Installing Plugins and WCAs
In This Topic
This topic describes how to install plugins in XperienCentral. Once the development of a plugin is complete, you need to deploy it to XperienCentral. Plugins can be deployed as a standalone JAR file or several plugins can be archived in a WCA (WebManager Component Archive), which is simply a ZIP file containing multiple plugin JAR files. In XperienCentral, plugins can be deployed in two ways:
Using the Plugin Management Console
By copying the plugin JAR file or WCA compressed file to the
<XperienCentral-root>/work/deploydirectory.
Installing a Plugin or WCA Using the Plugin Management Console
To install or update plugins using the Plugin Management console, follow these steps:
In XperienCentral, navigate to Configuration > Plugins.
Click [Browse] to install or update a plugin.
Browse to the plugin JAR file or WCA ZIP file, select it and click [Open].
Click [Apply]. The plugin or plugins contained in the WCA are installed.
Press [F5] to refresh the XperienCentral Workspace. You will now see the new plugin(s) in the list of plugins.
Installing a Plugin or WCA Using the work/deploy Directory
Plugins can be deployed to XperienCentral using the <XperienCentral-root>/work/deploy directory. When a plugin is deployed to this directory, it is immediately installed in XperienCentral. Once the plugin is installed, the JAR file(s) are deleted from this directory. To install or update a plugin using the <XperienCentral-root>/work/deploy directory:
Copy the plugin JAR file or WCA ZIP file to the
<XperienCentral-root>/work/deploydirectory in your deployment. If XperienCentral is running, it will automatically install all standalone plugins and/or those contained within a WCA. If XperienCentral is not running, the plugin(s) will be installed the next time XperienCentral is started. Once installed, you can manage these plugins using the Plugin Management console.Press [F5] in any XperienCentral sessions that were running during the plugin installation(s). You should now see the new plugin(s) in the list of plugins in the Plugin Management console.
We have an issue for a long time already, where plugins not always (well, almost never) properly update when installing a plugin using the work/deploy directory. Are there any "what to do in case of problems" for this? Our 'workaround' now is to just reboot the server, which takes a very long amount of time (about 15 tot 30 minutes) and doesn't always fix the issue.