IDempiere Plug-In Development

evenos
Consulting
Plug-In Development
Jan Thielemann – evenos Consulting GmbH

16. Mai 2013
evenos Consulting GmbH 1

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Table of contents Consulting
 Why should I use plug-ins?

– ADempiere approach
– iDempiere approach
– Reasons to use plug-ins
 What can I do with plug-ins?

– Common tasks
– Special tasks
 How do I start developing my own plug-ins?

– First steps
– Best practice
 How can i distribute my plug-ins?

– p2 repositories
– Install plug-ins from jar files via Apache Felix Web Console
 Tips and tricks
 Conclusion

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Why should I use plug-ins? Consulting
ADempiere approach:
 Check out ADempiere and configure your workspace
 Create a new project for your customizations or modify the original sources
 Re-compile the sources and create a customization.jar with the modified files
 Stop the Server
 Replace existing files or install the customization.jar via setup/silentsetup
 Run additinal migration scrpits
 Start the Server
Disadvantages:
 Inconvenient for new developers
 Error-prone
 Server must be shut down
 Ant build files must be modified to solve additional dependencies
 Code from within the customization.jar must be placed in the right directory structure to work
 No possibility to quickly enable/disable modifications

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iDempiere approach:
 Check out iDempiere and configure your workspace
 Create a new „Plug-in Project“
 Use extension points or component definitions to provide functionality
 Export the plug-in
 Install and start the plug-in during runtime
Disadvantages:
 Modification of core files is not possible
 Today not everything can be done with plug-ins - but we are working on it
Advantages:
 Modular architecture
 Convenient and easier to understand for new developers
 Server must not be shut down to install/activate/deactivate/remove plug-ins
 No need to modify the core
 Dependency management
 Better/easier extensibility
 Easily update the core without losing your customizations
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Reasons to use plug-ins:
 You develop functionality for your personal use, but you still want to support the community with bug fixes
 You want to make some quick and dirty tests and may want to rollback your changes without headache
 You have several customers for who you develop but some of the functionality is only for some of the
customers and should not be available for everyone
 You regulary update iDempiere to the latest available version
 You develop functionality on your local system and want an easy way to export your changes to your
productive system
 You are new to iDempiere development and have no understanding of the core yet
 You developed a great feature which you want to sell without caring about the customers base system

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What can I do with plug-ins? Consulting
Common tasks:
 Model
 Modelvalidator
 Processes
 Callout
 Document
 Form
 Editor
 Infowindow
 Lookup
Special tasks:
 Payment Processor
 Shipment Processor
 Attachements
 Pack In/Out
 PIPO Element Handlers
 Tabs
 Menus
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How do I start developing my own plug-ins? Consulting
First steps:
 Check out the iDempiere source code and configure your workspace
– A good tutorial can be found at http://www.globalqss.com/wiki/index.php/IDempiere
 Read the plug-in development tutorials in the idempiere wiki

– http://wiki.idempiere.org/en/Category:Plug-In_Development
 Read the forum from Redhuan D. Oon - he has some great tutorials too
– http://red1.org/adempiere/index.php
 Take a look at existing plug-ins

– There are a lot of plug-ins and many of them makes use of extension points and component definitions
 Read the wiki and use google
 Join us on irc at #idempiere (irc.freenode.net) and aks for help

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Best practice - create a new plug-in

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Best practice - configure the manifest

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Best practice - 2Pack

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Best practice - RegisterBuddy, Extensions and

Components

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RegisterBuddy

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RegisterBuddy

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RegisterBuddy

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RegisterBuddy

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Extension

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Extension

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Component

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Component

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Component

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Component

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Component

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Component

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Component

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Component

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Best practice - compile plug-ins into the client

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Best practice - export plug-ins as p2 repositories or jar

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How can I distribute my plug-ins? Consulting
p2 repositories:
 „The p2 project is a sub-project of Equinox that focuses on provisioning technology for OSGi-based applications. Although p2 has
specific support for installing Eclipse and Equinox-based applications, it includes a general-purpose provisioning infrastructure that
can be used as the basis for provisioning solutions for a wide variety of software applications.“ - http://www.eclipse.org/equinox/p2/
 Short: a powerful way to install and update iDempiere and its plug-ins over the internet
 Host iDempiere and your plug-ins in a centralized repository
 Host you plug-ins in the iDempiere marketplace (comming soon)
 Update iDempiere via command line:

