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Show HN: PF4J-Plus – ServiceRegistry and EventBus for PF4J Plugin Systems

1 points by decebals 8mo ago

decebals 8mo ago
I'm the creator of PF4J (https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j) - a plugin framework for adding extensibility to Java applications, used by companies worldwide (https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j#trusted-by https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j#trusted-by). After years of GitHub discussions, I kept seeing three recurring patterns everyone rebuilds: 1. Service injection - custom PluginFactory boilerplate to wire platform services (Issue #319 is typical: https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j/issues/319 https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j/issues/319) 2. Plugin communication - everyone builds their own EventBus 3. Configuration - no standard approach for plugin-scoped settings Hit these myself building a JavaFX app. PF4J handled loading, but then 30+ lines of factory code just to inject services. Built pf4j-plus to standardize this layer: BEFORE - custom factory everywhere: public class MyPluginFactory extends DefaultPluginFactory { @Override public Plugin create(PluginWrapper wrapper) { Plugin plugin = super.create(wrapper); if (plugin instanceof MyPlugin) { ((MyPlugin) plugin).setGreetingService(App.getGreetingService()); ((MyPlugin) plugin).setEventBus(App.getEventBus()); } return plugin; } } AFTER - declare once: PluginManager pm = PlusPluginManagerBuilder.create() .serviceRegistry(r -> { r.register(GreetingService.class, new DefaultGreetingService()); r.register(EventBus.class, new DefaultEventBus()); }) .build(); Plugins get ServiceRegistryAware, extensions use @Inject. What it provides: - ServiceRegistry - shared services for plugins - EventBus - decoupled communication - ConfigService - plugin-scoped configuration Not a DI container replacement. Just standardizes the platform layer you'd build anyway. Especially useful outside Spring (desktop apps, CLI tools, embedded systems). Early stage - using it in my own projects. Looking for feedback on what platform services are missing. Repo: https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j-plus https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j-plus Blog post: https://dev.to/decebals/why-i-built-pf4j-plus-1hl1 https://dev.to/decebals/why-i-built-pf4j-plus-1hl1

1 points by decebals 8mo ago

I'm the creator of PF4J (https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j) - a plugin framework for adding extensibility to Java applications, used by companies worldwide (https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j#trusted-by https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j#trusted-by). After years of GitHub discussions, I kept seeing three recurring patterns everyone rebuilds: 1. Service injection - custom PluginFactory boilerplate to wire platform services (Issue #319 is typical: https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j/issues/319 https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j/issues/319) 2. Plugin communication - everyone builds their own EventBus 3. Configuration - no standard approach for plugin-scoped settings Hit these myself building a JavaFX app. PF4J handled loading, but then 30+ lines of factory code just to inject services. Built pf4j-plus to standardize this layer: BEFORE - custom factory everywhere: public class MyPluginFactory extends DefaultPluginFactory { @Override public Plugin create(PluginWrapper wrapper) { Plugin plugin = super.create(wrapper); if (plugin instanceof MyPlugin) { ((MyPlugin) plugin).setGreetingService(App.getGreetingService()); ((MyPlugin) plugin).setEventBus(App.getEventBus()); } return plugin; } } AFTER - declare once: PluginManager pm = PlusPluginManagerBuilder.create() .serviceRegistry(r -> { r.register(GreetingService.class, new DefaultGreetingService()); r.register(EventBus.class, new DefaultEventBus()); }) .build(); Plugins get ServiceRegistryAware, extensions use @Inject. What it provides: - ServiceRegistry - shared services for plugins - EventBus - decoupled communication - ConfigService - plugin-scoped configuration Not a DI container replacement. Just standardizes the platform layer you'd build anyway. Especially useful outside Spring (desktop apps, CLI tools, embedded systems). Early stage - using it in my own projects. Looking for feedback on what platform services are missing. Repo: https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j-plus https://github.com/pf4j/pf4j-plus Blog post: https://dev.to/decebals/why-i-built-pf4j-plus-1hl1 https://dev.to/decebals/why-i-built-pf4j-plus-1hl1