src/java/org/apache/commons/digester/plugins/package.html - commons-digester - Git at Google

 <html>
 <head>
 <title>An overview of the Digester Plugins module.</title>
 </head>
 <body>
 <p>Provides an easy mechanism whereby new digestion rules
 can be added dynamically during a digestion.</p>
 <h2> Introduction. </h2>
 Many applications have xml configuration files which are "extensible".
 Some examples of this are:
 <ul>
 <li>Apache log4j allows user-provided "Appender" classes to be specified in
     its configuration file</li>
 <li>Apache Avalon allows "components" of a user-specified class</li>
 <li>Apache Ant allows custom tasks to be defined</li>
 </ul>
 The Digester "plugins" module can be used to add this kind of functionality
 to your own applications.
 <p>
 <h2> An Example </h2>
 Let's start off with an example.
 <p>
 Given the following digester rules in the main "parsing" application:
 <pre>
         Digester digester = new Digester();
         PluginRules rc = new PluginRules();
         digester.setRules(rc);

         digester.addObjectCreate("pipeline", Pipeline.class);

         digester.addCallMethod("pipeline/source", "setSource", 1);
         digester.addCallParam("pipeline/source", 0, "file");

         PluginCreateRule pcr = new PluginCreateRule(Transform.class);
         digester.addRule("pipeline/transform", pcr);
         digester.addSetNext("pipeline/transform", "setTransform");

         digester.addCallMethod("pipeline/destination", "setDest", 1);
         digester.addCallParam("pipeline/destination", 0, "file");

         digester.parse(filename);
 </pre>
 <p>
 the following input can be processed:
 <p>
 <pre>
     &lt;pipeline&gt;
       &lt;source file="input.txt"/&gt;
       &lt;transform plugin-class="SubstituteTransform"&gt;
         &lt;from&gt;changeme&lt;/from&gt;
         &lt;to&gt;changed&lt;/to&gt;
       &lt;/transform&gt;
       &lt;destination file="output.txt"/&gt;
     &lt;/pipeline&gt;
 </pre>
 <p>
 Note that the "SubstituteTransform" class is not hard-wired into the
 application, and also that this class is configuring itself from the
 same configuration file.
 <p>
 The user can specify any class they like here, and (provided that class follows
 the plugins conventions) it can use any Digester functionality to process
 the configuration data within the transform tag and its subtags.
 <p>
 The original application simply defined a "plugin point" of
 "pipeline/transform" at which user classes could be plugged in. However
 it did not specify what classes were permitted, other than that they
 must implement the Transform interface. It is the input file which has
 defined exactly which class should be instantiated when the transform
 element is encountered, and furthermore the "plugin" class itself has
 dynamically added rules for parsing elements nested within itself.
 <p>
 A class used as a plugin may dynamically add its own rules to the digester,
 in order to process its attributes and any subtags in any manner it wishes.
 This may be done by several mechanisms, including:
 <ul>
 <li> declaring a method <code>public static void addRules(Digester d, String
 pattern)</code> on the class being "plugged in", or</li>
 <li> providing a separate "rule info" class, somewhat in the spirit of
 "BeanInfo" classes for java beans, or</li>
 <li> providing an xmlrules file which defines the associated parsing rules./li>
 </ul>
 If a plugin class has a no-parameter constructor, does not expect any subtags,
 and is satisfied with mapping any attributes on the parent xml tag to
 bean-property-setter methods on itself, then no rules need to be defined at
 all; the class can be used as a plugin without any coding.
 <p>
 In the example above, an end user may create their own classes which implement
 the required Transform interface, then cause these custom classes to be used
 instead of, or in addition to, classes distributed with the application.

 <h2> Plugin Declarations </h2>

 As well as the syntax shown above, where plugin classnames were defined
 as they were used, plugin classes can be pre-dedeclared (provided the application
 associates a PluginDeclarationRule with a tag for that purpose). Example:
 <p>
 The plugin class can be declared once:
 <pre>
   &lt;plugin id="widget" class="com.acme.Widget"/&gt;
 </pre>
 and later referenced via the short "id" value:
 <pre>
   &lt;sometag plugin-id="widget" ... &gt;
 </pre>

 <h2> Possible Applications </h2>

 Any application where user-specific operations may need to be performed
 that cannot be known in advance by the initial application developer may
 benefit from this module. Applications in the style of the apache projects
 listed at the top of this page (log4j, cocoon, ant) are examples.
 <p>
 Note also that plugged-in classes can themselves allow user-defined classes
 to be plugged in within their configuration. This allows a very simple
 framework to be extended almost without limit by the end user.

