Module Architecture

FirstSpirit Modules (FSM) include compiled Java classes, other resources and a module definition file, and are created based on multiple configuration files.

• Component Model
  Individual plug-ins (be they server or client interface extensions) are structured into components that identify a plug-in's use cases, functionality and programmatic facilities. This section describes the most important FSM component types, including the web-app type, which will be used in the deployment ContentCreator plug-ins.
• Module Definition
  The file module.xml describes general FSM settings as well as the components included in a module. This section describes the XML syntax of this file in detail.
• Web Application Settings
  As plug-ins geared towards use in ContentCreator must be rolled into ContentCreator's web application, a module should provide a configuration file, web.xml, that contains settings to be used during run-time. This section describes the XML syntax of this file in detail.
• The Ant Build File
  The module build process is to a large extent left to the developer's preferences. However, FirstSpirit Module files follow a strict format that should be adhered to. In order to ease FSM development, the module ContentCreator Examples provides a sample file with Ant targets that will cover most ContentCreator modules' needs.