Creating custom plug-ins

A custom plugin is a reusable Java class that you create to perform a task. You can create custom plug-ins such as custom workflow actions, plug-ins to run when a page is rendered, plug-ins to store multi-locale text strings and plug-ins to run when a file is uploaded.

Creating a custom button class
You can create custom button classes that dynamically add custom actions to the authoring interface. Custom buttons allow you to integrate additional third-party tools into the authoring interface without using a custom element. For example, you can use a custom button that adds automatic profiling of a content item or that adds or changes elements on the item forms.
Creating a rendering plug-in class
A rendering plug-in is a reusable class that you create to perform a task at render time. It can be referenced within web content using a plug-in tag. For example, you could write a plug-in that uses attributes from the current user's profile to determine whether the body of the plug-in tag is rendered or not. A rendering plug-in class requires you to reference a set of web content API methods.
Creating a custom workflow action class
You can create custom workflow action classes to enable you to use custom workflow actions in a workflow.
Creating a Text Provider class
A text provider is used to provide localized text that can be used within web content item forms. For example, a text provider can be used to localize the field labels or help text within an authoring template so that each user sees the labels or help text in their own language.
Creating a file upload validation class
A file upload validation plugin is invoked anytime a file is uploaded into Web Content Manager. This includes uploading files into file resource, image and style sheet elements, and images uploaded into rich text or HTML elements. The plugin is called within the "validation" processing used by Web Content Manager when uploading files.
Creating a subscriber class
A subscriber plugin is used to run additional functionality on the subscriber that can be used to determine if the subscriber is ready for syndication when a syndication event is invoked.
Creating a syndicator class
A syndicator plugin is used to run additional functionality on the syndicator when a syndication event is invoked.
Creating a context processor class
When configured, a context processor plug-in is invoked by the web content viewer portlet before rendering and allows the current context, such as the item to display, to be modified.
Creating a content page resolution filter class
A content page resolution filter is used to customize the behavior of the content page resolution filter chain. This can enable you to tailor the response to a web content request in several ways, including overriding the content item displayed or the portal page used to display a content item in the web content viewer.
Creating a content URL generation filter class
A content URL generation filter is used to customize the URLs that are generated by a web content viewer. By creating a plug-in that implements a content URL generation filter, you can tailor the URLs to content items.
Deploying custom plug-in applications
You must deploy your custom plug-in applications on your server before they can be used in your web content system.

Parent topic: Developing