Custom plugin

CeCe using plugins to provide functionality for simulation and it’s possible to add third-party plugins or even create own plugins. Currently only C++ plugins are supported.

Create a plugin

At first it’s recommended to have cloned repository with runnable application (CLI). In directory where the other plugins are create a directory with your plugin name (in this example we create a plugin named dummy).

$ mkdir dummy && cd dummy

In that directory at least 2 files are required: CMakeLists.txt and Plugins.cpp.

# CMakeLists.txt
build_plugin(dummy SOURCES Plugin.cpp)

// Plugin.cpp
#include "cece/plugin/definition.hpp"
#include "cece/plugin/Api.hpp"

class DummyApi : public cece::plugin::Api { };

CECE_DEFINE_PLUGIN(dummy, DummyApi)

Next step includes the plugin in the build tree. There’s a CMake variable CECE_PLUGINS_CUSTOM which contains a list of additional plugins (default is empty) that are built with standard plugins. You can set it from terminal or from GUI.

$ cmake -DCECE_PLUGINS_CUSTOM=dummy ..

You can obtain more information from standard plugins repository and Plugin API.

CMake functions

Each plugin uses build_plugin function in CMakeLists.txt. This function offers parameters which can configure built plugin.

build_plugin(<name> [EXPORT_HEADER]
             SOURCES source1 [source2 ...]
             [LIBRARIES library1 [library2 ...]]
             [DEPENDENCIES dependency1 [dependency2 ...]]
             [PLUGINS_REQUIRED plugin1 [plugin2 ...]])

Builds a plugin with name <name> from source files. EXPORT_HEADER flag generate export header file using GenerateExportHeader. Result library depends on given libraries and is built after given dependencies. Plugin can dependent on other plugins (PLUGINS_REQUIRED).

There’s support for automated tests (googletest) for plugins.

build_test(<name>
           SOURCES source1 [source2 ...]
           [LIBRARIES library1 [library2 ...]]
           [DEPENDENCIES dependency1 [dependency2 ...]]
           [PLUGINS_REQUIRED plugin1 [plugin2 ...]])

Meaning of the parameters is same as for build_plugin.