org.argouml.moduleloader
Interface ModuleInterface

All Known Subinterfaces:

ImportInterface

public interface ModuleInterface

This is the interface that each module needs to implement in order to be loadable into ArgoUML according to the new module loader API.

Since:

0.17.1

DESCRIPTION

static final int DESCRIPTION

The description of the module.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

AUTHOR

static final int AUTHOR

The author of the module.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

VERSION

static final int VERSION

The version of the module.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

DOWNLOADSITE

static final int DOWNLOADSITE

The URL of the website stating information on where to download the module.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

enable

boolean enable()

Method to enable the module.

If it cannot enable the module because some other module is not enabled it can return false. In that case the module loader will defer this attempt until all other modules are loaded (or until some more of ArgoUML is loaded if at startup). Eventually it is only this and some other modules that is not loaded and they will then be listed as having problems.

Returns:

true if all went well

disable

boolean disable()

Method to disable the module.

If we cannot disable the module because some other module relies on it, we return false. This will then make it impossible to turn off. (An error is signalled at the attempt).

Returns:

true if all went well.

getName

java.lang.String getName()

The name of the module.

This should be a short string. For the purpose of having the GUI that turns on and off the module look nice there is no whitespace in this string (no spaces, tabs or newlines).

This name is also used as the key internally when modules checks for other modules, if they are available.

Returns:

the name (A String).

getInfo

java.lang.String getInfo(int type)

The info about the module.

This returns texts with information about the module.

The possible informations are retrieved by giving any of the arguments:

• DESCRIPTION
• AUTHOR
• VERSION
• DOWNLOADSITE

If a module does not provide a specific piece of information, null can be returned. Hence the normal implementation should be:

 public String getInfo(int type) {
     switch (type) {
     case DESCRIPTION:
         return "This module does ...";
     case AUTHOR:
         return "Annie Coder";
     default:
         return null;
 }
 

Parameters:

type - The type of information.

Returns:

The description. A String.