We have already outlined the contents of the user action catalog, the properties file and the documentation file in our earlier discussion. The final step is to compile the source file and build the archive file that will hold the class files and the plugin's other resources.
Publicly released plugins include with their source a makefile
in XML format for the
Ant utility. The format for this file
requires few changes from plugin to plugin. Here is the version of
build.xml
used by QuickNotepad and many other
plugins:
<project name="QuickNotepad" default="dist" basedir="."> <property name="jedit.install.dir" value="../.."/> <property name="jar.name" value="QuickNotepad.jar"/> <property name="install.dir" value=".."/> <path id="project.class.path"> <pathelement location="${jedit.install.dir}/jedit.jar"/> <pathelement location="."/> </path> <target name="compile"> <javac srcdir="." deprecation="on" includeJavaRuntime="yes" > <classpath refid="project.class.path"/> </javac> </target> <target name="dist" depends="compile"> <mkdir dir="${install.dir}"/> <jar jarfile="${install.dir}/${jar.name}"> <fileset dir="."> <include name="**/*.class"/> <include name="**/*.props"/> <include name="**/*.html"/> <include name="actions.xml"/> <include name="dockables.xml"/> </fileset> </jar> </target> </project>
For a full discussion of the Ant
file format and
command syntax, you should consult the Ant
documentation site. Modifying this makefile for a different
plugin will likely only require three changes:
the name of the plugin;
the choice of compiler (made by inserting and deleting the comment character
'#'
); and
the classpath variables for jedit.jar
any plugins this one depends on.