Designing Plug-in Systems in Python

[mystilleef]

Hello,

I need to design a plug-in system for a project. The goal is
to allow third party developers interact with an application
via plug-ins in a clean and robust manner. At this point I
am overwhelmed by my inexperience with designing plug-in
systems.

Are there any good tutorials on how to design good plug-in
systems with Python, or any language? What are the best
practices for designing plug-in systems in Python? How would
you go about designing one? What are common pitfalls in
designing one? Any pointers, suggestions, resources and
advice is welcome.

Thanks

[Kent Johnson]

Re: Designing Plug-in Systems in Python

mystilleef wrote:[color=blue]
> Hello,
>
> I need to design a plug-in system for a project. The goal is
> to allow third party developers interact with an application
> via plug-ins in a clean and robust manner. At this point I
> am overwhelmed by my inexperience with designing plug-in
> systems.[/color]

One of these might be helpful:

http://developer.berlios.de/projects/plugboard/

http://termie.pbwiki.com/SprinklesPy

Kent

[Jorge Godoy]

Re: Designing Plug-in Systems in Python

mystilleef wrote:[color=blue]
>
> Are there any good tutorials on how to design good plug-in
> systems with Python, or any language? What are the best
> practices for designing plug-in systems in Python? How would
> you go about designing one? What are common pitfalls in
> designing one? Any pointers, suggestions, resources and
> advice is welcome.[/color]

I am liking to use setuptools and its entry points. With this, your program
can check for a specific thing and load all modules that provides something
like "myapp.plugins" .

Take a look at it.

--
Jorge Godoy <godoy@ieee.org >

"Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur."
- Qualquer coisa dita em latim soa profundo.
- Anything said in Latin sounds smart.

[mystilleef]

Re: Designing Plug-in Systems in Python

Thanks for the pointers.