marcel, he’s the plugin expert here.