I am currently building an application which will allow mini-plugins to aid the use of my application. It is a lot like Slack, allowing user-contributed, custom plugins to aid the user. These plugins will be Swift classes. I will be setting up a system where users can submit their custom plugins to be hosted on a webpage. Users in my application will be able to select a few of these plugins that they need, and the application would import those plugins only, and add the classes containing the plugins to a top-level file so that everything in my application can use these plugin classes. How can I import these selected modules into my application files?
For example, if I have a variable webpageURLContainingPlugin, then is there anything that will allow me to import the class/module at that link?
Also, I wouldn't want to download all those plugins when creating my XCode project, as I feel it would take too much unnecessary space to store all of the possible plugins, whereas a user may only choose upto five of those to use.
If it is not possible to import a file from the internet containing these modules, please can you suggest a workaround to this issue?
Edit: I am not looking for a way to create the plugin architecture, and I have an idea of how I'd like to do that, my question is more about accessing Plugins hosted online on a webpage and putting it onto my top level files so I can access them. However, if there is a specific plugin architecture that I must follow to be able to do this, then please suggest it.
You can't. IAPs might be an option worth exploring.
AppStore review guidelines
2. Performance > 2.5 Software Requirements
2.5.2 Apps should be self-contained in their bundles, and may not read or write data outside the designated container area, nor may they download, install, or execute code, including other apps. Apps designed to teach, develop, or test executable code may, in limited circumstances, download code provided that such code is not used for other purposes. Such apps must make the source code provided by the Application completely viewable and editable by the user.
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I am using this code: https://github.com/pradeepramakrishna/Lightning-Experience/tree/master/aura-components to compile on my org.
I have got one components as eventLib.lib and interactive.js in eventLib folder. I have put this folder in c:MyDevOrg\force-app\main\default\aura folder in the local machine and tried to deploy in the org using VSCode but it didn't work.
I tried creating folder in the Files tab and added the interactive.js in the folder but that is also not seeming to work with the Aura components.
How can I deploy this lib into the org as it is being used in some Aura components.
We don't know what you're trying to achieve. You asked a very technical question to which the answer is "you're probably doing it wrong". Instead try to write what business functionality you are trying to achieve and you might get better answers.
You shouldn't have to import ui:eventLib. It's supposed to be part of core Salesforce's Aura components framework. But.
You've referenced a repo that wasn't updated in a while, no promises this still compiles / is best way to do X.
This repo seems to rely on open source Aura framework which is well... dead in the water.
You might be able to reuse something from this repo in your app using SF's built-in tags - but whole ui: library has been deprecated. Announced in Winter'20 = almost 2 years ago, finally dead in May 2021.
I don't think eventLib was ever exposed, might be something needed just in open source version which complicates the matter more. The answer would be to not work with the really "decompiled" tags but with their higher abstracted versions like ui:inputDate.
So, back to my question. What exactly are you trying to achieve.
You want to build something on pure SF platform (use pure Aura/LWC).
Want to have an app written in Angular, React etc, pure JS, connecting to SF data via API? (build it, upload as static resourcethen import using lightning:container)
want to prettify an existing Java/PHP/.NET app, make it look more Lightning-ish and embed it as iframe? (look into https://www.lightningdesignsystem.com/ and connected apps + "canvas")
want to expose piece of SF as reusable element that can be embedded in another website but could even be an Outlook plugin? (search for "lightning out")
want to look at modern equivalent of that old open source Aura repo and decide what to do next? Check https://lwc.dev/ out.
I have an app with the usual Google ad and in-app-payment stuff. It's accepted into the Play Store all right. Now I'd like to make it support both GMS and HMS at the same time (based on the availability of the appropriate services, the app can decide which platform to use). The app, with the Huawei functionality built in, works just fine while testing on my own devices.
However, as soon as Huawei's libraries are bundled with the app, the Play Store Console simply refuses it. No error message, just a red exclamation point. There's no doubt about the situation, I started to remove the Huawei-related parts one by one and as soon as the last bit was removed, the bundle was automagically accepted again.
Yes, sure, I might have made some error I'm not aware of but the situation is, well, rather suspicious. If it makes any difference, I use Flutter and I try to upload an app bundle, not APKs, as per normal these days. The HMS library that seems to make it or break it is com.huawei.hms:hwid:4.0.0.300 from the maven repo at https://developer.huawei.com/repo/.
So, am I just seeing things or not?
Update:
OK, the quest goes on.
This is quite recent news: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9934569
Any existing app that is currently using an alternative billing system
will need to remove it to comply with this update. For those apps, we
are offering an extended grace period until September 30, 2021 to make
any required changes. New apps submitted after January 20, 2021 will
need to be in compliance.
No matter what the policy says, the Play Console seems to enforce it already. And as I found by looking into the app bundle, the flavor approach is just not enough. Even with the other flavor, there will remain some packages referenced by Flutter. Maybe just the referenced names, not the actual code after tree shaking, but this is already enough for the refusal.
