/jEdit/tags/jedit-4-5-pre1/doc/users-guide/using-plugins.xml

  1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  2<chapter id="using-plugins">
  3    <title>Installing and Using Plugins</title>
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  7    <para>A <firstterm>plugin</firstterm> is an application which is loaded and
  8    runs as part of another, host application. Plugins respond to user commands
  9    and perform tasks that supplement the host application's features.</para>
 10
 11    <para>This chapter covers installing, updating and removing plugins.
 12    Documentation for the plugins themselves can be found in
 13    <guimenu>Help</guimenu>&gt;<guimenuitem>jEdit Help</guimenuitem>, and
 14    information about writing plugins can be found in <xref
 15    linkend="writing-plugins-part" />.</para>
 16
 17    <section id="plugin-manager">
 18        <title>The Plugin Manager</title>
 19
 20        <para><guimenu>Plugins</guimenu>&gt;<guimenuitem>Plugin
 21        Manager</guimenuitem> displays the plugin manager window. It consists of
 22        three tabs: Manage, Update and Install. The Manage tab lists all
 23        installed plugins; clicking on a plugin in the list will display
 24        information about it.</para>
 25
 26        <para>To remove plugins, select them (multiple plugins can be selected
 27        by holding down <keycap>Control</keycap>) and click
 28        <guibutton>Remove</guibutton>. This will display a confirmation dialog
 29        box first.</para>
 30
 31        <para>To view plugin documentation, select a plugin and click
 32        <guibutton>Help</guibutton>. Note that plugin documentation can also be
 33        accessed by invoking <guimenu>Help</guimenu>&gt;<guimenuitem>jEdit
 34        Help</guimenuitem>.</para>
 35
 36        <para> After you have tuned jEdit to your liking and want to install the
 37        same set of plugins onto another host, or another user's profile, you
 38        can export your currently installed plugin list as an xml file, known as
 39        a <emphasis role="bold">PluginSet</emphasis>. The
 40        <guibutton>Save</guibutton> rollover button allows you to save the list
 41        of installed and loaded plugins to an XML file.  See <xref
 42        linkend="plugin-sets" /> for more information. </para>
 43
 44
 45        <para><guimenu>Plugins</guimenu>&gt;<guimenuitem>Plugin
 46        Options</guimenuitem> displays a dialog box for changing plugin
 47        settings.</para>
 48    </section>
 49
 50    <section id="installing-plugins">
 51        <title>Installing and Updating Plugins</title>
 52
 53        <para>Plugins can be installed in two ways; manually, and from the
 54        plugin manager. In most cases, plugins should be installed from the
 55        plugin manager. It is easier and more convenient.</para>
 56
 57        <para>To install plugins manually, go to <ulink
 58        url="http://plugins.jedit.org">http://plugins.jedit.org</ulink> in a web
 59        browser and follow the directions on that page.</para>
 60
 61        <para>To install plugins from the plugin manager, make sure you are
 62        connected to the Internet and click the <guibutton>Install</guibutton>
 63        tab in the plugin manager window. The plugin manager will then download
 64        information about available plugins from the jEdit web site, and present
 65        a list of plugins compatible with your jEdit release.</para>
 66
 67        <para>Click on a plugin in the list to see some information about it. To
 68        select plugins for installation, click the check box next to their names
 69        in the list.</para>
 70
 71        <para>The <guibutton>Total size</guibutton> field shows the total size
 72        of all plugins chosen for installation, along with any plugins that will
 73        be automatically downloaded in order to fulfill dependencies.</para>
 74
 75        <para>If a previously saved PluginSet was selected, it will
 76        automatically be loaded whenever the Install tab is created, and you
 77        will see the filename in the hovertip of the
 78        <guibutton>choose</guibutton> rolloverbutton, as well as all of the
 79        plugins in that set already checked for you. </para>
 80
 81        <para> You can clear the active PluginSet with the
 82        <guibutton>clear</guibutton> button next to it, or choose a different
 83        PluginSet xml file with the <guibutton>choose</guibutton> button. See
 84        <xref linkend="plugin-sets" /> for more information. </para>
 85
 86        <para>Once you have specified plugins to install, click
 87        <guibutton>Install</guibutton> to begin the download process.</para>
 88
 89        <para>By default, the plugin manager does not download plugin source
 90        code, and installs the downloaded plugins in the
 91        <filename>jars</filename> subdirectory of the user-specific settings
 92        directory. These settings can be changed in <guilabel>Plugin
 93        Manager</guilabel> pane of the
 94        <guimenu>Utilities</guimenu>&gt;<guimenuitem>Global
 95        Options</guimenuitem> dialog box; see <xref
 96        linkend="pluginmgr-pane" />.</para>
 97
 98        <para>The <guibutton>Update</guibutton> tab of the plugin manager is
 99        very similar to the <guibutton>Install</guibutton> tab. It lists plugins
100        for which updated versions are available. It will also offer to delete
101        any obsolete plugins.</para>
102
103        <sidebar>
104            <title>Proxy Servers and Firewalls</title>
105
106            <para>If you are connected to the Internet through an HTTP proxy or
107            SOCKS firewall, you will need to specify the relevant details in the
108            <guibutton>Proxy Servers</guibutton> pane of the
109            <guimenu>Utilities</guimenu>&gt;<guimenuitem>Global
110            Options</guimenuitem> dialog box; see <xref
111            linkend="firewall-pane" />.</para>
112        </sidebar>
113    </section>
114
115    <section id="plugin-sets">
116    <title>Plugin Sets</title>
117
118    <para> A <emphasis role="bold">PluginSet</emphasis> is a collection of
119    plugins, represented as an XML file. These XML files can be created from the
120    <guibutton>save</guibutton> button of the Manage tab of the Plugin Manager.
121    Saving a PluginSet remembers all of the currently loaded plugins. </para>
122
123    <para> When a PluginSet has been saved, it becomes the "default pluginset",
124    which means that if you unload/uninstall plugins from that set and go back to the
125    Install tab, you should see them selected for download again. To clear this
126    setting, click on the <guibutton>clear</guibutton> button in the
127    Install tab.
128    </para>
129
130    <para> It is posisble to Choose/Open a PluginSet from the Manage or the
131    Install tab. The behavior of choosing a PluginSet depends on which tab
132    you are on when you choose it. From the Manage tab, it unloads plugins that
133    are loaded but not in the list. From the Install tab, it selects plugins
134    from that list that are not loaded, marking them for download from Plugin
135    Central. </para>
136
137    <para> When choosing a PluginSet, the path can be given as a remote URL.
138    This helps teachers and sysadmins direct the students/slaves to a standard
139    set of plugins that are required for the course/job. </para>
140
141    </section>
142
143</chapter>