Overview (Module System API) - NetBeans API Javadoc (Current Development Version)

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org.openide.modules 7.2

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Module System API
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Description

Module System API

org.openide.modules NetBeans is capable of being extended by pluggable modules providing additional functionality.

Module System API
org.openide.modules	NetBeans is capable of being extended by pluggable modules providing additional functionality.

What is New (see all changes)?

Aug 1 '06 An option to revert user's modifications to XML layer files
FileObjects created on XML layer now support a new attribute "removeWritables" returning an instance of Callable which removes the local writable version of the given FileObject thus reverting the folder or file to its initial state as defined in XML layers. Please note that is *not* possible to reset FileObject's attributes.
Jul 19 '06 Requires/Provides and Needs
It is possible to require some implementation using OpenIDE-Module-Needs: token which is slightly less restrictive than usual OpenIDE-Module-Requires: token as explain in the documentation.
Mar 22 '06 Generified Interfaces
Rewritten to use Java5 features, especially generics. Affects internal code and one public signature.
Jul 7 '05 Enhanced support for OS specific modules
Modules can now express dependency on more operating system types than those that were available previously. Now there is org.openide.modules.os.PlainUnix token for all unixes but MacOSX and org.openide.modules.os.OS2 for OS/2. For more details read here.
Jun 7 '05 Branding files used during startup have new location
Due to split of openide.jar some important branding files used during startup change their location. Especially the to splash screen picture, location and color of progress bar and the application icon are now in org.netbeans.core.startup package. Here is an example of the branding as used by NetBeans IDE.

Use Cases

How a classpath of my module is constructed?

The NetBeans is defacto a container that manages individual module's lifecycle and other runtime aspects. One of the important things is that it creates a runtime classpath for provided modules based on dependencies they specify in their manifests. The overview of the runtime infrastructure is a good starting place for everyone who wishes to learn more about the NetBeans runtime container behaviour.

Exported Interfaces

This table lists all of the module exported APIs with defined stability classifications. It is generated based on answers to questions about the architecture of the module. Read them all...

Group of java interfaces

Interface Name	In/Out	Stability	Specified in What Document?
ModulesAPI	Exported	Official	.../org/openide/modules/doc-files/api.html
CoreModulesAPI	Exported	Friend	.../org/netbeans/core/modules/package.html

Group of property interfaces

Interface Name	In/Out	Stability	Specified in What Document?
RevertFSModifications	Exported	Under Development	`FileObject`s created on XML layer now support a new attribute `removeWritables` returning an instance of `Callable` which removes the local writable version of the given `FileObject` thus reverting the folder or file to its initial state as defined in XML layers. Please note that is not possible to reset `FileObject`'s attributes.
netbeans.systemclassloader.patches	Exported	Friend	Classpath appended to the system class loader. Used for automated testing infrastructure.
netbeans.cache.manifests	Exported	Private	By default true, may be turned off to disable manifest caching.
netbeans.patches.MODULE.CODE.NAME.BASE	Exported	Friend	Patch directories or JARs to add to the class loader for a module, besides `patches/MODULE-CODE-NAME-BASE/*.jar`.
netbeans.preresolve.classes	Exported	Private	If true, all module classes are forcibly loaded at startup, to help detect possible linkage errors.
org.netbeans.core.modules.NbInstaller.noAutoDeps	Exported	Private	Disables automatic module dependency upgrades.
org.netbeans.core.modules	Exported	Private	If set to `0`, enables logging for the module system.
org.netbeans.core.modules.NbInstaller.NO_COMPAT_AUTO_TRANSITIVE_DEPS	Exported	Private	Disabled automatic transitive class loader dependencies for old modules.
netbeans.modules.quiet	Exported	Private	Avoids text messaging (other than `ErrorManager` logging) to the console from the module system.
netbeans.moduleitem.dontverifyclassloader	Exported	Private	Suppresses checks to ensure that module section classes are actually loaded from the module itself.
netbeans.security.nocheck	Exported	Friend	Suppress security checks in the VM, even from "untrusted" code.
netbeans.classloader.verbose	Exported	Private	Prints messages when resources or classes are loaded from JARs.
netbeans.cache.layers	Exported	Private	Used to control the XML layer cache mechanism. Value may be a fully-qualified class name to load as a manager (implement `org.netbeans.core.projects.cache.LayerCacheManager`), or `-` to disable caching and always parse the XML layers directly. Current default is to use a binary cache manager.

Group of dtd interfaces

Interface Name	In/Out	Stability	Specified in What Document?
module-status-1_0.dtd	Exported	Under Development	.../dtds/module-status-1_0.dtd `-//NetBeans//DTD Module Status 1.0//EN`
module-auto-deps-1_0.dtd	Exported	Under Development	.../dtds/module-auto-deps-1_0.dtd `-//NetBeans//DTD Module Automatic Dependencies 1.0//EN`
filesystem-1_1.dtd	Exported	Stable	.../www.netbeans.org/dtds/filesystem-1_1.dtd `-//NetBeans//DTD Filesystem 1.1//EN`

Implementation Details

Read more about the implementation in the answers to architecture questions.