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<!-- jEdit FAQ                                           -->
<!-- Copyright (C) 2003 John Gellene, Kris Kopicki       -->

<sect1 id="plugins"><title>Plugin Questions</title>
<para>
  This section deals with questions concerning the use of jEdit's
  plugins.  Plugins are applications that share jEdit's memory space
  and user interface and provide a wide variety of functions and
  services.
</para>

<qandaset defaultlabel="qanda">

<qandadiv id="plugin-general"><title>General plugin questions</title>

<qandaentry>
  <question id="plugins-latest-official">
    <para>
      Where can I get information on the latest available
      <quote>official</quote> plugins?
    </para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      To get a listing of the latest plugins available for downloading from
      jEdit Plugin Central, use the <guimenuitem>Plugin Manager</guimenuitem>
      feature on jEdit's <guimenu>Plugin</guimenu> menu. You can also get more
      detailed descriptions of the plugins from the <ulink
      url="http://plugins.jedit.org">Plugin Central</ulink> web site.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question id="plugins-latest-beta">
    <para>
      Where can I get information on new plugins under development?
    </para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      Many plugin developers make beta versions of their plugins available for
      downloading on the <ulink url="http://community.jedit.org">jEdit
      Community</ulink> web site.  Check the <quote>Plugin beta
      versions</quote> section of the web site's <quote>Downloads</quote>
      area.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>


<qandaentry>
	<question id="plugin-install-manual">
		<para>
			How do I install a plugin manually, without using the Plugin Manager?
		</para>
	</question>
	<answer>
		<para>
			Copy the plugin's jar archive file (or files, if there are more than one)
			to the <filename>/jars</filename> subdirectory of either (a) the directory in
			which jEdit is installed, or (b) your user settings directory (which you can find
			by evaluating the BeanShell expression
			<userinput>jEdit.getSettingsDirectory()</userinput>.
		</para>
	</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
	<question id="plugin-loading">
		<para>
			Why can't plugins be loaded dynamically (i.e. not having to restart)?
		</para>
	</question>
	<answer>
		<para>
			There are plans to support such a feature in jEdit 4.2, however it will
      likely require a different plugin API, so existing plugins will need to
      be updated to take advantage of it.
		</para>
	</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question id="plugins-developing">
    <para>
      How do I write a plugin?
    </para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      Writing a plugin requires a working knowledge of Java and some
      familiarity with jEdit's Plugin API.  There is a tutorial on
      plugin development in the jEdit User's Guide.  The source
      code distribution for jEdit also includes the source for
      an example plugin, <application>Quick Notepad</application>, which
      is discussed in the tutorial.
    </para>
    <para>
      To learn more about plugin development, take a look at the source
      code for other plugins, particularly those whose features or user
      interface you might use as a model.  The <ulink
      url="mailto:devel@jedit.org">jedit-devel mailing list</ulink> and
      the message boards at <ulink url="http://community.jedit.org">jEdit
      Community</ulink> are also available for specific questions.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
	<question id="plugin-irc">
		<para>
			Is there an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) plugin for jEdit?
		</para>
	</question>
	<answer>
		<para>
			Yes. Open the Plugin Manager, then select <guimenuitem>Install
			plugins</guimenuitem>. You will find the
			IRC plugin which you can select for installation.
		</para>
	</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
	<question id="plugin-console-execute">
		<para>
			Is it possible to execute your application from within jedit?
		</para>
	</question>
	<answer>
		<para>
			Yes. You can use the System shell of the Console plugin to run you application.
			The only limitation is that the plugin does not provide access to the
			application's standard input stream, so you will not be able to provide
			command-line input once the application is running. If the application requires
			such input, it will hang and you will have to terminate its process. Details are
			available in the help documentation for the Console plugin.
		</para>
	</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
	<question id="plugin-cvs">
		<para>
			Can I work with CVS under jEdit? Is there a plugin for CVS? How can I send a
			command from jEdit so as to use CVS from within jEdit?
		</para>
	</question>
	<answer>
		<para>
			GruntSpud and jEditCvs are two such plugins. Under Windows and the WinCVS
      Open Source package, you can specify <userinput>jedit.exe</userinput> as your default
      viewer and editor to automate the opening of file.
		</para>
	</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
	<question id="plugin-debugger">
		<para>
			Is there a debugger plugin?
		</para>
	</question>
	<answer>
		<para>
			A plugin based on the version 1.4 of the JSwat debugger application is currently
			available for download using jEdit's Plugin Manager feature. The Debugger plugin
      is also available.
		</para>
	</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
	<question id="plugin-antfarm-cmdlineprop">
		<para>
			Using AntFarm, how do I pass a command-line property to my build
			(for example, <userinput>ant build -Dtarget=test</userinput>)?
		</para>
	</question>
	<answer>
		<para>
			In general, you would need to run Ant from a command line to pass specific
			parameters. The AntFarm plugin currently does allow you specify the target
			to be built from its graphical display, so the example given in the question
			could be run using the plugin.
		</para>
	</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
	<question id="plugins-xslt">
		<para>
			Any development on integrating an XSL parser? It would be great to have the
			possibility to do XSL + XSLT -> XHTML development in the same environment as
			other development.
		</para>
	</question>
	<answer>
		<para>
			There is currently one plugin available called XSLT. The XSLT plugin provides
      features for: transforming XML using XSL transformation stylesheets; evaluating
      XPath expressions on XML and displaying results; and indenting XML.
		</para>
	</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
	<question id="plugins-ssh">
		<para>
			Is there a plugin to enable opening of files across networks using SSH?
		</para>
	</question>
	<answer>
		<para>
			Yes, the FTP plugin privides this functionality as of version 0.5. You will
      need to have Java 1.4 or newer to use it. Prior versions of java can still be
      used with the plugin, however you will only be able to use the FTP protocol.
		</para>
	</answer>
</qandaentry>

</qandadiv>

</qandaset>

</sect1>