So, at the end of the day, I really think this question needs to be sorted out and some clear guidelines found for and by ourselves, developers, if we really want to write cross-ecosystem, single source Flutter apps. As for me, I sure want to do it.
I have finally found a kind of a workaround, not automatic, but a useable approach.
Create two subpackages inside your project. They look like normal Flutter packages but reside inside your app. Basically, create two folders, gms_support and hms_support beside your usual lib. Both are packages with the usual structure:
lib
lib\Xms_support.dart
lib\src
lib\pubspec.yaml
Put all your vendor-dependent stuff into identically structured files inside the respective lib\src folders and make sure both XXX_support.dart files export them the usual way. The implementations should use the same classes and same signatures. Each pubspec.yaml refers to its own, vendor-specific Flutter plugins required for their implementation.
Your main app pubspec.yaml contains both references:
dependencies:
...
gms_support:
path: gms_support/
hms_support:
path: hms_support/
Also, add another support.dart inside your main app:
export 'package:gms_support/gms_support.dart';
export 'package:hms_support/hms_support.dart';
Wherever you need vendor-specific behavior in your app, you import and use this support.dart file.
Then, when you have to change from one flavor to another, you always have to change three things in sync:
the flavor (see the details of your IDE)
comment out the other export in support.dart
comment out the other reference in pubspec.yaml and make a pub update
Different App store has different requirements for In-App Purchase Kit. The possible cause for the Play Store Console refusing your app is that your app integrated with other IAP Kit, and it does not meet the requirements of the app store review guide. You are advised to make your project support different app packages for different channels, to adapt different app store requirements.
Supporting Multiple Flavors
If your app needs to support multiple build types or flavors, configure the agconnect-services.json configuration file downloaded from AppGallery Connect for your app to implement the function. The agconnect-services.json file provides configuration information required by various services in your AppGalleryConnect project. Therefore, if you need to use multiple flavors to release different app versions, copy the agconnect-services.json file to the folder of each flavor and configure it.
Supporting Multiple Channels
If your project needs to support different app packages for different channels, the package name needs to vary depending on the channel. Change the package name in productFlavor in the build.gradle file under the app directory.
productFlavors {
huawei{
// Unique package name.
applicationId "com.example.demo.huawei"
resValue "string", "app_name", "Huawei"
}
amazon{
applicationId "com.example.demo.amazon"
resValue "string", "app_name", "Amazon"
}
}
The preceding sample code shows different packaging configurations for different channels, Huawei and Amazon. The package names are different for the two channels. If the same agconnect-services.json file is used for the two channels, the package name verification fails.
To support multiple channels, you need to add the agconnect-services.json file to the flavor folder of only the Huawei channel and ensure that the AppGallery Connect plug-in version in the project is 1.2.1.301 or later classpath'com.huawei.agconnect:agcp:1.2.1.301'). If the plug-in version is earlier than 1.2.1.301, upgrade it to 1.2.1.301 or later.
For more information, see docs.
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Wether you call it Addons, Plugins or extra peices of code that is connected with the original software later, it really doesn't matter. I would love to understand how they work, there has to be a simple explanation of how to design a Plugin System. Unfortunately, I never understood it, and there remains a lot of open question in my mind. For example, how does the program find a plugin? how does it interface with it? when is it preferable for a software to have Plugin System?
Thanks for all helpful answers. It seems I asked too open question, fortunately I got keywords to look for. I liked David answer though I am not a Java guy, but his talk made sense to me :)
Plug-ins work by conforming to well-known interfaces that the main application expects to work with.
There are several ways in which a plug-in architecture actually works, but in general, these are the steps:
Plug-ins are designed to match an interface that the application expects. For example, a simple application might require that plug-ins implement a IPlugin interface.
Plug-ins are loaded by the application, usually when the app is starting up
Plug-ins are often provided access to much of the data that the application manages. For example, Firefox plug-ins can access the current web page, and Eclipse plug-ins can access the open files.
Here are two ways (out of several) in which an application can find plug-ins:
The plug-ins are known to exist in a particular folder, and the application knows to load plug-ins from that folder
Each plug-in runs as a service, and the services are designed to work together (this is how an OSGi-based application works)
When plug-ins are found, they are loaded by the application (sometimes the job of a Class Loader).
A software architect might design a plug-in architecture when they expect that either the software provider or the user community will implement new features that were not originally part of the system. Two great examples are Eclipse and Firefox; other applications include Adobe Photoshop (for artistic techniques and graphical tools) and Winamp (for visualizations).
Create an interface that all plugins of a particular type will implement
Write the code that will 'consume' the plugin against the interface only.
Have a dynamic way to load a DLL containing the plugin type that implements your interface (for instance, have a configurable folder location to test whether any DLLs in that folder contain any types that implement your interface, and dynamically load any that do. In .NET this might use Assembly.LoadFile())
If you want to have a look at some source code, Paint.NET is free and open source, and has a plugin architecture.
A program typically has to be designed to look for a plug-in, and the plug-in has to have a standard access point to accept control from the main program. Every application or website does it a little differently.
