Plugin.xml

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When your component is finished, in order to make it known to the ComponentFactory (a Java class that creates components based on component type and XML parameter definition), you have to create plugin.xml file.

Right-click the org.company.components project name and select New → File from the context menu.

Figure 1.14. Creating a New File

After that, you will be prompted to type the name of the file. Type plugin.xml. Click the Finish button. You will see the plugin.xml item in the Navigator pane and the file opens in the editor.

Figure 1.15. Plugin.xml File Has Been Created

The file must have the following structure:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<plugin
    id="org.company.components"
    version="1.0.0"
    provider-name="Company Ltd.">

    <runtime>
        <library path="bin/"/>
              <!--
              <library path="org.company.components.jar"/>
              <library path="lib/saxon8.jar"/>
               -->
    </runtime>

    <requires engine-version="3.0.1">
              <!--
              <import plugin-id="org.jetel.connection"/>
              <import plugin-id="org.jetel.lookup"/>
               -->
    </requires>

    <extension point-id="component">
        <parameter
            id="className"
            value="org.company.components.NewComponent"/>
        <parameter id="type" value="NEW_COMPONENT"/>
    </extension>

</plugin>

Let's take a detailed look at the file content:

The plugin id corresponds with the project name, thus org.company.components. The plugin version and provider-name (your company name) attributes should be set according to your real conditions.
If your component uses any other classes or .jar files, they must be located within the component project folder and listed in the runtime tag (together with the component class file). Here, the NewComponent.class is located in the bin subfolder (the forward slash is of importance; it must be there).
Your class requires CloverETL Engine, the version of which must be given in the requires engine-version tag. Here, we use the latest CloverETL Engine version. If your component requires any other plugin, it should be mentioned here, in the import plugin-id tag.
Remember that every component defined in the plug-in must refer to its own extension point-id tag. Be sure that the className is given properly, i.e., <package name>.<class name>, and that the type corresponds to COMPONENT_TYPE variable defined in your component Java class file (NEW_COMPONENT in our example).

If the project has been compliled, you may delete the src subfolder.

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