The Composer plug-in API is UI-independent, meaning that plug-ins can be written using any UI tool kit. Plug-ins that you plan to use in VJS, however, should be written to use AWT to ensure cross-platform and version migration compatibility.
Packaging Plug-ins for Use in VJS
A plug-in is packaged in a JAR file. All class files and support files for the plug-in must be included in the JAR. A single JAR file can contain any number of plug-ins and their support files as long as each plug-in has a unique name.
Each JAR file for a plug-in must contain an initialization file, netscape_plugin_composer.ini
, that contains information about the plug-ins. This file is a standard Java Properties file format, and usually contains the following declarations:
Property | Purpose |
---|---|
netscape.plugin.composer.factory | Single class name of a Factory class. |
netscape.plugin.composer.classes | Colon-separated list of the class names for the plug-ins in this archive. |
The Factory
class property is only necessary if your plug-ins will be dynamically created at run time.
For instructions on creating a JAR file, see Packaging Components for Import. For more detailed information about creating and packaging plug-ins, see the Netscape Composer Plug-in Guide.
Installing a Plug-in
With the exceptions noted in What Can Plug-ins Do?, you can use any plug-ins located in the Communicator or Navigator plugins directory. If you create a plug-in that's just for use with VJS, put the plug-in and its support files in the plugins directory under the directory where you installed VJS. During installation of VJS, the plugins subdirectory is created automatically. For more information about enabling plug-ins for use, see the Netscape Composer Plug-in Guide.
Last Updated: 11/20/97 13:56:38