[p2-dev] Categorising IUs in an existing p2 repo using category.xml

[Dileepa Jayakody <dileepa@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Devs,

I have a requirement of categorising IUs in an existing P2 Repo so that when the available features of the repo are queried, they are shown  in groups under categories (like the 'Grouped by' feature in Eclipse). I came across the concept of category.xml to explicitly define IUs under categories. 
My question is how can I retrieve this category metadata when I query the available IUs from the repo?
Can I use IRepository.getProperties() method to read the category metadata from the category.xml in the p2 repo? 
Or do I have to run 'Category Publisher' application to encode the category data into content.xml of the p2 repo; is there any other alternative method to categorise IUs in an existing repo?

Thanks,
Dileepa