Loads plugins found on the filesystem and keeps track of found plugins, typekits and services. More...

#include <rtt/plugin/PluginLoader.hpp>

Public Types
typedef boost::shared_ptr < PluginLoader >	shared_ptr
Public Member Functions
bool	loadLibrary (std::string const &path)
	Loads a library as plugin or typekit.
bool	loadTypekits (std::string const &path_list)
	Load any typekit found in the 'types/' subdirectory of each path in path_list in the process.
bool	loadTypekit (std::string const &name, std::string const &path_list)
	Load a typekit found in the 'types/' subdirectory of a package present in path_list.
bool	loadPlugins (std::string const &path_list)
	Loads any plugin found in the 'plugins/' subdirectory of each path in path_list in the current process.
bool	isLoaded (std::string name)
	Checks if a given plugin or filename has been loaded.
bool	loadPlugin (std::string const &name, std::string const &path_list)
	Loads a plugin found in the 'plugins/' subdirectory of each path in path_list in the current process.
bool	loadService (std::string const &servicename, TaskContext *tc)
	Loads an earlier discovered service into a TaskContext.
std::vector< std::string >	listServices () const
	Lists all services discovered by the PluginLoader.
std::vector< std::string >	listPlugins () const
	Lists all plugins (= services + typekits) discovered by the PluginLoader.
std::vector< std::string >	listTypekits () const
	Lists all typekits discovered by the PluginLoader.
std::string	getPluginPath () const
	Returns the current plugin path list.
void	setPluginPath (std::string const &newpath)
	Sets the plugin path list.
Static Public Member Functions
static boost::shared_ptr < PluginLoader >	Instance ()
	Create the instance of the PluginLoader.
static void	Release ()
	Release the PluginLoader, erasing all knowledge of loaded libraries.

Detailed Description

Loads plugins found on the filesystem and keeps track of found plugins, typekits and services.

It has no facilities of unloading plugins. Plugins remain in memory until the process terminates.

Plugin Paths

The PluginLoader reads the RTT_COMPONENT_PATH variable when the application starts and stores it using setPluginPath(). Paths are scanned in this order:

** First the paths specified by the function argument path_list if the function takes such argument ** Second the paths specified using the setPluginPath() function.

If neither is specified, it looks for plugins in the current directory (".").

See also:: Plugin.hpp

Definition at line 68 of file PluginLoader.hpp.

Member Function Documentation

std::string PluginLoader::getPluginPath ( ) const

Returns the current plugin path list.

Defaults to the value of RTT_COMPONENT_PATH, when the RTT was started for the current process.

Returns:: A colon separated list of paths or the empty string if not set.

Definition at line 736 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

boost::shared_ptr< PluginLoader > PluginLoader::Instance ( ) [static]

Create the instance of the PluginLoader.

It will keep track of the loaded libraries for this process.

Returns:: A singleton.

Definition at line 285 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

Referenced by RTT::TaskContext::loadService(), and RTT::internal::GlobalService::require().

bool PluginLoader::isLoaded ( std::string name )

Checks if a given plugin or filename has been loaded.

This function accepts full filenames ('libthe_plugin.so.1.99.0'), short names ('the_plugin') or the name provided by the plugin ('The Plugin').

Parameters:

name	name of a file or the plugin name.

Returns:: true if so.

Definition at line 581 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

std::vector< std::string > PluginLoader::listPlugins ( ) const

Lists all plugins (= services + typekits) discovered by the PluginLoader.

Returns:: A list of plugin names

Definition at line 717 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

std::vector< std::string > PluginLoader::listServices ( ) const

Lists all services discovered by the PluginLoader.

Returns:: A list of service names

Definition at line 707 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

std::vector< std::string > PluginLoader::listTypekits ( ) const

Lists all typekits discovered by the PluginLoader.

Returns:: A list of typekit names

Definition at line 726 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

bool PluginLoader::loadLibrary ( std::string const & path )

Loads a library as plugin or typekit.

Parameters:

path	an absolute or relative path to a library. Relative paths are interpreted with regard to the plugin path.

Definition at line 422 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

bool PluginLoader::loadPlugin	(	std::string const &	name,
		std::string const &	path_list
	)

Loads a plugin found in the 'plugins/' subdirectory of each path in path_list in the current process.

Parameters:

name	The name of the plugin to load, must match the library name (without lib/dll/so pre-/suffixes).
path_list	A colon or semi-colon seperated list of paths to look for plugins. May be the empty string.

Exceptions:

std::runtime_exception if the found plugin refused to load.

Definition at line 306 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

bool PluginLoader::loadPlugins ( std::string const & path_list )

Loads any plugin found in the 'plugins/' subdirectory of each path in path_list in the current process.

Returns:: false if some typekit caused an error, or some path was not found.

Parameters:

path_list A colon or semi-colon seperated list of paths to look for plugins. May be the empty string.

Exceptions:

std::runtime_exception if one of the found plugin refused to load.

Definition at line 311 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

bool PluginLoader::loadService	(	std::string const &	servicename,
		TaskContext *	tc
	)

Loads an earlier discovered service into a TaskContext.

Parameters:

servicename	The name of the service or plugin containing the service
tc	The TaskContext to load into.

Returns:: false if the service or plugin refused to load into the TaskContext.

Definition at line 316 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

References RTT::TaskContext::getName().

bool PluginLoader::loadTypekit	(	std::string const &	name,
		std::string const &	path_list
	)

Load a typekit found in the 'types/' subdirectory of a package present in path_list.

Parameters:

name	The name of the package (a directory name) which contains the typekit you wish to load.
path_list	A colon or semi-colon seperated list of paths to look for the name subdirectory. If this list is empty, the current plugin path is searched and the current working directory.

Exceptions:

std::runtime_exception if the found typekit refused to load.

Definition at line 301 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

bool PluginLoader::loadTypekits ( std::string const & path_list )

Load any typekit found in the 'types/' subdirectory of each path in path_list in the process.

This is not a 'smart' function. It will only look into that directory and will not try to guess a target specific subdir or any other means for locating typekits.

Returns:: false if some typekit caused an error, or some path was not found or if path_list was empty.

Parameters:

path_list A colon or semi-colon seperated list of paths to look for typekits. No other paths will be searched.

Exceptions:

std::runtime_exception if one of the found typekits refused to load.

Definition at line 296 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

void PluginLoader::Release ( ) [static]

Release the PluginLoader, erasing all knowledge of loaded libraries.

No libraries will be unloaded from the process.

Definition at line 292 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

void PluginLoader::setPluginPath ( std::string const & newpath )

Sets the plugin path list.

This is typically done by RTT startup code with the contents of the RTT_COMPONENT_PATH variable.

Parameters:

newpath The new paths to look for plugins.

Definition at line 741 of file PluginLoader.cpp.

The documentation for this class was generated from the following files:

rtt/plugin/PluginLoader.hpp
rtt/plugin/PluginLoader.cpp

Public Types

Public Member Functions

Static Public Member Functions

Detailed Description

Plugin Paths

Member Function Documentation