Structure of the SDK

Each folder in the Plugins SDK contains scripts for creating new plugins of that type. Here is the directory structure of the Plugins SDK:

• liferay-plugins-<version>/ - Plugins SDK root directory.

  • clients/ - client applications directory.
  • dist/ - archived plugins for distribution and deployment.
  • ext/ - Ext plugins directory. See chapter 7 on Ext plugins.
  • hooks/ - hook plugins directory. See chapter 6 on hooks.
  • layouttpl/ - layout templates directory. See chapter 4 on creating Liferay Themes.
  • lib/ - commonly referenced libraries.
  • misc/ - development configuration files. Example, a source code formatting specification file.
  • portlets/ - portlet plugins directory. See chapter 3 on portlet development.
  • themes/ - themes plugins directory. See Chapter 4 on creating Liferay themes.
  • tools/ - plugin templates and utilities.
  • webs/ - web plugins directory.
  • build.properties - default SDK properties.
  • build.<username>.properties - (optional) override SDK properties.
  • build.xml - contains targets to invoke in the SDK.
  • build-common.xml - contains common targets and properties referenced throughout the SDK.
  • build-common-plugin.xml - contains common targets and properties referenced by each plugin.
  • build-common-plugins.xml - contains common targets and properties referenced by each plugin type.

New plugins are placed in their own subdirectory of the appropriate plugin type. For instance, a new portlet called “greeting-portlet” would reside in liferay-plugins-[version]/portlets/greeting-portlet.

There’s an Ant build file (build.xml) in each of the plugins directories. Here are some Ant targets you’ll commonly use in developing your plugins:

• build-service - builds the service layer for a plugin, using Liferay Service Builder.

• clean - cleans the residual files created by the invocations of the compilation, archiving, and deployment targets.

• compile - compiles the plugin source code.

• deploy - builds and deploys the plugin to your application server.

• format-source - formats the source code per Liferay’s source code guidelines, informing you of violations that must be addressed. See the Development Sytle community wiki page for details.

• format-javadoc - formats the Javadoc per Liferay’s Javadoc guidelines. See the Javadoc Guidelines community wiki page for details.

Next, let’s consider some best practices for developing plugins using the SDK.