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=====Plugin API: File Structure=====

====Folder Name====
An Xtension plugin is a folder or a bundle. The name must end with the “.isf” suffix so that XTension will recognize the folder or bundle as a plugin. The name should be unique and follow something like a bundle naming convention. So don’t just name your plugin “insteon.isf” as thats the built in XTension plugin naming convention. XTension reserves all non-bundle naming plugin names. While the exact layout of the names is up to you you should use a path that contains your name or company name and then the plugin type so that the file can be easily recognized as to what it is by a user and also that it will always be unique. “james_insteon.isf” or “james.insteon.isf” are all acceptable.

====Minimum Requirements====
At the very least the plugin folder must contain the info.json file that describes the plugin and the units that it will create and the main script file that will be executed and passed the setup info from XTension. You can also include any other support files or python includes that are necessary for your plugin to run.

====Python Requirements====
At this time the plugin support files will only run in python 2.7. Python 2.7 is included in OSX so this is the best language to use as it won’t require that you embed the entire python 3 runtime into the plugin or require the user to install python 3 first. 

If your plugin needs python modules that are not available by default on OSX best practice is to include them alongside the plugin files. You can usually do this by making a copy of the needed library into the plugin folder. I would recommend using pip to install the package onto your development mac. Then going to python’s site packages folder and getting the installed folder from there. You’ll find the site packets folder on OSX in: /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages any modules you have installed will be there. Only the actual module named folder is necessary to be copied. You will not need the distribution info or the .egg files or other support folders. Not all plugins folders are obvious from their names however, and some create more than one folder. It’s best to look at the folder before and after doing the module install so that you are sure what you need to copy. Once the files are copied to the plugin folder use pip to uninstall them properly from the system and make sure that your plugin still runs. 

You should also verify that the licenses of any modules you are including allow you to do so. 


====Plugin Installation====
As of version 9.4.5 the plugin manager is not completely implemented. There is no facility to check plugin versions or recommend updates or to install directly from the internet yet but those things are coming. Installing plugins from inside the app is implemented however. Once the plugin is downloaded but the user and unzipped they can select “Install Plugin” from the Database menu. This will drop down a select folder dialog for them to locate the plugin folder and it will copy that folder and it’s contents into the Plugins folder in the current database and load the info file so that it will now be listed in the device type popup. If an existing version of the plugin is already in the database plugin folder then the existing one is moved to the trash and replaced with the new one. Upgrading plugin versions can be done in this way. Upgrading a plugin that is currently enabled and running will require disabling and re-enabling the interface after the new plugin is installed.

Plugins are stored in the XTension Database inside the “Plugins” folder. You can manually remove or add them there as well if you wish. Use the “reveal database in finder” menu item from the Database menu to show the Plugins folder inside the current database. The Database is a package or bundle so if you wish to access it in the Finder control click on the file and select “show package contents.” Do not alter any other files inside the database.


===XTension Finds New Plugins===
It is not necessary to quit and restart XTension to have it discover new plugins. The plugin search locations are rescanned whenever the New Interface dialog is opened so your new plugin should be available in the list as soon as it’s in one of those locations and the user opens the window to create a new interface. If the New Interface sheet window is being displayed the window must be closed and re-opened to discover new plugins.

During development it may be necessary to open the edit interface dialog to get changes to a plugins info.json file to be reloaded.


====XTension Standard Python Includes====
XTension provides 2 python files that will be necessary for any plugin. If your plugin requires a specific version of the plugin includes you can simply copy them into the same folder with your application. Or to save space you can load them from inside the XTension app via the following code. If changes are ever made to the existing include files that could potentially break previous plugins I will increment the version and continue to include both versions inside XTension. You can link to the “current” version or to a specific version in your plugin code. 

Upon launch XTension will create a file in it’s ~/Documents/XTension\ Support folder that contains the full path to the folder inside of XTension that contains the required modules. You can load this at the start of your plugin and include the files before starting up the connection to XTension. You can see the example plugin file for this or use the source below:

<code python>
#
# Importing Necessary XTension Connection Modules
#
# normally you can just include this small block of code as is unless you need to control
# specifically which plugin module version you need to include
#
# import the current version of the XTension python plugin modules by setting our path to the 
# contents of the helper file in the XTension Support folder
# if you have had to make changes to the xtension support modules or wish to guarente that
# a specific version is included with your plugin then you may instead include the 2 support
# files in the same folder with your application. You would comment out the following up
# until the instructions below for how to include them in that case. 
# doing it this way does guarente that you're using the versions that are most compatible
# with the currently running XTension version however and so this is recommended. If there
# are any changes to the higher level interface to XTension that would potentially cause
# problems for a plugin then the previous version will be preserved and you can just change the
# link to go direct and not through /current
#

from os.path import expanduser
userHomePath = expanduser( '~')
del expanduser

# XTension will always create this file in the XTension Support folder when it starts up
# with a path to the python support files that we need to add to the search path so 
# this program can load them. 
pluginLocationFile = open( userHomePath + '/Documents/XTension Support/.python_include_path.txt', 'r')
if pluginLocationFile.mode == 'r':
	pluginLocationPath = pluginLocationFile.read()
	pluginLocationFile.close
else:
	print( "Error opening the XTension Plugin Includes path file, cannot continue")
	sys.exit()
	
#
# the pluginLocationPath will need either a specific version number or /current appended
# as the path is to the folder that contains the different version folders. To access
# the current most recent version as included in the currently running XTension append "/current"
# to access a specific version append that something like "/1.2" 
#

pluginLocationPath += "/current"
	
sys.path.append( pluginLocationPath )

from xtension_plugin.xtension_constants import *
from xtension_plugin.xtension_plugin import *


</code>


====Custom Script Handlers====

Your plugin can send doScript commands that can execute named handlers with passed data in either the Interface Script for your interface, or if an address and addressprefix is included then the handler can be executed in a Unit’s ON script, if any. You can define script handlers in the info.json file which will point to specific file names inside your plugin folder. For example if you have an overtemperature event that you can send to the unit you may wish to allow the user to take specific action based on that by executing an “on overtemperature( currentTemp)” handler in the units ON script. In order to make it easier for the user to insert these handlers you can add any number of special handlers to the “Insert” toolbar dropdown menu for the ON script of the unit type. Those files are defined in the info.json file and can be included along with the plugin.

====Icon Support====

If your plugin includes a folder named “Icons” then those icons will be loaded along with your plugin and be made available as unit icons inside the application. You can include custom icon images for your units in this way. Use the defaultOnIcon and defaultOffIcon keys into the info,json file to assign any icons as the default.

Icon file format should be png with a mask though jpeg and gif files are also supported. 

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====History====
  * 7/6/2018 updated for plugin API 2.0
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