freedomotic

What is a plugin?

Freedomotic is an application extensible through plugins. Plugins are simple classes within a .jar java package. Each plugin is deployed in the FREEDOMOTIC_ROOT/plugins/ folder and loaded and initialized automatically at Freedomotic startup. The communication between the plugin and Freedomotic is automatically managed via a Message Oriented Middleware. Plugins in addition to the ‘Manager of the messages’ have direct access to Freedomotic data structures. In a plugin, you can create, read, update, or delete data and use them to accomplish your goals.

Plugin features

  1. plugin configuration management
  2. user interface accessible by right click in plugins list
  3. simplyfied access to freedomotic data structures
  4. automatic management of plugin lifecycle (loaded, running, stopped,...)
  5. access to the messaging system (read/write events and commands)
  6. installation and upgrade of plugins from a marketplace
  7. simplified programming implementing events (onCommand(), onRun(), onStart, onStop(), ...).

Plugin manifest and configuration

Every Java plugin needs a XML manifest file to describe the plugin to Freedomotic. As multiple plugins can be in the same plugin package (the one you download from the marketplace) then more than one manifest file can be in the root folder of a plugin package.

This is an example of the most simple manifest file you can have:

<config>
   <properties>
     <property name="name" value="Hello World"/>
     <property name="description" value="A basic plugin that prints 'Hello World' on standard output"/>
     <property name="category" value="examples"/>
     <property name="short-name" value="hello-world"/>
   </properties>
</config>

Every plugin has a unique input Messaging Channel used for message exchange; it is addressed using the info you put in the manifest file. For plugins the Channel name is: app.actuators.CATEGORY.SHORT-NAME.in The plugin manifest is the ONLY place you should add configuration parameters for your plugin. You should not use external files; the manifest is all you need to include complex configuration options that can be changed at runtime using a Freedomotic frontend. You can add custom properties to this list.

Add configuration blocks to your plugin

If you have to configure multiple the same set of properties for different objects (eg: URL and port of a set of hardware boards) you can use tuples. You can add as many blocks as you need. The block may be added after on the same hierarchical level. Tuples are useful to have configuration data specific for you plugin to be loaded in Freedomotic at startup. Related configuration data can be stored in blocks called tuple.

<tuples>
      <tuple>
        <property name="Name" value="TemperatureZone1"/>
        <property name="SlaveId" value="1"/>
        <property name="RegisterRange" value="HOLDING_REGISTER"/>
        <property name="DataType" value="TWO_BYTE_INT_UNSIGNED"/>
        <property name="Offset" value="266"/>
        <property name="NumberOfRegisters" value="1"/>
        <property name="Multiplier" value="0.1d"/>
        <property name="Additive" value="0.0d"/>
        <property name="EventName" value="TemperatureZone1"/>
     </tuple>
      <tuple>
        <property name="Name" value="TemperatureZone2"/>
        <property name="SlaveId" value="1"/>
        <property name="RegisterRange" value="HOLDING_REGISTER"/>
        <property name="DataType" value="TWO_BYTE_INT_UNSIGNED"/>
        <property name="Offset" value="522"/>
        <property name="NumberOfRegisters" value="1"/>
        <property name="Multiplier" value="0.1d"/>
        <property name="Additive" value="0.0d"/>
        <property name="EventName" value="TemperatureZone2"/>
     </tuple>
</tuples>

This data is automatically available to your plugin. You can use free custom strings for the attribute name and the value. To read these tuples variables programmatically see the [Data Access Freedomotic Data page]