– java -Dosgi.noShutdown=false -Dosgi.compatibility.bootdelegation=true -Dosgi.install.area=director -jar
plugins/org.eclipse.osgi_3.7.*.jar -application org.eclipse.equinox.p2.director -consoleLog -profileProperties
org.eclipse.update.install.features=true -destination $DESTINATION -repository
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/red1/p2/idempiere-server/ -u org.adempiere.server.product
– java -Dosgi.noShutdown=false -Dosgi.compatibility.bootdelegation=true -Dosgi.install.area=director -jar

plugins/org.eclipse.osgi_3.7.*.jar -application org.eclipse.equinox.p2.director -consoleLog -profileProperties
org.eclipse.update.install.features=true -destination $DESTINATION -repository
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/red1/p2/idempiere-server/ -i org.adempiere.server.product

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Apache Felix Web Console

 On the server, plug-ins can be installed via Apache Felix Web Console
– http://host:8080/osgi/system/console/bundles
 No need to stop or restart the server for installing/updating/removing plug-ins
 No command line
 Mostly self explanatory

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Tips and tricks Consulting
 Extending/overriding base models

– Extend the base model and just create a new M class instead creating I, X and M classes
– Provide your model via ModelFactory
– This way, core classes can still cast your modified model to
 Test plug-ins in Eclipse

– Open Run Configurations and select the application you want to run
– Switch to the Plug-ins tab and check the plug-ins you want to start
– Start the application
– Type „ss“ on the console to see the state of each plugin
– Start plug-ins with „start <nr>“
– Stop plug-ins with „stop <nr>“
– Remove plug-ins with „uninstall <nr>“
 OSGi console when starting the server via command line

– open idempiere-server.sh
– remove the numbers after „-console“
– run idempiere-server.sh

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Tips and tricks Consulting
 Where to get help?

– iDempiere has nearly the same core as ADempiere so for getting startet these books are still a good starting
point to get a better understanding of what is happening behind the scenes:
• ADempiere 3.6 Cookbook by Ajit Kumar
• ADempiere 3.4 ERP Solutions by Bayu Cahya Pamungkas
– ADempiere wiki: http://www.adempiere.com/ADempiere_ERP
– iDempiere wiki: http://wiki.idempiere.org/wiki/Main_Page
– Google group: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/idempiere
– Redhuan D. Oon forum: http://red1.org/adempiere/index.php
– Global Quality System and Solutions wiki: http://www.globalqss.com/wiki/index.php/IDempiere
– Freenode irc: #idempiere
 Found a bug?
– Check if the bug is also in the iDempeire demo system: https://demo.idempiere.com/
– Ask others about the bug in the irc channel
– File a bug in the ticket system: http://jira.idempiere.com

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Conclusion Consulting
 iDempiere makes use of the Equinox OSGi Framework
 iDempiere makes it easier to provide additional functionality via plug-ins
 iDempiere is easier to maintain
 iDempiere makes it easy to share data between different instances
 iDempiere is beginner friendly
 iDempiere makes it possible to provide additional functionality without the need to have the customers whole
source code
 iDempiere is easy to learn for people who are already familiar with ADempiere

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Consulting
Thank you for your attention
Feel free to ask questions. You can contact me at jan.thielemann@evenos-consulting.de

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Jan Thielemann – evenos Consulting GmbH

evenos Consulting GmbH 1

 Why should I use plug-ins?

 What can I do with plug-ins?

 How do I start developing my own plug-ins?

 How can i distribute my plug-ins?

 Tips and tricks

evenos Consulting GmbH 2

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Reasons to use plug-ins:

 You regulary update iDempiere to the latest available version

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 Read the plug-in development tutorials in the idempiere wiki

 Take a look at existing plug-ins

 Read the wiki and use google

 Join us on irc at #idempiere (irc.freenode.net) and aks for help

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Best practice - create a new plug-in

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Best practice - configure the manifest

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Best practice - 2Pack

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Best practice - RegisterBuddy, Extensions and

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Best practice - compile plug-ins into the client

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