Development mode
PF4J can run in two modes: DEVELOPMENT and DEPLOYMENT.
The DEPLOYMENT(default) mode is the standard workflow for plugins creation: create a new Maven module for each plugin, codding the plugin (declares new extension points and/or
add new extensions), pack the plugin in a zip file, deploy the zip file to plugins folder. These operations are time consuming and from this reason I introduced the DEVELOPMENT runtime mode.
The main advantage of DEVELOPMENT runtime mode for a plugin developer is that he/she is not enforced to pack and deploy the plugins. In DEVELOPMENT mode you can developing plugins in a simple and fast mode.
Lets describe how DEVELOPMENT runtime mode works.
First, you can change the runtime mode using the “pf4j.mode” system property or overriding DefaultPluginManager.getRuntimeMode().
For example I run the pf4j demo in eclipse in DEVELOPMENT mode adding only "-Dpf4j.mode=development" to the pf4j demo launcher.
You can retrieve the current runtime mode using PluginManager.getRuntimeMode() or in your Plugin implementation with getWrapper().getRuntimeMode()(see WelcomePlugin).
The DefaultPluginManager determines automatically the correct runtime mode and for DEVELOPMENT mode overrides some components(pluginsDirectory is ”../plugins”, PropertiesPluginDescriptorFinder as PluginDescriptorFinder, DevelopmentPluginClasspath as PluginClassPath).
Another advantage of DEVELOPMENT runtime mode is that you can execute some code lines only in this mode (for example more debug messages).
NOTE: If you use Eclipse then make sure annotation processing is enabled at least for any projects registering objects using annotations. In the properties for your new project go to Java Compiler > Annotation Processing
Check the “Enable Project Specific Settings” and make sure “Enable annotation processing” is checked.
If you use Maven as build manger, after each dependency modification in your plugin (Maven module) you must run Maven > Update Project…
For more details see the demo application.