Steps to publish a plugin

Is there any guide on how to publish a plugin? I have a couple and I can’t find any guidance on how to do it. Thanks.

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I’ve put together a framework for creating basic plugins, but I never really published it and only pointed a couple of people to look at, so it’s been kind of stealth project of mine. I only recently put it on Github. I decided to build the Submasters plugin using the framework as an example and proof of concept.

Documentation is a big part of that project, as you can imagine. But I stalled that project when the eZLO announcement was made, not knowing if everything was going to change suddenly or what would happen. Now the roadmap seems more clear, and there is still time and value in finishing (even though it’s understood that big changes are likely coming nonetheless).

Would you be interested in collaborating to put the publishing section together? I could take an initial pass at writing it up, and you can edit/test and embellish?

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sure, I could help. I already took a look at the code, since you posted some days ago as a suggestion to a user.

Anyway, I was referring to the steps necessary to publish it in the official store. I have more time in August, and I plan to re-write the OpenSprinkler plugin from scratch, plus publish my plugins for HTTP dimmers/lights/rgb ligths. I can’t find anywhere the procedure to access the plug-in store as a developer.

OK. I have a hastily-assembled first cut from my notes, here: GitHub - toggledbits/PluginTools: Tools for creating Vera/Luup/openLuup plugins

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It is basically here MiOS Apps, but it is really unnecessary overcomplicated. However publishing on an AltStore is relatively easy

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Hi,

See this wiki article. Apps.mios Developer's Guide - MiOS

Cheers Rene

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The pre-requisite of creating an account could be satisfied with this (courtesy of support):

In order to publish plugins, we kindly invite you to create an account on cp.mios.com.
With that account, you will be able to connect to apps.mios.com and publish your plugins.

Patrick, were you able to get this plugin running on openLuup. I built a plugin with the framework that communicates with Home Assistant via the HA API. However, in order to get the plugin to run on OL, I had to hard path (with my actual device number) the PFB table values for each call in the lua file. Here’s an example:

D = function( msg, … ) luup.devices[6].environment.PFB.log( luup.devices[6].environment.PFB.LOGLEVEL.DEBUG1, msg, … ) end
L = function( msg, … ) luup.devices[6].environment.PFB.log( luup.devices[6].environment.PFB.LOGLEVEL.NOTICE, msg, … ) end

Everything works, it’s just the hard path means that the code won’t run outside of my particular environment. I’m using the latest development version of OL, with no other plugins loaded. I double checked the I_xml file and the function code is an exact match to the framework. Likewise, the topmost code in the Lua file is a match (in format) with only the variable values changed.

In the implementation file (I_.xml), find the line that begins pluginSID = pluginModule.MYSID or ... and add after it:

pluginModule.PFB = PFB

The process of creating the Submasters plugin gave me a bunch of better ideas that I haven’t yet had time to get to. I didn’t expect anyone was using this framework yet. I’ll make this change in Github as well, and post some other updates, and let you know when it’s up, but this should get you rolling for now.

EDIT: For clarity, in all, it should look like this:

...
		pluginSID = pluginModule.MYSID or "urn:YOURDOMAIN-NAME:serviceId:PluginBasic1"
		
		pluginModule.PFB = PFB

		--[[ ===== D O   N O T   M O D I F Y   A B O V E   T H I S   L I N E --]]

That worked! Awesome. i tried every which way to get this to run and that never occurred to me.

I’m able to follow 90% of the framework code, but I don’t understand why adding the PFB table to the pluginModule variable allows the plugin globals to be seen throughout the plugin… I see where you manually call the lua file as a module, and how the PFB table holds functions etc, but I’m at a loss as to why this new change works… it’s a couple of layers of abstraction that I don’t grok…as of yet.

On real Vera Luup, the implementation file’s code is in the same environment as that of the loaded Lua modules that the implementation loads (and which environment is used depends on how you load them, too). This does not appear to be true in openLuup. That change demonstrates how transparent these things can be to most plugins, as none of my prior plugins has ever needed any change to run directly in openLuup with respect to the environment it’s running in. But the framework is doing some special things.

