Getting Started with Plugin Development

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Matt RyallConfluence Technical Lead, Atlassian

Atlassian Summit 2010

1Monday, June 14, 2010

Why have you never developed a plugin?

‣ Don’t know how

‣ Not a Java programmer

‣ Too hard

‣ Too much initial set-up

‣ Don’t know the product APIs

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Little-Known Fact #1:Plugins don’t need to be written in Java.

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Plugins types that don’t use Java

‣ Web Items – Add custom links to your application

‣ Web Panels – Add additional content on the page

‣ Web Resources – Restyle or customise the page with CSS and JavaScript

‣ External Gadget Providers or Gadget Plugins – Custom Google gadgets

‣ Confluence User Macros – Create simple Confluence macros

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Use web technologies instead

‣ HTML

‣ CSS

‣ JavaScript (with jQuery)

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Little-Known Fact #2:Plugins don’t need to be distributed in a JAR file.

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Upload plugins directly

‣ If there’s no other files, just upload the XML descriptor file.

‣ This works for:• Web Items

• Web Panels

• Web Resources (sometimes)

• Confluence User Macros

‣ External Gadget Providers can be installed via URL

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XML file template

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<atlassian-plugin key="com.example.plugins.sample" name="My Sample Plugin" plugins-version="2"> <plugin-info> <version>1.0</version> <vendor>My Company</vendor> </plugin-info>

... your stuff goes here ...

</atlassian-plugin>

http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONFDEV/Creating+your+Plugin+Descriptor

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Little-Known Fact #3:You don’t need to know Java to create a JAR file.

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Use the plugin SDK

‣ First, create the plugin skeleton:• Run atlas-create-confluence-plugin and it will prompt for values

‣ Delete the src/main/java and src/test directories

‣ Put CSS, JS files in the src/main/resources directory

‣ Build a JAR with your files• Run atlas-package and it will build a new JAR file in the target/ directory

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Plugin structure with no Java code

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‣ POM includes instructions for SDK

‣ Plugin content is under src/main/resources/

‣ Run atlas-package and the plugin JAR appears in target/ directory

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Great! Let’s see how it works…

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Example: Link to your Company Intranet

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http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONFDEV/Web+UI+Module

‣ Adding a link to Confluence’s global Browse menu• Also works in other places

• Also works in other Atlassian applications

‣ Done in only 2½ steps

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Step 1: Create a Web Item

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http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONFDEV/Web+UI+Module

<web-item key="company-intranet" name="Company Intranet" section="system.browse/global" weight="40"> <label>My Company Intranet</label> <link>http://intranet.example.com/</link></web-item>

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Step 2: Drop it in the XML template

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<atlassian-plugin key="com.example.plugins.sample" name="My Sample Plugin" plugins-version="2"> <plugin-info> <version>1.0</version> <vendor>My Company</vendor> </plugin-info>

<web-item key="company-intranet" name="Company Intranet" section="system.browse/global" weight="40"> <label>My Company Intranet</label> <link>http://intranet.example.com/</link> </web-item>

</atlassian-plugin>

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Last Step: Upload it into Confluence

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Result: Link to your Company Intranet

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‣ Holy smokes, that was easy!

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Example: Project Status User Macro

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Step 1: Create your User Macro

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<user-macro key="green" name="green" hasBody="false" bodyType="raw" outputType="html"> <template><![CDATA[ <span style="background: green; color: white; padding: 4px 12px">GREEN</span> ]]></template></user-macro>

http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONFDEV/User+Macro+Module

‣ You might also want to create ones for {red} and {yellow}…

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Step 2: Drop it in the XML template

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<atlassian-plugin key="com.example.plugins.sample" name="My Sample Plugin" plugins-version="2"> <plugin-info> <version>1.0</version> <vendor>My Company</vendor> </plugin-info>

<user-macro key="green" name="green" hasBody="false" bodyType="raw" outputType="html"> <template><![CDATA[ <span style="background: green; color: white; padding: 4px 12px">GREEN</span> ]]></template> </user-macro>

</atlassian-plugin>

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Last Step: Upload it into Confluence

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Result: Project Status User Macro

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More examples

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Devoxx Conference Twitter Ticker – JavaScript User Macro

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More examples

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Atlassian’s Staff Directory – just HTML, CSS and JavaScript

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Scripting support (alpha stage)

‣ Scripting Extender Plugin – Adds support for scripting languages in your plugin

‣ Groovy Plugins – Lightning talk coming up next…

‣ JavaScript Plugins – At prototype stage, might be bundled soon.

‣ Java 6 Scripting Engine – Can use this with some Java code.

‣ Area of interest for some Atlassian developers – 20% projects and labs work ongoing.

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Thank you.

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