/*!
\page getting-started-plugins.html
\title Getting Started
\brief Understanding the basic concept of guh plugins
Plugins in guh are used to exand the functionalitys and capabilitys of the guh server. A plugin is basically a shared library, which will be loaded dynamically from the guh server during the start up process. Each plugin has a \e name, a \e uuid and a list of supported \e vendors which will be visible in the system once the plugin is loaded. Each of thouse \l{Vendor}{Vendors} contains a list of supported \l{DeviceClass}{DeviceClasses}. A \l{DeviceClass} describes how the supported \l{Device} looks like, how it will be created (\l{DeviceClass::CreateMethod}{CreateMethod}), how the setup (\l{DeviceClass::SetupMethod}{SetupMethod}) looks like and what you can do with the \l{Device}.
\section1 Devices
A device in guh can represent a real device, a gateway or even a service like weather. When you want to represent you own device / service in guh, you should try to abstract that device and think in terms like:
\list
\li \l{ParamType}{ParamTypes} \unicode{0x2192} A \l{Device} can have \l{Param}{Params}, which will be needed to set up the device (like IP addresses or device configurations) and give information for the user like name or location. The \l{ParamType} represents the description of an actual \l{Param}.
\li \l{StateType}{StateTypes} \unicode{0x2192} A \l{Device} can have \l{State}{States}, which basically represent a value of a \l{Device} like \e {current temperature} or \e ON/OFF. The \l{StateType} represents the description of an actual \l{State}.
\li \l{EventType}{EventTypes} \unicode{0x2192} A \l{Device} can emit \l{Event}{Events}, which basically represent a signal. An example of an \l{Event} could be: \e {Button pressed}. An \l{Event} can have \l{Param}{Params} to give the possibility to pass information with the signal. The \l{EventType} represents the description of an actual \l{Event}.
\li \l{ActionType}{ActionTypes} \unicode{0x2192} A \l{Device} can execute \l{Action}{Actions}, which represent basically a method for the \l{Device} which the user can execute. An example of an \l{Action} could be: \e {Set temperature}. An \l{Action} can have \l{Param}{Params} to give the possibility to parameterize the action. The \l{ActionType} represents the description of an actual \l{Action}.
\endlist
The \l{DeviceClass} represents the description of an actual \l{Device}.
\section1 Hardware resources
The \e libguh provides a list of \l{Hardware Resources}{HardwareResources}, which can be used in every plugin. When sou start writing a plugin, you need to know which resource you will need. Each resource provides it's own interface for a \l{DevicePlugin}. In the plugin you don't have to take care about the resource.
\section1 Getting started with a plugin
In order to show how a plugin ist structured here is an example of the most minimalistic device plugin possible for the guh system.
For an easier start we provide a set of plugin templates which can be used for your own plugin and to have a basic for the tutorials described in this documentation. You can get the templates with following command:
\code
$ git clone https://github.com/guh/plugin-templates.git
\endcode
This will create the \tt plugin-templates folder containing all templates and examples you will need to write your own plugin. Let's start with the smallest, simplest plugin.
\section2 Basic structure
The name of the plugin should be clear and inform about the content in one word. In this first minimalistic example the \b is \e "minimal".
The basic structure of the \e minimal plugin looks like this:
\code
$ cd plugin-templates
$ ls -l minimal/
devicepluginminimal.cpp
devicepluginminimal.h
devicepluginminimal.json
minimal.pro
plugins.pri
\endcode
\section3 minimal.pro
The \tt minimal.pro file is the project file of the plugin, which can be openend with the \tt{Qt Creator}. The name of this file should be the same as the folder name of the project. In this example the name would be \e "minimal".
\code
include(plugins.pri)
TARGET = $$qtLibraryTarget(guh_devicepluginminimal)
message("Building $$deviceplugin$${TARGET}.so")
SOURCES += \
devicepluginminimal.cpp \
HEADERS += \
devicepluginminimal.h \
\endcode
The \b TARGET parameter definens the name of the resulting plugin lib file and should should have following name structure:
\tt {guh_deviceplugin\b}
In this example the pluginname is \e minimal, which means the lib file name will be \e guh_devicepluginminimal.so. You can check the name of the plugin in the "Project Messages" (\tt{alt + 6} in Qt Creator).
The \b SOURCES and \b HEADERS variables define the \tt .cpp and \tt .h files of your plugin like in any other Qt project.
