CN103927163B - Plugin frame processing device and plugin system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a plug-in frame processing device and a plug-in system, which can realize cross-platform use of applications. The plug-in frame processing module includes: a plug-in core device, an extension point manager, an application combination manager, and a plug-in manager; the plug-in core device is used to control the working state of the plug-in frame processing module, control the installation and uninstallation of plug-ins, and control plug-in message subscription and sending; the extension point manager is used to provide plug-in extension specifications to enable multiple plug-ins to communicate with each other; the application combination manager defines the application combination data structure and manages the application combination. The plug-in manager is used to call the application combination manager to start all plug-ins according to the current application combination.

Description

Plug-in frame processing device and plug-in system

technical field

The invention relates to the field of computers, in particular to a plug-in frame processing device and a plug-in system.

Background technique

With the development of software engineering and information technology, the application development of cross-platform technology is becoming more and more important. Various new platforms and new technologies are constantly emerging, which makes computer software manufacturers and their designers face the problem of how to adapt to multiple platforms and coexistence of multiple operating systems.

Since the emergence of computer technology, people have successfully applied it to all walks of life, and correspondingly developed a large number of software suitable for different environments and with different functions. With the rapid development of computer technology in recent years, when new hardware and new technologies appear, the computer architecture, instruction system and operating system may undergo corresponding changes, which will inevitably cause some applications to fail to run normally in the new environment. How to solve the cross-platform use of applications is a problem that needs to be solved at present.

Contents of the invention

(1) Technical problems to be solved

The invention provides a plug-in frame processing device and a plug-in system, which can realize cross-platform use of applications.

(2) Technical solutions

A plug-in framework processing module, including: a plug-in core device, an extension point manager, an application combination manager, and a plug-in manager;

The plug-in core device is used to control the working status of the plug-in framework processing module, control the installation and uninstallation of plug-ins, and control the subscription and sending of plug-in messages;

The extension point manager is used to provide a plug-in extension specification, so that multiple plug-ins can communicate with each other;

The application combination manager defines the application combination data structure and manages the application combination.

The plug-in manager is used to call the application combination manager to start all plug-ins according to the current application combination.

Optionally, the plug-in manager is specifically used to call the application combination manager to obtain a list of plug-ins contained in the current application combination, search for a specified plug-in directory, and match the searched plug-ins with the plug-in list of the application combination. Then call the plug-in core dynamic library to install the corresponding plug-in to the plug-in framework processing module, search the configuration file of the plug-in, call the extension point manager to analyze the extension points in it, and start all plug-ins in sequence according to the plug-in dependencies.

Optionally, the plug-in core communicates with the plug-in through an API.

Optionally, the API uses static functions.

A plug-in system includes the above-mentioned plug-in framework processing module.

Optionally, it also includes: an application combination development module, configured to generate an application combination.

Optionally, it also includes: a plug-in development module, used to implement plug-in development.

The plug-in framework processing device and the plug-in system in the embodiment of the present invention realize cross-platform use of applications through communication between plug-ins.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a plug-in frame processing device provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a plug-in provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a plug-in system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of another plug-in system provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

In order to make the purpose, content and advantages of the present invention clearer, the specific implementation manners of the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The following is used to illustrate the present invention, but not to limit the scope of the present invention.

Qt is a fully object-oriented programming language that supports component programming developed using the C++ programming language. The designer took into account the cross-platform nature at the beginning of development. It can be used to develop a very beautiful man-machine interface, which makes the user feel beautiful and natural, and at the same time, the developer is quick to get started, and it has powerful functions and is easy to expand, which can meet the needs.

The OSGi specification describes a componentized, dynamic service plug-in development platform. In the OSGi service platform, developers provide users with the required functions by developing plug-ins, which can be loaded and unloaded dynamically, or downloaded and upgraded remotely as needed.

The OSGi framework is a micro-core, all-plug-in framework, and the plug-ins running on it can basically be divided into three levels:

Core layer: responsible for the start of the program, the operation of the supervisory program, and the initialization of some global related transactions and some cleaning work at the end (such as deregistering registered services, uninstalling);

Service layer: plug-ins to solve technical problems, service plug-ins provide necessary technical services to business plug-ins;

Business layer: Realize the business functions required by users.

The extension point mechanism is the core mechanism of the plug-in framework. Plug-ins define-implement extension points to form a plug-in network, and solve the high coupling between plug-ins, so that all plug-ins in the plug-in framework system can truly achieve "hot swapping".

