Adding Java Plugins to OpenForum has been developed to be as simple as possible. There are six simple steps to adding a plugin:

  1. Develop your Java plugin as a single class with simple methods to access your Java code. This is your API
  2. Place your compiled Java in a Jar file.
  3. Create a page for your Plugin as a child of the page /OpenForum/JarManager
  4. Set the API class name to the name of your API
  5. Optionally add an initialise Javascript
  6. Add a reference to the Jar on the page /OpenForum/JarManager

You can reference your API from any Server Side Javascript by calling getApi with your API page name. For example to access the JDBC API add this code in your Javascript

db = js.getApi("/OpenForum/JarManager/JDBC");

Now you can call all db API methods in the Javascript.

New jars can be deployed at any time, and will automatically take effect.