What the PluginBasic framework is currently doing is expeditious, but is not a long-term solution, it was a starting point. It can do a much better job of encapsulation and carrying context, which I intend to complete. It’s just a matter of style (good style, actually) for single-instance plugins (for which PluginBasic is intended), but for any multi-instance or parent-child plugin, complete and correct encapsulation is really necessary. This also gives me the opportunity to minimize the amount of code in the implementation file, which is a pain in the Lua to deal with. That will also set the stage for better interoperability between versions.

So expect to see PluginMulti or something to that effect at some not-too-distant future date (Submasters is really a Multi, so I have changes made there to back-port). And also expect a second version of PluginBasic that will not be directly compatible with existing plugins written using the current PluginBasic, but will have a documented upgrade recipe so you can get there without too much pain. I may even give the new version a new name, like PluginSinglet, and just let PluginBasic stay as-is.

Ok I think I understand. You’re using the PFB table as a class, and then instantiating the encapsulated object with pluginModule.PFB = PFB Lua is a bit opaque when it comes to seeing OOP structures.

Can you do something on the javascript/json side as well. This is by far the biggest hurtle for me as creating control UIs by trial and error object notation is way too time consuming.

I used the instructions to update my plug-in. Couple of notes:

-After uploading the new files I clicked “Commit all” but got everytime “Commit failed” message. This did not however matter, the new files were there and releasing new version could be done.

-I checked also instruction linked by reneboer at Apps.mios Developer's Guide - MiOS which says:

IMPORTANT: When you add .lua files to the plugin, add them as Miscellaneous files . Do not add them as Lua files because if you do, LuaUPnP will load them into their lua state and run them as stand alone files in addition to merging them into the implementation.

whereas your instruction says to use lua file role. Don’t know whether this matters or not. I did use lua role and has worked ok for my plugin.

I just got the “Commit failed” as well while trying to experiment with the Lua file thing–I’ve never noticed that the latter has made any difference. Let’s see what my experiment shows, at least for current firmware.

@Sorin, can you get someone to look into why we’re getting “Commit failed” on the app marketplace right now?

Thanks, Patrick

I’ll report back.

LE: Everything should be back on track.

Confirming what @Vpow found… if a file is marked as a Lua file, it is run immediately after startup Lua and scene Lua are loaded. If your Lua file is just a module, that’s probably harmless, but still not intended so doc change coming… after years of building plugins, I still learn new things all the time. I guess that’s what makes it interesting.

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Hi Patrick
I took the plunge and updated one of my plugins to the new framework. I now get the following error in startup.lua in openLuup:

2020-09-20 22:53:44.072 luup.create_device:: [198] D_EchoBridge1.xml / I_EchoBridge1.xml / D_EchoBridge1.json (urn:schemas-buxton-vera:device:EchoBridge:1)
2020-09-20 22:53:44.072 openLuup.chdev:: [string “I_EchoBridge1.xml”]:16: Cannot load PFB library module L_PFB_EchoBridge1.lua

I tried hard coding the file path and file name (in the implementation file) with no luck. I also tried to insert module("L_PFB_EchoBridge1", package.seeall) at the head of the named lua file and that too did not work.
I suspect the error has something to do with scope in openluup similar to what I was describing above in the previous incarnation of the plugin. But I have no idea where to insert a similar pluginModule.PFB = PFB to get the module recognized.
Any help is as always appreciated.

Thx

Hey @rigpapa, have you had a chance to look at this.

Thx

Did you rename L_PFB_PluginBasic1.lua to L_PFB_EchoBridge1.lua? Is it located in the same directory as your I_xxx.xml file?

Yes. The file will not load as a module. You can see in the snap that the permissions are OK, and as I said, I tried to hard path the module in the “I_” file, but no joy.