The extension point mechanism is mainly divided into the definition of the extension point and the realization of the extension point.

The extension point defines the specification for extending other plug-ins, and other plug-ins must follow this specification to communicate with the secondary plug-in. Through the way of extension points, the plug-ins can be seamlessly combined to work together, and the addition, upgrade, and exchange of plug-in functions can be flexibly realized. Note in particular that the customization of interface elements is also based on this extension point mechanism.

The extension point manager provides extension point management services, including functions such as search for extension point function definitions, management of extension point dependencies, and push of extension point definitions.

As shown in FIG. 1 , an embodiment of the present invention provides a plug-in framework processing module, including: a plug-in core 11, an extension point manager 12, an application combination manager 13, and a plug-in manager 14;

The plug-in core device 11 is used to control the working state of the plug-in framework processing module, control the installation and uninstallation of plug-ins, and control the subscription and sending of plug-in messages;

The extension point manager 12 is configured to provide a plug-in extension specification, so that multiple plug-ins communicate with each other;

The application combination manager 13 defines the application combination data structure and manages the application combination.

The plug-in manager 14 is used to call the application combination manager to start all plug-ins according to the current application combination.

Optionally, the plug-in manager 14 is specifically configured to call the application combination manager to obtain a list of plug-ins contained in the current application combination, search for a specified plug-in directory, and match the searched plug-ins with the plug-in list of the application combination, After matching, call the plug-in core dynamic library to install the corresponding plug-in to the plug-in framework processing module, search the configuration file of the plug-in, call the extension point manager to parse the extension points, and start all plug-ins in sequence according to the plug-in dependencies.

Optionally, the plug-in core 11 communicates with the plug-in through an API.

Optionally, the API uses static functions.

The plug-in framework processing device and the plug-in system in the embodiment of the present invention realize cross-platform use of applications through communication between plug-ins.

The plug-in framework processing module of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below.

The plug-in core is a dynamic library, which encapsulates a set of API functions for starting and stopping the plug-in framework, installing and uninstalling the plug-in, starting and stopping the plug-in, registering and uninstalling the service, requesting the service, subscribing and sending messages, and all plug-ins will depend on this module. Call the API exported by this module to perform operations related to all plug-in components, plug-ins, plug-in services, and plug-in messages. In order to simplify calls, all APIs in this embodiment of the present invention are exported using static functions.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a plug-in can extend its functions through extension points. Extension points are specifications defined for other plug-ins to expand. Other plug-ins must follow these specifications before they can be used. Specifically, extension points are defined as some interfaces and related XML document description. The extension point ID, name, and corresponding interface definition are specified in the document description. Therefore, each plug-in has the following three configuration files, among which the shema file is optional:

plug.xml: describes the extension point of the plug-in, and the extension of other plug-ins implemented;

MAINFEST.MF: describes the plug-in version and version update information, and the package constraint relationship between plug-ins;

Shema file (xxx.esxd): It is an explanation of the structure of the tags in the plug.xml file;

Extension points will be exposed to other plug-ins. When a plug-in is loaded, it will first parse the plug.xml and MAINFEST.MF files of the plug-in to find out all the extension points defined by the plug-in and the extension points of other plug-ins that have been implemented. , and then write this information into a special plug-in extension registry.

The new plug-in is extended by implementing the extension point. The new plug-in implements the interface defined in the extension point, and the extension point of the extension and its specific implementation are explained in the plug.xml file. Through this information, the system can identify The extension point implemented by the plug-in. When a plug-in is loaded, the system will register the extension it implements in a special plug-in extension registry. When the plug-in is uninstalled, the system will delete it from the plug-in extension registry , while other plug-ins can find the extension of an extension point in the system through the plug-in extension registry. In this way, new plug-ins can be freely plugged in. In the system, there will be an independent extension point management plug-in to complete the above The function, as shown in Figure 2:

In terms of the specific implementation form of the extension point, the embodiment of the present invention adopts the following two methods:

The first type: Qt plug-in form. If you use this form of implementation, you are required to specify the name of a specific abstract parent class in the plug.xml file of the plug-in. This name must be consistent with the class name. reflection mechanism, when using Qt's plug-in mechanism to implement the extension point function, it is necessary to explicitly write the name of the parent class of the plug-in interface. The essence of this implementation is based on the implementation of the interface, so it can be considered as a form of tight coupling. Moreover, this plug-in mechanism is at the component level and has not risen to the framework level. Therefore, it does not have many mechanisms that are only available at the framework level, such as security mechanisms and plugin dependency management mechanisms.

