com.electrotank.electroserver.plugins
Class AbstractPlugin

java.lang.Object
  BaseExtension
      com.electrotank.electroserver.plugins.AbstractPlugin

public abstract class AbstractPlugin

extends BaseExtension

The AbstractPlugin represents an abstract class that must be extended for all Java plugins. It contains a series of methods that can be over ridden to provide various functionality needed to create your own extentions to the server. See the articles at http://www.electrotank.com/electroserver for more details.

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

static String	EXECUTING_USER_NAME The name of the client that has made this request.
static String	MESSAGE_TEXT The exact textual data sent from the client.
static String	METHOD The name of the method that the client wishes to execute.

Constructor Summary

AbstractPlugin()

Method Summary

PluginHelper	getPluginHelper() Allows a plugin to get an instance of its PluginHelper.
abstract void	pluginDestroy() Called when the plugin is to be unloaded.
abstract void	pluginInit(Map parameters) Called when the plugin is first initialized.
Map	pluginInterop(Map parameters) Called by another plugin using the PluginHelper method "callRemotePlugin".
abstract void	pluginRequest(Map parameters) Called when a client requests something from the server.
void	pluginUserEnter(String userName, int userNumber) Allows for a plugin to be notified when a user enters this room.
void	pluginUserExit(String userName, int userNumber) Allows for a plugin to be notified when a user leaves this room.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

METHOD

public static final String METHOD

The name of the method that the client wishes to execute. Represents an entry in the Map object passed into the pluginRequest method.

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Constant Field Values

EXECUTING_USER_NAME

public static final String EXECUTING_USER_NAME

The name of the client that has made this request. Represents an entry in the Map object passed into the pluginRequest method.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

MESSAGE_TEXT

public static final String MESSAGE_TEXT

The exact textual data sent from the client. Represents an entry in the Map object passed into the pluginRequest method. This is only populated if the plugin is being used as a "raw" plugin.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Constructor Detail

AbstractPlugin

public AbstractPlugin()

Method Detail

pluginInit

public abstract void pluginInit(Map parameters)
                         throws PluginException

Called when the plugin is first initialized. For a server-level plugin, this is called when the server is starting up and before it can accept connections from clients. For a room-level plugin, this is called when the room is created.

Parameters:

parameters - contains the name/value pairs of variables passed into the method.

Throws:

PluginException - thrown when an exception occurs at the plugin level and it needs to be handled by the server.

pluginRequest

public abstract void pluginRequest(Map parameters)
                            throws PluginException

Called when a client requests something from the server.

Parameters:

parameters - contains the name/value pairs of variables passed into the method.

Throws:

PluginException - thrown when an exception occurs at the plugin level and it needs to be handled by the server.

pluginDestroy

public abstract void pluginDestroy()
                            throws PluginException

Called when the plugin is to be unloaded. For a server-level plugin, this is never called. For a room-level plugin, this is called when the room is destroyed. It is essential that plugins clean up external resources like threads and socket/file IO when the plugin is destroyed to avoid resource leaks that can ultimatly destabilize the server.

Throws:

PluginException - thrown when an exception occurs at the plugin level and it needs to be handled by the server.

pluginInterop

public Map pluginInterop(Map parameters)
                  throws PluginException

Called by another plugin using the PluginHelper method "callRemotePlugin". This method allows plugins to communicate back and forth. Plugins can only communicate from room-level to server-level and server-level to server-level. A room-level plugin is NOT able to call another room-level plugin via this mechanism. You could use one of the many supported techniques in Java to facilirate that ie. JMS, sockets, RMI, etc.

Parameters:

parameters - Map containing the name/value pairs of data to be used

Returns:

Map containing the name/value pairs response

Throws:

PluginException - thrown when an exception occurs at the plugin level and it needs to be handled by the server.

pluginUserEnter

public void pluginUserEnter(String userName,
                            int userNumber)
                     throws PluginException

Allows for a plugin to be notified when a user enters this room. Is only called for room-level plugins.

Parameters:

userNumber - number of the user who just entered.

userName - name of the user that just entered

Throws:

PluginException - thrown when an exception occurs at the plugin level and it needs to be handled by the server.

pluginUserExit

public void pluginUserExit(String userName,
                           int userNumber)
                    throws PluginException

Allows for a plugin to be notified when a user leaves this room. Is only called for room-level plugins.

Parameters:

userNumber - number of the user who just left.

userName - name of the user that just left

Throws:

PluginException - thrown when an exception occurs at the plugin level and it needs to be handled by the server.

getPluginHelper

public final PluginHelper getPluginHelper()

Allows a plugin to get an instance of its PluginHelper.

Returns:

instance of PluginHelper associated with this plugin