\section3 plugins.pri
The \tt plugins.pri file contains all relevant definitions and configuration to build a plugin. Each plugin must contain this file and \underline{should not} be changed. In this file the precompiler \b guh-generateplugininfo will be called.
\code
TEMPLATE = lib
CONFIG += plugin
QT += network
QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -Werror
CONFIG += c++11
INCLUDEPATH += /usr/include/guh
LIBS += -lguh
infofile.output = plugininfo.h
infofile.commands = /usr/bin/guh-generateplugininfo ${QMAKE_FILE_NAME} ${QMAKE_FILE_OUT}
infofile.depends = /usr/bin/guh-generateplugininfo
infofile.CONFIG = no_link
JSONFILES = deviceplugin"$$TARGET".json
infofile.input = JSONFILES
QMAKE_EXTRA_COMPILERS += infofile
target.path = /usr/lib/guh/plugins/
INSTALLS += target
\endcode
If you need an extra Qt module i.e. \tt serialport please add it in the \tt .pro file an not in the \tt plugin.pri:
\code
QT += serialport
\endcode
\section3 devicepluginminimal.json
The properties of a plugin will be definend with in the \tt JSON file containing all needed information for guh to load it. The name convention fot the json file is:
\tt {deviceplugin\b{}.json}
This file must have a clear, definend structure and looking like this:
\note For more details about the structure, values and Objects please take a look at the \l{The Plugin JSON File} documentation.
\code
{
"name": "Minimal plugin",
"idName": "Minimal",
"id": "6878754a-f27d-4007-a4e5-b030b55853f5",
"vendors": [
{
"name": "Minimal vendor",
"idName": "minimal",
"id": "3897e82e-7c48-4591-9a2f-0f56c55a96a4",
"deviceClasses": [
{
"deviceClassId": "7014e5f1-5b04-407a-a819-bbebd11fa372",
"idName": "minimal",
"name": "Minimal device",
"createMethods": ["user"],
"paramTypes": [
{
"name": "name",
"type": "QString",
"defaultValue": "Minimal device"
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
\endcode
In this minimal example of a device plugin we have one \l{Vendor} ("Minimal vendor") with the VendorId \tt {3897e82e-7c48-4591-9a2f-0f56c55a96a4}, which contains one \l{DeviceClass} with the name "Minimal device". The \l{DeviceClass} has one QString \l{Param} called \e name.
\section3 devicepluginminimal.h
The main header file of the plugin. The naming convention is:
\tt {deviceplugin\b.h}
In this file you can find the main class of the plugin: \e DevicePluginMinimal. As you can see the \e DevicePluginMinimal inherits from the class \l{DevicePlugin}. You can check out the \l{DevicePlugin} class description to find how a \l{DevicePlugin} looks like.
\code
#ifndef DEVICEPLUGINMINIMAL_H
#define DEVICEPLUGINMINIMAL_H
#include "plugin/deviceplugin.h"
#include "devicemanager.h"
class DevicePluginMinimal : public DevicePlugin
{
Q_OBJECT
Q_PLUGIN_METADATA(IID "guru.guh.DevicePlugin" FILE "devicepluginminimal.json")
Q_INTERFACES(DevicePlugin)
public:
explicit DevicePluginMinimal();
DeviceManager::HardwareResources requiredHardware() const override;
DeviceManager::DeviceSetupStatus setupDevice(Device *device) override;
};
#endif // DEVICEPLUGINBOBLIGHT_H
\endcode
As you can see this class has two methods which override the corresponding method in the \l{DevicePlugin} class. These two methods are pure virtual, which meas you \underline{must} implement them.
\section3 devicepluginminimal.cpp
The implementation of the \l{DevicePlugin}. The naming convention is:
\tt {deviceplugin\b.cpp}
\code
#include "devicepluginminimal.h"
#include "plugininfo.h"
DevicePluginMinimal::DevicePluginMinimal()
{
}
DeviceManager::HardwareResources DevicePluginMinimal::requiredHardware() const
{
return DeviceManager::HardwareResourceNone;
}
DeviceManager::DeviceSetupStatus DevicePluginMinimal::setupDevice(Device *device)
{
Q_UNUSED(device)
qCDebug(dcMinimal) << "setup device" << device->name() << device->id();
return DeviceManager::DeviceSetupStatusSuccess;
}
\endcode
You can start with \l{Tutorial 1 - The "Minimal" plugin}.
*/