iStumbler now allows you to create plugins to enable other network discovery and management functions. Plugins for GPS, Mapping and Bluetooth are under development, download the iStumbler Source and get started today!

/*


The ISPlugin protocol supports additions to the source list
in iStumbler.

Plugins should use the default NSNotificationCenter for
inter-plugin communications. iStumbler provides a global
slider notification and will listen for notifications to
update the status or user interface.


The lifecycle of a plugin.

When iStumbler is launched the ISPluginManager scans for
plugins bundles in all the usual places. As it finds the
bundles it loads their primary classes and caches them in an
array.

Each class has it's initPlugin method called with the bundle
it was loaded from for convenience. The plugin may start a
thread or perform any other initialization at this stage.

Once the init has completed an instance of the plugin is
created. That instance is used by iStumbler for the duration
of it's run. The plugin instance provides the  application
with the following information:

plugin icon         16x16 icon for the list

plugin name         the name to display in the list

plugin toolbar      toolbar to display

plugin view         view for the main window

plugin status       status to display in the main window

preferences view    view for the preferences widow

preferences icon    32x32 icon for the preferences

inspector view      view for the inspector window

inspector icon      24x24 icon for the inspector

These methods will be called every time the application
needs them, in whatever order we want. Once the application
is ready to get rid of the plugin, typically it is about to
quit it will release the plugin instances and then call the
stopPlugin method on the class so that it can stop whatever
threads it is running, close files and release memory.

*/

@protocol ISPlugin

/* Called by the IStumberController when the plugin is
loaded, the plugins bundle object is passed for convenance.
The plugin should return true if it's ready to have an
instance created and false if it cannot. */

+ (BOOL)initPlugin:(NSBundle*) bundle;

/* Create a new instance of this plugin with the object as a
parameter. May be called multiple times for multiple
instances of a plugin object. */

+ (NSObject<ISPlugin>*)createPlugin:(id) environment;

/* Called by the ISPluginManager when the plugin is
unloaded. Close your files, stop your threads and let those
objects go free. */

+ (void)stopPlugin;

/* Returns a string which we can display in the window title
and in the plugin list and menu.  */

- (NSString*) pluginName;

/* Returns a string which has the plugin's info, such as
copy right and legal notices for or display in the info
window. */

- (NSString*) pluginInfo;

/* Returns a string with the plugin's current status */

- (NSString*) pluginStatus;

/* Returns the entire scroll view for the plugin, this view
is placed in the main window of iStumbler. */

- (NSView*) pluginView;

/* Returns an icon for the plugin. The image may be any size
but will be scaled to 16X16 for the outline view, so be
ready for that. */

- (NSImage*) pluginIcon;

/* Returns the NSToolbar to display while the plugin is
selected. */

- (NSToolbar*) pluginToolbar;

/* Returns  an NSMenu for the plugin to be grafted into the
applications menu when the plugin is selected and a sub-menu
of the dock menu while it's loaded*/

- (NSMenu*) pluginMenu;

/* Returns the NSView to show in the prefrences window. */

- (NSView*) pluginPrefrences;

/* Returns an icon for the preferences toolbar */

- (NSImage*) pluginPrefrencesIcon;

/* Returns the NSView to show in the inspector panel */

- (NSView*) pluginInspector;

/* Returns an icon for the inspector toolbar */

- (NSImage*) pluginInspectorIcon;

@end