This topic describes how to create an update site and how
to add a feature to an update site.
After a new custom rule plug-in has been added to a feature, the
next step in installing the plug-in is to add the feature to an update
site. This is called
publishing the feature on the site. This
task is described in the following subtopics:
Creating an update site
This
subtopic describes how to create an update site. Follow these steps:
- Open the Plug-in Development perspective.
- On the main menu click . The New Update Site wizard opens.
- On the first page of the wizard, titled Update Site Project:
- Enter a project name in the Project name input
field.
- Click Finish.
The wizard does the following: - It creates the update site project and displays it in the Package
Explorer. The project contains one item, a site.xml file.
- It opens the site.xml file in the site manifest editor.
- If you want to publish a feature on the update site now, go directly
to the next subtopic, Publishing a feature on an update site. Otherwise
you can close the site manifest editor.
Publishing a feature
on an update site
This subtopic describes how to publish
a feature on an update site. Follow these steps:
- Open the Plug-in Development perspective.
- Open the update site with the site manifest editor:
- In the Package Explorer, expand the folder for the update site.
- Right-click the site.xml file and click .
- In the site manifest editor:
- Add the feature to the site:
- Click the Site Map tab if it is not already
the active tab.
- Click Add Feature. The Feature Selection
window opens.
- In the window:
- In the list of features, click the feature that you want to add.
- Click OK.
The site manifest editor adds an entry for
the feature to the list of features on the left side of the Site
Map tab under Managing the Site.
At this time -- that is, before the feature is built -- the list entry
for the feature consists of the feature ID followed by the version
number of the feature in parentheses, for example: FP_0003_FeatureID (1.0.0.qualifier)
- Build the feature:
- On the Site Map tab, select the feature
that was just added.
- Click Build. The site manifest editor creates
the files needed to install the update site into the Developer for System z® environment.
The site manifest editor does the following:- It creates a new jar file containing the feature information and
adds it to the Features folder of the update
site project in the Project Explorer. The name of the jar file consists
of the feature ID, followed by the underscore character and the feature
version, followed by the date and time of the build, including minutes
and seconds. For example,
FP_0003_FeatureID_1.0.0.201205220911
- It creates a new jar file for each plug-in that the feature contains
and adds the new jar file to the Plugins folder
of the update site project in the Project Explorer. The name of this
jar file consists of the project ID, followed by the underscore character
and the project version, followed by the date and time of the build.
For example,
PIP_0001_ProjectID_1.0.0.201205220912
- It replaces the list entry for the feature in the list of features
on the Site Map tab with the name of the new
feature jar file.
- Close the site manifest editor.
Updating a feature in
an update site
You can add multiple versions
of the same feature to an update site, even if the content and the
version numbers of the features are identical. This is possible because
the site manifest editor includes the current date and time in the
name of each feature jar file, making each name unique.
Therefore, adding an updated version of a feature to
an update site is essentially just like adding a new original feature
to the site update site. See the subtopic Publishing a feature on an update site.
There are two differences when you add an updated version
of a feature:
- First, you might want to delete the previous version or versions
of the feature from the update site, if they are no longer going to
be used. To delete a feature:
- Open the update site in the site manifest editor.
- In the list of features, right-click the feature that you want
to delete.
- Click Delete.
- Second, before you add the updated version of the feature to the
update site, you might want to modify the version number of the feature,
to allow you and other people to more easily distinguish this version
of the feature from previous versions.