 <h2> Terminology </h2>

 The term "plugin declaration" refers to an xml element which matches a
 PluginDeclarationRule, where the user specifies an id-to-class mapping.
 <p>
 The term "plugin point" refers to a pattern associated with a PluginCreateRule.
 An xml element matching that pattern is expected to have a plugin-id attribute
 (but see note on "default plugins" elsewhere in this document).

 <h2> Limitations </h2>

 The user cannot replace the <i>name</i> of the tag used as the plugin-point;
 <code>&lt;statement plugin-id="if"&gt;</code> cannot become &lt;if&gt;.
 <p>
 An instance of "PluginRules" must be used as the Rules implementation
 for the digester (see example). However a PluginRules can use any other Rules
 implementation as its rule-matching engine, so this is not a significant issue.
 Plugged-in classes may only use the default RulesBase matching for the rules
 they add dynamically.
 <p>
 For technical reasons, a single instance of PluginCreateRule cannot
 currently be associated with multiple patterns; multiple instances are
 required. This is not expected to be a problem.
 <p>

 <h2> Performance </h2>

 For patterns which do not involve "plugin points" there is minimal
 performance impact when adding rules to the Digester, and none when
 processing input data.
 <p>
 Processing elements which match patterns added dynamically by plugin classes
 does have a performance impact, but not excessively so.

 <h2> Alternatives </h2>

 The "xmlrules" digester module allows modification of parsing rules
 without code changes or recompilation. However this feature is aimed
 at the developer, not the end user of an application. The differences
 between xmlrules functionality and plugins functionality are:
 <ul>
 <li>
 With xmlrules, the full set of parsing rules for the whole configuration file
 is exposed. This is good for developers, but in most cases both too complex
 and too dangerous to require end users to edit directly.
 </li>
 <li>
 Using xmlrules requires a fair level of knowledge of the Apache Digester.
 How an end user (not a plugin developer) can use plugins can be explained in
 about 3 paragraphs. </li>
 </ul>

 <h2> How to write plugin classes </h2>

 In order to be useful, the problem domain needs to involve a base class or
 interface which can have multiple implementations. This section assumes that
 this is the case, that you have already created a concrete implementation
 of that base class or interface, and are wondering what changes need to
 be made to that class to make it suitable for a "plugin".
 <p>
 Well, if the class has a no-argument constuctor, and only simple configuration
 needs that can be met by a SetPropertiesRule, then no changes need to be
 made at all.
 <p>
 In other circumstances, you may either define an "addRules" method on the
 class which adds any necessary rules to the digester, a separate class
 containing that information, or write an xmlrules-format file defining the
 necessary rules. In the "separate rule info class" approach, the class containing
 the rule info may have any name of your choice, but the original class +
 "RuleInfo" is recommended.
 <p>
 Here is the addRules method on class SubstituteTransform, from the example:
 <pre>
     public static void addRules(Digester d, String pathPrefix) {
         d.addCallMethod(pathPrefix+"/from", "setFrom", 0);
         d.addCallMethod(pathPrefix+"/to", "setTo", 0);
     }
 </pre>
 A "rule info" class consists of nothing but a static method defined as above.
 <p>
 If a plugin class does not define an "addRules" method, and the plugin
 declaration does not associate a rule info class with it, then the
 plugins module will define a "SetPropertiesRule" by default. However if
 any custom rules are defined for the plugin class, then that implementation
 is required to define a SetPropertiesRule for itself if it desires one.
 <p>
 Note that when adding any rules, the pattern passed to the digester
 <i>must</i> start with the pathPrefix provided. A plugin cannot
 define rules with absolute paths. And as defined in the limitations, the
 pattern should not include any wildcard characters.