The simplest type of plug-in is accessed something like this:
if (a plug-in exists/is configured)
call predefined plug-in code
In this case, the main program is coded to only handle a specific set of plug-ins (many php-based wordpress templates are like this). A slightly more advanced plug-in
perform application specific logic
if any plug-in exists that exposes the run_after_app_specific_logic function
call plug-in code
This second case can handle ridiculously complex plug-ins ... the plug-in would just need to implement more functions called by the master program.
Eclipse in an example of a application-framework which is entirely plugin-based, meaning that all functionality is implemented as plugins. There is a thin layer at the bottom for startup/shutdown and plugin-management, but everything else is implemented as plugins on top of that. This results in a framework which can be used for just about everything. More info about Eclipse plugin architecture can be found here: http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-Plug-in-architecture/plugin_architecture.html.
It's very language dependent.
In an interpreted language it simply involves calling a file that follows a pattern.
In C it's pretty hard to do without help. In C+windows a "DLL" can be a plug-in and are often used that way.
In an OO language with reflection, you might create an object that implements an interface and load it reflectively. After it's loaded, you can ignore the fact that it was a plug-in because it's treated as any other object in your code.
.net has a plugin architecture (is it COM?) Well anyway COM can be used as (is?) a plugin system.
Your question is probably too open-ended because of all the possibilities. There is no single answer.
I've never written a plugin system. But this is how I imagine it in my head:
Your program has a subdirectory for plugins (e.g. "C:\Program Files\My Program Name\plugins").
You create plugins as DLL files and place them in the plugins folder.
These DLLs would export functions with predefined names.
When you run your program, it looks through all the DLLs in your plugins folder. In each one it would look for an exported function with a certain name (e.g. "Load") and call that function. The plugin could then do any setup that it needed to do.
The program would then call an exported function on the plugin with a name like "GetPluginName". The plugin would return it's name and the program could then use that name when it displays a list of plugins to the user.
When it comes time to invoke the plugin, the program would call another exported function (maybe "Activate") and probably pass the plugin a pointer to the data that the plugin is going to work on. The program would then do its work on the data.
The plugin might also export another function that the program would call to show a setup dialog where you could change the plugin options.
A plugin system can be implemented in many ways, but the common way for a lot of C/C++ applications is a DLL-based plugin SDK.
The DLL will expose various automated function calls which may allow the plugin to "set itself up" in the running application such as adding menu items, new functionality or extra options for systems (like 3D rendering implementations).
More ofthen there's no need for any special discovery - the plugin mechanizm is generally dumb: Here's a code signature I understand, and here's a call(s) I can make. I have no clue how the thing I'm calling will do the job, but I expect result to be in certain format. And that is pretty much a contract. Now - the plugin will implement the contract and make itself available. In Java, for example "make available" simply means that implementing classes are loaded into memory. JDBC driver for a particular database would be a good example.
i just want to know about the files and folder structure for a site which is a plugin oriented like wordpress or joomla.
my requirement is to develop a site and want to add more functions via plugin or something like features.
what i need is to just add and additional information or functional sessions like in wordpress
we can use All in one SEO packages it will bypass the title and some other information.
or some other features like Related articles are shown at the bottom of a particular article body.
aam talking about a structure of wordpress.
does any one have an Idea please share with me.
hope every one understood my qustion as well.
thank you.
I think there are many possible solutions.
It might depend on:
scalablity (how large do you want it to support plugins and do the reuse parts of each other?)
vibility (how should the plugin address become visible in the url?)
deployment (who can add new plugins? is it open for everyone or just certified developers)
You could go for:
www.domain.xyz/plugins/some_module/
But what if the plugins arent plugins but becomes default part of the system afterwards?
Then it would be more logical to call them what they are like:
www.domain.xyz/some_module/
But then you might get into problems with plugins name like exisiting system folders. Therefore you would need some "reserved" list of foldernames to prevent that.
You could also go for:
some_module.domain.xyz/
But that would requiere your webadmin or webserver to support multiple aliases for one website on the other hand, this arhictecture would bring scalability, because you could move the modules to other webhosts later on. But its also more expensive work in the development + its hard to make it "user/developer controlled" as this could grow.
You could have a look at how FaceBook is handling Applications too. Thats a plugin interface too. Slow, but implemented.
I'm work in an aplication that need be capable of support plugins, but i dont know how this work.
See Design Pattern for implementing plugins in your application?
The answers tend to get very platform specific. It also depends on how much control of your core app data and logic the plugin must have.
The C++ QT4 book has a good description of adding a file-type plugin to it's architecture, there area also a bunch of modeling apps (openscenegraph, blender, povray ) that have good documentation for their plugin architectures.
You need to design your application's API in such a way that plugins can be created, and you need to add the necessary plugin management interfaces and supporting code to invoke the plugins. There is no catch-all way of managing plugins.
Take a look at the open source application called Rawr (c#). Each addin is a seperate .dll and the main app uses reflection to access the code. Very nicely done.
www.codeplex.com/Rawr