pluginfactory

deveiate.org/projects/PluginFactory

Description

PluginFactory is a mixin module that turns an including class into a factory for its derivatives, capable of searching for and loading them by name. This is useful when you have an abstract base class which defines an interface and basic functionality for a part of a larger system, and a collection of subclasses which implement the interface for different underlying functionality.

An example of where this might be useful is in a program which talks to a database. To avoid coupling it to a specific database, you use a Driver class which encapsulates your program’s interaction with the database behind a useful interface. Now you can create a concrete implementation of the Driver class for each kind of database you wish to talk to. If you make the base Driver class a PluginFactory, too, you can add new drivers simply by dropping them in a directory and using the Driver’s `create` method to instantiate them:

Synopsis

in driver.rb:

require "PluginFactory"

class Driver
        include PluginFactory
        def self::derivative_dirs
           ["drivers"]
        end
end

in drivers/mysql.rb:

require 'driver'

class MysqlDriver < Driver
        ...implementation...
end

in /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/PostgresDriver.rb:

require 'driver'

class PostgresDriver < Driver
        ...implementation...
end

elsewhere

require 'driver'

config[:driver_type] #=> "mysql"
driver = Driver.create( config[:driver_type] )
driver.class #=> MysqlDriver
pgdriver = Driver.create( "PostGresDriver" )

How Plugins Are Loaded

The create class method added to your class by PluginFactory searches for your module using several different strategies. It tries various permutations of the base class’s name in combination with the derivative requested. For example, assume we want to make a DataDriver base class, and then use plugins to define drivers for different kinds of data sources:

require 'pluginfactory'

class DataDriver
  include PluginFactory
end

When you attempt to load the ‘socket’ data-driver class like so:

DataDriver.create( 'socket' )

PluginFactory searches for modules with the following names:

'socketdatadriver'
'socket_datadriver'
'socketDataDriver'
'socket_DataDriver'
'SocketDataDriver'
'Socket_DataDriver'
'socket'
'Socket'

Obviously the last one will load something other than what is intended, so you can also tell PluginFactory that plugins should be loaded from a subdirectory by declaring a class method called `derivative_dirs` in the base class. It should return an Array that contains a list of subdirectories to try:

class DataDriver
  include PluginFactory

  def self::derivative_dirs
    ['drivers']
  end
end

This will change the list that is required to:

'drivers/socketdatadriver'
'drivers/socket_datadriver'
'drivers/socketDataDriver'
'drivers/socket_DataDriver'
'drivers/SocketDataDriver'
'drivers/Socket_DataDriver'
'drivers/socket'
'drivers/Socket'

If you return more than one subdirectory, each of them will be tried in turn:

class DataDriver
  include PluginFactory

  def self::derivative_dirs
    ['drivers', 'datadriver']
  end
end

will change the search to include:

'drivers/socketdatadriver'
'drivers/socket_datadriver'
'drivers/socketDataDriver'
'drivers/socket_DataDriver'
'drivers/SocketDataDriver'
'drivers/Socket_DataDriver'
'drivers/socket'
'drivers/Socket'
'datadriver/socketdatadriver'
'datadriver/socket_datadriver'
'datadriver/socketDataDriver'
'datadriver/socket_DataDriver'
'datadriver/SocketDataDriver'
'datadriver/Socket_DataDriver'
'datadriver/socket'
'datadriver/Socket'

If the plugin is not found, a FactoryError is raised, and the message will list all the permutations that were tried.

Logging

If you need a little more insight into what’s going on, PluginFactory uses ‘Logger’ from the standard library. Just set its logger to your own to include log messages about plugins being loaded:

require 'pluginfactory'
require 'logger'

class DataDriver
  include PluginFactory

end

$logger = Logger.new( $stderr )
$logger.level = Logger::DEBUG
PluginFactory.logger = $logger

DataDriver.create( 'ringbuffer' )

this might generate a log that looks like:

D, [...] DEBUG -- : Loading derivative ringbuffer
D, [...] DEBUG -- : Subdirs are: [""]
D, [...] DEBUG -- : Path is: ["ringbufferdatadriver", "ringbufferDataDriver", 
      "ringbuffer"]...
D, [...] DEBUG -- : Trying ringbufferdatadriver...
D, [...] DEBUG -- : No module at 'ringbufferdatadriver', trying the next 
      alternative: 'no such file to load -- ringbufferdatadriver'
D, [...] DEBUG -- : Trying ringbufferDataDriver...
D, [...] DEBUG -- : No module at 'ringbufferDataDriver', trying the next 
      alternative: 'no such file to load -- ringbufferDataDriver'
D, [...] DEBUG -- : Trying ringbuffer...
D, [...] DEBUG -- : No module at 'ringbuffer', trying the next alternative: 
      'no such file to load -- ringbuffer'
D, [...] DEBUG -- : fatals = []
E, [...] ERROR -- : Couldn't find a DataDriver named 'ringbuffer': 
      tried ["ringbufferdatadriver", "ringbufferDataDriver", "ringbuffer"]

Installation

gem install pluginfactory

Contributing

You can check out the current development source with Mercurial via its Mercurial repo. Or if you prefer Git, via its Github mirror.

After checking out the source, run:

$ rake newb

This task will install any missing dependencies, run the tests/specs, and generate the API documentation.

License

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of the author/s, nor the names of the project’s contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.