 <h2> Other features </h2>

 Multiple plugin declarations are permitted; the latest simply overrides
 earlier ones.
 <p>
 In situations where a user <i>might</i> want to specify a custom class,
 but will often want "default" behaviour, a PluginCreateRule can specify
 a default class. If the user then omits the "plugin-id" attribute on
 the matching xml element, an instance of the default class will be
 created.
 </body>
 </html>
	<html>
	<head>
	<title>An overview of the Digester Plugins module.</title>
	</head>
	<body>
	<p>Provides an easy mechanism whereby new digestion rules
	can be added dynamically during a digestion.</p>
	<h2> Introduction. </h2>
	Many applications have xml configuration files which are "extensible".
	Some examples of this are:
	<ul>
	<li>Apache log4j allows user-provided "Appender" classes to be specified in
	its configuration file</li>
	<li>Apache Avalon allows "components" of a user-specified class</li>
	<li>Apache Ant allows custom tasks to be defined</li>
	</ul>
	The Digester "plugins" module can be used to add this kind of functionality
	to your own applications.
	<p>
	<h2> An Example </h2>
	Let's start off with an example.
	<p>
	Given the following digester rules in the main "parsing" application:
	<pre>
	Digester digester = new Digester();
	PluginRules rc = new PluginRules();
	digester.setRules(rc);

	digester.addObjectCreate("pipeline", Pipeline.class);

	digester.addCallMethod("pipeline/source", "setSource", 1);
	digester.addCallParam("pipeline/source", 0, "file");

	PluginCreateRule pcr = new PluginCreateRule(Transform.class);
	digester.addRule("pipeline/transform", pcr);
	digester.addSetNext("pipeline/transform", "setTransform");

	digester.addCallMethod("pipeline/destination", "setDest", 1);
	digester.addCallParam("pipeline/destination", 0, "file");

	digester.parse(filename);
	</pre>
	<p>
	the following input can be processed:
	<p>
	<pre>
	<pipeline>
	<source file="input.txt"/>
	<transform plugin-class="SubstituteTransform">
	<from>changeme</from>
	<to>changed</to>
	</transform>
	<destination file="output.txt"/>
	</pipeline>
	</pre>
	<p>
	Note that the "SubstituteTransform" class is not hard-wired into the
	application, and also that this class is configuring itself from the
	same configuration file.
	<p>
	The user can specify any class they like here, and (provided that class follows
	the plugins conventions) it can use any Digester functionality to process
	the configuration data within the transform tag and its subtags.
	<p>
	The original application simply defined a "plugin point" of
	"pipeline/transform" at which user classes could be plugged in. However
	it did not specify what classes were permitted, other than that they
	must implement the Transform interface. It is the input file which has
	defined exactly which class should be instantiated when the transform
	element is encountered, and furthermore the "plugin" class itself has
	dynamically added rules for parsing elements nested within itself.
	<p>
	A class used as a plugin may dynamically add its own rules to the digester,
	in order to process its attributes and any subtags in any manner it wishes.
	This may be done by several mechanisms, including:
	<ul>
	<li> declaring a method <code>public static void addRules(Digester d, String
	pattern)</code> on the class being "plugged in", or</li>
	<li> providing a separate "rule info" class, somewhat in the spirit of
	"BeanInfo" classes for java beans, or</li>
	<li> providing an xmlrules file which defines the associated parsing rules./li>
	</ul>
	If a plugin class has a no-parameter constructor, does not expect any subtags,
	and is satisfied with mapping any attributes on the parent xml tag to
	bean-property-setter methods on itself, then no rules need to be defined at
	all; the class can be used as a plugin without any coding.
	<p>
	In the example above, an end user may create their own classes which implement
	the required Transform interface, then cause these custom classes to be used
	instead of, or in addition to, classes distributed with the application.

	<h2> Plugin Declarations </h2>

	As well as the syntax shown above, where plugin classnames were defined
	as they were used, plugin classes can be pre-dedeclared (provided the application
	associates a PluginDeclarationRule with a tag for that purpose). Example:
	<p>
	The plugin class can be declared once:
	<pre>
	<plugin id="widget" class="com.acme.Widget"/>
	</pre>
	and later referenced via the short "id" value:
	<pre>
	<sometag plugin-id="widget" ... >
	</pre>

	<h2> Possible Applications </h2>

	Any application where user-specific operations may need to be performed
	that cannot be known in advance by the initial application developer may
	benefit from this module. Applications in the style of the apache projects
	listed at the top of this page (log4j, cocoon, ant) are examples.
	<p>
	Note also that plugged-in classes can themselves allow user-defined classes
	to be plugged in within their configuration. This allows a very simple
	framework to be extended almost without limit by the end user.

