Adding Plug-ins to the Application

A plug-in is a small program that extends the functionality of a larger application. In the Envisage application framework, applications are constructed as a collection of plug-ins, layered on a minimal core program. Besides the plug-ins that make up the basic functionality of the application, you can add other plug-ins to gain other functionality.

Adding Available Plug-ins

  1. On the Tools menu, click Preferences. The Preferences dialog box appears.

  2. In the list on the left side of the dialog box, select Additions. The Additions preferences page is displayed on the right side of the dialog box.

  3. In the Additional Plug-ins table, click Insert new item (). A Select a Plug-in dialog box appears.

  4. Browse to and select a plug-in file, and click OK. The following types of files can be opened as plug-in files:

  5. A row is added to the table, and an editor for the item appears in the pane below the table.

Starting Available Plug-ins

Once you add a plug-in to the Additions preferences page, the information about it is saved and is loaded every time you run the application. However, this does not mean that the plug-in itself is loaded. You can add a variety of plug-ins to the page, and then each time you run the application, you can decide which plug-ins to load and start.

  1. For each plug-in that you want to start, select the plug-in in the table, and click Enabled in the editor pane.

  2. For each plug-in that you do not want to start, select the plug-in in the table, and click to clear Enabled in the editor pane.

  3. Click Start Plug-ins to start the enabled plug-ins.

Removing Available Plug-ins

If you no longer want a plug-in to be in available on the Additions preferences page, you can remove it from the table.

  1. Select the row for the plug-in in the table.

  2. Click Delete current item (). The plug-in is removed from the table.

NOTE: The plug-in is not deleted from the file system, and it is not stopped if it is already running. Plug-ins are stopped only when the application exits.