Sample Plugin

• A Basic Project

• Create a plugin project – mvn archetype:generate.
  1. Build and package – mvn install.
  2. Install the plugin file, add it to your ReadyAPI.
  3. Try out the plugin, make sure it works.
  4. Remove the plugin again, we will replace it with the customized version.

• Customize the Plugin

• Open the project in your favorite java development environment.
  1. Change the PluginAction.java class.
  2. Edit metadata to reflect changes.
  3. Build and package – mvn install.
  4. Install the plugin file, add it to ReadyAPI.
  5. Try out the plugin, make sure it works.

To create a basic plugin, use the maven archetype to generate a basic plugin project.

1. Browse to the project directory (where you want to create the plugin project).

2. Open the command prompt.

3. Run the command.

This will download and install the maven archetype and start the generation of the plugin project. You will be prompted for a number of properties – set these as follows:

The default project is generated by maven:

4. Open the my-plugin directory.

5. Open the command prompt.

6. Run the command:

Maven builds the plugin and packages it for installation:

Installing the Plugin

Trying the Plugin

To see the installed action, right-click an open project in your ReadyAPI workspace.

The plugin action is at the bottom of the menu:

Removing the Plugin

Customizing the Plugin

The basic sample plugin does not do anything useful, it only displays a 'hello' message. We now want to change the plugin to perform a search in our project, and open the list with the search results in the selected project.

Opening the Project

Open the project in your java development environment.

Find the Maven generated file - PluginAction.java.

The default implementation of the perform method just shows a "Hello from..." message in a pop-up window.

Changing the Action

Let's change the perform method to

• prompt for a regular expression search string (UISupport.prompt);

• do a recursive search through all items in the selected project (findItems);

• match item names using the search string;

• display the results in ModelItemListDesktopPanel (UISupport.showDesktopPanel).

We have changed some of the metadata in the constructor.

The generated PluginConfig.java file has been updated accordingly:

And, we have also changed the metadata in the pom.

<name>ReadyAPI Search Plugin</name>

<artifactId >readyapi-search-plugin</artifactId>

<groupId >com.smartbear.soapui.plugins</groupId>

Building the Plugin

We need to build a plugin file to be installed:

1. Open the my-soapui-plugin directory.

2. Open the command prompt.

3. Run the command:

   mvn install

Maven builds the plugin and packages it for installation.

Installing the Plugin

Trying Out the Plugin

With the plugin installed, you now have a new option on the context menu:

It prompts as follows when selected:

It uses the specified regular expression to find items in the selected project and to display them:

Double-clicking an item in this window opens the corresponding desktop panel for editing.