The second: OSGI plug-in mechanism. If this implementation is used, it is not required to specify the name of a specific abstract parent class in the plug-in plug.xml file, but only an ID can be used to identify it, and then an internal mapping between this ID and a specific OSGI plug-in That's it. OSGI's plug-in mechanism is essentially a service-based implementation. It is a loosely coupled form of use. The relationship between plug-ins is equal and there is no coupling relationship. At the same time, OSGI's plug-in mechanism is different from Qt's plug-in Mechanism, which is at the framework level, provides complete functions such as security mechanism and plugin dependency management mechanism.

There are two main communication modes between plug-ins in the embodiment of the present invention:

Service method: The way the plug-in provides external services can be used by other plug-ins to directly call the interface provided by the plug-in service to access the resources of the plug-in. The plug-in can increase the extension point of the plug-in by adding new services or public interfaces, which can be called by external plug-ins to realize new extended functions. At the same time, a serviceListener is provided to monitor the status changes of the service, so that the status of the plug-ins that depend on this service can be dynamically adjusted.

Use Event Bus to implement an independent communication mechanism between plug-ins. Event Bus is also an OSGI plug-in, which implements communication based on the subscription/publish mechanism. This is the communication method strongly recommended by OSGI, and this communication method will be mainly used in the system.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the Event Bus is used to implement an independent communication mechanism between plug-ins.

Each plugin defines the data format it handles, the type of messages it receives, and so on. Plug-ins call each other by broadcasting plug-in types and data.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the kernel device monitors the change of the life cycle state of the Framework and the plug-in through the Framework Listener and the plugin Listener.

The way the plug-in provides external services can be used by other plug-ins to directly call the interface provided by the plug-in service to access the resources of the plug-in. The plug-in can increase the extension point of the plug-in by adding new services or public interfaces, which can be called by external plug-ins to realize new extended functions.

The system uses serviceListener to monitor the state changes of the service, so that the state of the plug-ins that depend on this service can be dynamically adjusted.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the kernel module is responsible for searching, loading, and starting/closing plug-ins.

After startup, it will first search and load the user license verification plug-in to determine the plug-in that the user licenses to use. Then load and start the integration interface plugin.

The extension point manager is a plug-in, and all operations related to the extension point are completed by this module. This plug-in provides two services (Service), namely IExtensionAdminService and IPluginExtensionListener.

IExtensionAdminService provides extension point parsing and extension point monitoring functions.

Extension point parsing: It is the basic function of extension point management. When the specified extension point file is passed in (plug.xml is the default in this system), the plug-in will parse the xml content and send the parsed content to the listening plug-in.

Extension point monitoring: other plug-ins register with this plug-in as listeners, and when the parsed extension points implement the extension of the listening plug-in, they will be pushed to the listeners. Any plug-in that defines an extension point should be registered as a listener, so that when any plug-in (including this plug-in) implements the corresponding extension point, the extension point information will be pushed to the listening plug-in, and the listening plug-in will monitor further analysis and processing.

IPluginExtensionLister: Provides a listening interface

Every plug-in that needs to monitor extension point push messages needs to implement a listening interface, and register the interface with the extension point management plug-in through IExtensionAdminService. Implementation of the monitoring interface: According to the extension point format defined by this plug-in, the extension point information pushed to is analyzed at the business level, and the corresponding functions are completed.

Application combiner (Appcombin) is a dynamic library, which defines the application combination data structure and manages application combination. Open two header files: appcombin.h and appcombinmanager.h for the caller to use. The Appcombin.h file mainly defines the data structure of the application combination, and each application combination includes a set of plug-ins and corresponding interface information. appcombinmanager.h exports the class AppCombinManager, which mainly provides functions such as adding, deleting, checking and modifying application combinations.

The Plugin Manager (PluginManger) is a dynamic library. The Plugin Manager is the initiator of the operation of the entire plug-in system. It first calls the application portfolio manager to obtain the list of plug-ins contained in the current application portfolio, and then searches the specified plug-in directory. The plug-in is matched with the plug-in list of the application combination. After matching, the core dynamic library of the plug-in is called to install the corresponding plug-in into the plug-in framework, and then the configuration file (plugin.xml) of the plug-in is searched, and the extension point manager is called to parse the extension point. Then start all the plug-ins in sequence according to the plug-in dependencies to complete the startup of the entire system.

