FSM Component Definition

The input component is advertised to FirstSpirit by adding a <public /> section to the FirstSpirit Module (FSM) file's module.xml, indicating the classes and other resources required by the input component (see Module Architecture for general information about FSM structuring).

Because of the composite nature of an input component's programmatic structure (the input component consists of a number of classes), the mark-up within the <public /> tag differs somewhat from that of other plug-in types:

<module>

    <!-- Module-wide tags here. -->

    <components>

        <!-- The public component which specifies the input component for
               server-side use and use in SiteArchitect. -->
        <public>

            <!-- NOTE: this component name determines the XML tag by which
                   the input component may be referenced in form definitions! -->
            <name>EXAMPLE_COMPONENT</name>

            <displayname>Example Input Component</displayname>
            <description>An example input component for use in SiteArchitect and ContentCreator</description>
        
            <!-- Always reference GadgetSpecification as the component's class. This class will
                   manage the required objects based on the configuration given below. -->
            <class>de.espirit.firstspirit.module.GadgetSpecification</class>
        
            <!-- Configuration for the class GadgetSpecification -->
            <configuration>
        
                <!-- The class which defines the input component's GOM structure (implements GomFormElement). -->
                <gom>de.espirit.firstspirit.opt.example.gadget.GomExample</gom>
        
                <!-- The input component's ValueEngineerFactory implementation.
                       Only required if the gadget implementations provide a value holder aspect. -->
                <value>de.espirit.firstspirit.opt.example.gadget.ExampleValueEngineerFactory</value>
        
                <!-- SiteArchitect gadget: the gadget's SwingGadgetFactory implementation. -->
                <factory>de.espirit.firstspirit.opt.example.gadget.ExampleSwingGadgetFactory</factory>
        
                <!-- ContentCreator gadget: the gadget's WebGadgetFactory implementation. -->
                <factory>de.espirit.firstspirit.opt.example.gadget.ExampleWebGadgetFactory</factory>
        
                <!-- The scope (template types) in which use of this input component is allowed. -->
                <scope unrestricted="yes" />

            </configuration>

            <!-- Provide a JAR file which contains all classes and supporting files
                   required for use of the input component in SiteArchitect. -->
            <resources>
                <resource>lib/gadget-example-sitearchitect-1.0.0.jar</resource>
            </resources>

        </public>

        <!-- The web-app component specifies a JAR file containing all classes and
               supporting files required for use of the input component in ContentCreator. -->
        <web-app>
            <name>Example Input Component: WebClient Resources</name>
            <displayname>Resource component for Example Input Component</displayname>
            <web-xml>web.xml</web-xml>
            <web-resources>
                <resource>lib/gadget-example-contentcreator-1.0.0.jar</resource>
            </web-resources>
        </web-app>

        <!-- More components if necessary. -->

    </components>

</module>

The Component Block

"public" component type

The public component type is used to reference the class de.espirit.firstspirit.module.GadgetSpecification (note: this class is not included in the FirstSpirit APIs - it can be referenced here nonetheless), which uses the data given in the <configuration /> block to identify the input component's available classes.

"web-app" component type

The web-app component type is used to specify a web application. While we are not building a full web application, this component is used to roll out the input components' classes and other supporting resources as a JAR file to a location the ContentCreator can access during server start-up (as a project-specific ContentCreator 5 application is started)--during start-up, the contents of this and other modules' JAR files are added to the ContentCreator code set that will be used by the application server.

At least one component of the type web-app must be specified in the module description of a FirstSpirit Module that provides an input component which should be used in ContentCreator.