Adding a feature to an update site

After you add a custom rule plug-in to a feature, you can add the feature to an update site.

About this task

Adding a feature to an update site is called publishing the feature on the site.

Publishing a feature on a site

Procedure

  1. Open the Plug-in Development perspective.
  2. On the main menu click File > New > Project > Plug-in Development > Update Site Project. The New Update Site wizard opens.
  3. On Update Site Project page, enter a project name in the Project name field and then click Finish. The wizard does the following actions:
    • 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.
  4. In the site manifest editor, click the Site Map tab.
  5. Click Add Feature. The Feature Selection window opens.
  6. In the list of features, click the feature that you want to add and then 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. 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).
  7. To build the feature, on the Site Map tab, select the feature that was added and click Build. The site manifest editor creates the files that are required to install the update site into the Rational® Developer for System z® environment. The site manifest editor does the following actions:
    1. It creates a JAR file that contains 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, the underscore character, the feature version, and the date and time of the build, including minutes and seconds. For example, FP_0003_FeatureID_1.0.0.201205220911.
    2. It creates a 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, the underscore character, and the project version, and the date and time of the build. For example, PIP_0001_ProjectID_1.0.0.201205220912.
    3. 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.
  8. Close the site manifest editor.

Updating a feature in an update site

About this task

When you update a feature and want to publish the updated version, you have two options:
  • You can add the updated version to the update site. Update sites can contain multiple versions of the same feature, even if the content and the version numbers of the features are identical. This addition 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.
  • You can delete the old version from the update site and then add the new version.

Procedure


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