As shown in FIG. 3 , an embodiment of the present invention provides a plug-in system, and the plug-in framework processing module 1 provided in the above embodiment.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 3 , it further includes: an application combination development module 2, configured to generate an application combination.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 3 , it also includes: a plug-in development module 3, configured to implement plug-in development.

The plug-in system of the embodiment of the present invention may adopt a frame structure as shown in FIG. 4 .

During specific implementation, the plug-in system of the embodiment of the present invention specifically includes:

1) Dynamic module (plug-in) system;

a. Plug-in life cycle

i. Start and stop of the plug-in framework

ii. Plug-in discovery, installation, start, stop

iii. Dependency management of plug-ins: when the plug-in is started, the related dependent plug-ins are started sequentially according to the dependencies

b. Plug-in service management:

i. Provide registration, query, invocation and uninstallation of services

c. Plug-in event management plug-in

i. Plug-in event definition, subscription, sending, event processing

d. Extension point management plug-in

i. Extension point format definition

ii. Search, parse and push extension points

e. Application Portfolio Management

i. Application Portfolio Definition

ii. Application composition read and write

iii. Persistence of Application Portfolio

iv. Load and parse application composition configuration files

v. Load and start the plug-in corresponding to the application combination

f. Configuration management

i. Persistence of information related to plug-ins and extension points

ii. Provide a global configuration information persistence interface

2) Plug-in development wizard;

Through the wizard mode, it helps system maintenance and developers to quickly create and edit system business plug-ins, and completes the initialization of plug-in information and the generation of template codes through configuration steps. It mainly includes:

a. Plug-in basic information editing

b. Plug-in extension point information editing

c. The third-party plug-in supports template code generation

d. Definition of plug-in interface elements

By using the development wizard, you can reduce a lot of repetitive code programming work, improve work efficiency, and reduce the possibility of accidental errors.

3) Application combination customization tools;

Application portfolio customization tools are used for application portfolio management, including creating, editing, deleting, querying, publishing, etc. of application portfolios.

The application portfolio can browse the interface element information of all plug-ins included, which are manually added to the application portfolio by the user for display, and the user completes/modifies the relevant information of the interface elements in this application portfolio.

After adding the basic information of the application combination, click the interface layout to preview the combination of various interface elements. In this interface, users can manually adjust the docking position and size of the floating panel by dragging and dropping. The docking method, the position of the toolbar, and after saving, the same interface layout will be presented when the final software is running.

After the user has created the desired application portfolio, click the Publish Application Portfolio button to enter the application portfolio release interface, select the publishing path and all the application portfolios included in this release, click Publish, and generate the corresponding application portfolio in the specified directory. , including the specified application portfolio and all plug-ins included in the application portfolio (if there are duplicate plug-ins, only one copy will be generated). Published applications can run independently.

The use of application combination and application combination interface customization mechanism ensures that software interface customization and implementation functions do not depend on professional programming capabilities, reduces the complexity and process of software development, and increases the difficulty of development and maintenance (secondary development).

4) Desktop-style main interface frame;

The desktop-style main interface framework defines the extension points of the desktop main interface, and implements the interface framework and related global settings for program operation.

The desktop main interface plug-in defines the interface extension point of the Windows main window, parses the received interface extension point information, creates the corresponding interface element and calls the interface corresponding to the plug-in to create the interface element

The main function:

a. Display of the main window

b. Addition of central view, position and management of display and hiding

c. Addition, position and visibility management of floating windows (panels)

d. Addition of menus, location and visibility management (icons, floating prompts, initial selection status (selectable or not), initial enabling status)

e. Toolbar addition, location and visibility management (icons, floating prompts, initial selection status (can be selected), initial enabling status)

f. Addition of status bar, position and hidden management

g. Message passing of interface elements

5) Tablet style main interface frame;

The tablet-style main interface framework defines the extension points of the tablet main interface, and implements the interface framework and related global settings for program operation.