	<h2> Terminology </h2>

	The term "plugin declaration" refers to an xml element which matches a
	PluginDeclarationRule, where the user specifies an id-to-class mapping.
	<p>
	The term "plugin point" refers to a pattern associated with a PluginCreateRule.
	An xml element matching that pattern is expected to have a plugin-id attribute
	(but see note on "default plugins" elsewhere in this document).

	<h2> Limitations </h2>

	The user cannot replace the <i>name</i> of the tag used as the plugin-point;
	<code><statement plugin-id="if"></code> cannot become <if>.
	<p>
	An instance of "PluginRules" must be used as the Rules implementation
	for the digester (see example). However a PluginRules can use any other Rules
	implementation as its rule-matching engine, so this is not a significant issue.
	Plugged-in classes may only use the default RulesBase matching for the rules
	they add dynamically.
	<p>
	For technical reasons, a single instance of PluginCreateRule cannot
	currently be associated with multiple patterns; multiple instances are
	required. This is not expected to be a problem.
	<p>

	<h2> Performance </h2>

	For patterns which do not involve "plugin points" there is minimal
	performance impact when adding rules to the Digester, and none when
	processing input data.
	<p>
	Processing elements which match patterns added dynamically by plugin classes
	does have a performance impact, but not excessively so.

	<h2> Alternatives </h2>

	The "xmlrules" digester module allows modification of parsing rules
	without code changes or recompilation. However this feature is aimed
	at the developer, not the end user of an application. The differences
	between xmlrules functionality and plugins functionality are:
	<ul>
	<li>
	With xmlrules, the full set of parsing rules for the whole configuration file
	is exposed. This is good for developers, but in most cases both too complex
	and too dangerous to require end users to edit directly.
	</li>
	<li>
	Using xmlrules requires a fair level of knowledge of the Apache Digester.
	How an end user (not a plugin developer) can use plugins can be explained in
	about 3 paragraphs. </li>
	</ul>

	<h2> How to write plugin classes </h2>

	In order to be useful, the problem domain needs to involve a base class or
	interface which can have multiple implementations. This section assumes that
	this is the case, that you have already created a concrete implementation
	of that base class or interface, and are wondering what changes need to
	be made to that class to make it suitable for a "plugin".
	<p>
	Well, if the class has a no-argument constuctor, and only simple configuration
	needs that can be met by a SetPropertiesRule, then no changes need to be
	made at all.
	<p>
	In other circumstances, you may either define an "addRules" method on the
	class which adds any necessary rules to the digester, a separate class
	containing that information, or write an xmlrules-format file defining the
	necessary rules. In the "separate rule info class" approach, the class containing
	the rule info may have any name of your choice, but the original class +
	"RuleInfo" is recommended.
	<p>
	Here is the addRules method on class SubstituteTransform, from the example:
	<pre>
	public static void addRules(Digester d, String pathPrefix) {
	d.addCallMethod(pathPrefix+"/from", "setFrom", 0);
	d.addCallMethod(pathPrefix+"/to", "setTo", 0);
	}
	</pre>
	A "rule info" class consists of nothing but a static method defined as above.
	<p>
	If a plugin class does not define an "addRules" method, and the plugin
	declaration does not associate a rule info class with it, then the
	plugins module will define a "SetPropertiesRule" by default. However if
	any custom rules are defined for the plugin class, then that implementation
	is required to define a SetPropertiesRule for itself if it desires one.
	<p>
	Note that when adding any rules, the pattern passed to the digester
	<i>must</i> start with the pathPrefix provided. A plugin cannot
	define rules with absolute paths. And as defined in the limitations, the
	pattern should not include any wildcard characters.

	<h2> Other features </h2>

	Multiple plugin declarations are permitted; the latest simply overrides
	earlier ones.
	<p>
	In situations where a user <i>might</i> want to specify a custom class,
	but will often want "default" behaviour, a PluginCreateRule can specify
	a default class. If the user then omits the "plugin-id" attribute on
	the matching xml element, an instance of the default class will be
	created.
	</body>
	</html>