[news.eclipse.newcomer] Re: Loading jars dynamic from plugins

[Felix Dorner <felix_do@xxxxxx>]

Hey Franz,

> for example I wan't to "drop in" jdbc drivers, that will be used by the 
> core app loading them the "normal" way with 
> Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"). I don't know witch driver the 
> end user will use so it can be configured and added by installing the 
> right plugin.

Maybe something like this would work (but I'm an eclipse newbie, so 
handle with care):

Your core plugin would abstract over the different database drivers and 
only 'talk' the java database interface language. Further, your core 
defines an extension point where one (or more) driver-plugins can 
register themselves. Each driver-plugin just wraps (and exports) one or 
more specific database drivers. The core plugin would be aware of the 
registered driver plugins and let users choose between them. Note, that 
the extension point mechanism is 'declarative', which means that your 
core plugin can create the driver-list without the need to load any 
driver-plugin class at all. This lazy-loading lemma is used all over in 
eclipse.

Felix