The tablet main interface plug-in defines the interface extension point of the tablet main window, parses the received interface extension point information, creates corresponding interface elements and calls the interface corresponding to the plug-in to create interface elements

The main function:

a. Display of the main window

b. Display of the sub-interface

c. Toolbar button group switching and display

d. Toolbar button position and visibility management

e. Interface style switching and display (such as Jiugongge mode, Metro mode, theater mode)

f. Page navigation mechanism

g. Message passing of interface elements

Embodiments of the present invention have the following advantages:

Cross-platform: By using the cross-platform development framework Qt, the excellent cross-platform performance of the system is guaranteed. The software code developed with it only needs to be compiled on each platform to realize the correct operation of each platform.

Hot-swapping: This development adopts a plug-in framework conforming to the OSGi specification, and implements the plug-in manager function in the framework to manage the life cycle of all system plug-ins, and provides registration, discovery, loading, unloading, Corresponding functions such as deactivating, activating, deactivating system plugins and user plugins. This ensures that users can load and stop plugins without restarting the program.

Low coupling: In the plug-in framework developed this time, a set of extension point mechanism is defined and implemented. Through extension points, a complete plug-in network is formed between plug-ins. However, there is no absolute coupling between the plug-in that defines the extension point and the plug-in that implements the extension point. The extension point definition plug-in does not know which plug-in or several plug-ins implement the extension point it defines, and it has always guaranteed the plug-in network. Under the premise of achieving low coupling.

Scalability: Any software product has a life cycle. As the creator of the program, no one wants to see the reality of its demise. Therefore, the life cycle of software products should be extended as much as possible, and it is a means to continuously inject new functions into existing software products. The plug-in system architecture provides better convenience for extending new functions. Because new functions are provided in the form of plug-ins, they are relatively independent, and do not affect the entire system framework and other functions, and even provide the ability to expand software functions to users or third-party manufacturers to achieve maximum function expansion.

Flexible interface customization: Through application combination, the interface of the final release program can be flexibly customized. Interface customization Users do not need professional programming knowledge, they only need to understand the needs of end users, and through the visual interface configuration and drag and drop, the configuration can be completed on the final plug-in program interface. And the interface information in the application combination does not affect the related plug-ins in the application combination, that is, the same plug-in group can be configured as different user operation interfaces, but all logic and control use the same plug-in group.

Convenient secondary development: This development provides a secondary development wizard to help system secondary development and maintenance personnel quickly create and modify system plug-ins. It greatly reduces the user's repetitive code work, and through the visual configuration interface, completes the creation and editing of related plug-in networks and extension points, etc., which reduces the difficulty of secondary development and avoids the plain text editing of related configurations, reducing unpredictability error possible. In addition, the system also provides a tablet-style main interface plug-in, which realizes the common functions of tablet operations including: pages, toolbars, navigation, animation, gestures, etc., which is convenient for users to quickly develop in the tablet style.

The above is only an embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the patent scope of the present invention. Any equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation made by using the description of the present invention and the contents of the accompanying drawings, or directly or indirectly used in other related technologies fields, all of which are equally included in the scope of patent protection of the present invention.

Claims (7)

1. A plug-in framework processing module, characterized in that, comprising: a plug-in core device, an extension point manager, an application combination manager, and a plug-in manager; The plug-in core device is used to control the working status of the plug-in framework processing module, control the installation and uninstallation of plug-ins, and control the subscription and sending of plug-in messages; The extension point manager is used to provide a plug-in extension specification, so that multiple plug-ins can communicate with each other; The application portfolio manager defines the data structure of the application portfolio and manages the application portfolio; The plug-in manager is used to call the application combination manager to start all plug-ins according to the current application combination; The core of the plug-in framework processing module is QT. 2. The module according to claim 1, wherein the plug-in manager is specifically used to call the application combination manager to obtain the list of plug-ins contained in the current application combination, search for the specified plug-in directory, and search for the searched The plug-in is matched with the plug-in list of the application combination, and after matching, the plug-in core dynamic library is called to install the corresponding plug-in to the plug-in framework processing module, the configuration file of the plug-in is searched, and the extension point manager is called to parse the extension points in it, and the plug-in dependencies are followed in order Start all plugins. 3. The module according to claim 1, wherein the plug-in core communicates with the plug-in through an application programming interface (API). 4. The module according to claim 3, wherein the API uses a static function. 5. A plug-in system, comprising the plug-in framework processing module according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 6. The system according to claim 5, further comprising: an application combination development module, configured to generate an application combination. 7. The system according to claim 6, further comprising: a plug-in development module, configured to implement plug-in development.