Question

I am developing an application that can be extended using ‘plug-ins’. The plug-ins will be pretty basic, allowing developers to add new ‘actions’ to my application.

What documentation/information do I need to provide so that developers can do what they need to?

I was thinking a short example and a general overview of how the application/plug-ins work?

Answer 1

You need to foster a sense of community. Things like:

• sample code for more than one real plugin;
• a getting started guide for plugin writers;
• details on how to deploy a plugin and on how they are discovered by your application;
• a wiki so that plugin writers can collaborate, and
• an easy way for plugin authors to contribute their plugin

might help.