NetBeans Architecture Answers for projects/libraries module

General Information

Question (arch-what): What is this project good for?
Answer:

Permits libraries to be defined, customized, and stored by the user for reuse in multiple projects. For example, a Java JAR library has a classpath (usually one JAR), and an optional source path and Javadoc path that may be used for development-time features.

Question (arch-overall): Describe the overall architecture.
Answer: ProjectLibrariesAPI - The Project Libraries API permits definitions of libraries to be registered and persisted. Library type providers may be registered and can construct memory objects corresponding to persistent library definitions.
Question (arch-usecases): Describe the main use cases of the new API. Who will use it under what circumstances? What kind of code would typically need to be written to use the module?
Answer:

Different technology support modules will supply definitions of different kinds of libraries, e.g. Java JARs, that may be reused in user projects. Modules may register library predefinitions to wrap libraries they bundle. Project type providers can refer to available libraries in customizer dialogs.

Question (arch-time): What are the time estimates of the work?
Answer:

It is working and no major efforts are thought to remain.

Question (arch-quality): How will the quality of your code be tested and how are future regressions going to be prevented?
Answer:

Ought to be covered by unit tests.

Project and platform dependencies

Question (dep-nb): What other NetBeans projects and modules does this one depend on?
Answer:
• Filesystems -

  Used for various purposes.

• Datasystems -

  FolderInstance is used to read LibraryTypeProviders.

Question (dep-non-nb): What other projects outside NetBeans does this one depend on?
Answer:

None.

Question (dep-platform): On which platforms does your module run? Does it run in the same way on each?
Answer:

Any.

Question (dep-jre): Which version of JRE do you need (1.2, 1.3, 1.4, etc.)?
Answer:

1.4+.

Question (dep-jrejdk): Do you require the JDK or is the JRE enough?
Answer:

JRE.

Deployment

Question (deploy-jar): Do you deploy just module JAR file(s) or other files as well?
Answer:

Just a JAR.

Question (deploy-nbm): Can you deploy an NBM via the Update Center?
Answer:

Yes.

Question (deploy-shared): Do you need to be installed in the shared location only, or in the user directory only, or can your module be installed anywhere?
Answer:

Anywhere.

Question (deploy-packages): Are packages of your module made inaccessible by not declaring them public?
Answer:

Only API and SPI packages are exported.

Question (deploy-dependencies): What do other modules need to do to declare a dependency on this one?
Answer:

   OpenIDE-Module-Module-Dependencies: org.netbeans.modules.project.libraries/0 > 1.8.1
  

Compatibility with environment

Question (compat-i18n): Is your module correctly internationalized?
Answer:

Yes; GUI is internationalization, and library definitions support localized display names.

Question (compat-standards): Does the module implement or define any standards? Is the implementation exact or does it deviate somehow?
Answer:

No.

Question (compat-version): Can your module coexist with earlier and future versions of itself? Can you correctly read all old settings? Will future versions be able to read your current settings? Can you read or politely ignore settings stored by a future version?
Answer:

Library definitions are stored using a versioned XML DTD.

Access to resources

Question (resources-file): Does your module use java.io.File directly?
Answer:

No, except for libraries present in the IDE installation which must be disk files.

Question (resources-layer): Does your module provide own layer? Does it create any files or folders in it? What it is trying to communicate by that and with which components?
Answer:

Yes.

Folder org-netbeans-api-project-libraries/Libraries on the system filesystem is used to store the libraries declarations.

Folder org-netbeans-api-project-libraries/LibraryTypeProviders on the system filesystem is used to store LibraryTypeProvider instance files.

Question (resources-read): Does your module read any resources from layers? For what purpose?
Answer:

Libraries are read from a fixed location in the system file system.

Question (resources-mask): Does your module mask/hide/override any resources provided by other modules in their layers?
Answer:

No.

Lookup of components

Question (lookup-lookup): Does your module use org.openide.util.Lookup or any similar technology to find any components to communicate with? Which ones?
Answer:

Yes. It looks for instances of org.netbeans.spi.project.libraries.LibraryProvider in the default lookup. This interface represents a read-only storage of libraries. There can be multiple instances of this interface.

Question (lookup-register): Do you register anything into lookup for other code to find?
Answer:

A default LibraryProvider implementation is registered.

Question (lookup-remove): Do you remove entries of other modules from lookup?
Answer:

No.

Execution Environment

Question (exec-property): Is execution of your code influenced by any environment or Java system (System.getProperty) property?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-component): Is execution of your code influenced by any (string) property of any of your components?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-classloader): Does your code create its own class loader(s)?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-reflection): Does your code use Java Reflection to execute other code?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-privateaccess): Are you aware of any other parts of the system calling some of your methods by reflection?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-process): Do you execute an external process from your module? How do you ensure that the result is the same on different platforms? Do you parse output? Do you depend on result code?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-introspection): Does your module use any kind of runtime type information (instanceof, work with java.lang.Class, etc.)?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-threading): What threading models, if any, does your module adhere to?
Answer:

TBD

Question (security-policy): Does your functionality require modifications to the standard policy file?
Answer:

No.

Question (security-grant): Does your code grant additional rights to some other code?
Answer:

No.

Format of files and protocols

Question (format-types): Which protocols and file formats (if any) does your module read or write on disk, or transmit or receive over the network?
Answer: Library-Declaration-DTD -

An XML DTD is used to define the library definition format.

Question (format-dnd): Which protocols (if any) does your code understand during Drag & Drop?
Answer:

None.

Question (format-clipboard): Which data flavors (if any) does your code read from or insert to the clipboard (by access to clipboard on means calling methods on java.awt.datatransfer.Transferable?
Answer:

None.

Performance and Scalability

Question (perf-startup): Does your module run any code on startup?
Answer:

Currently it loads the list of libraries at startup. Libraries framework needs to synchronize the declared libraries and global build.properties.

Question (perf-exit): Does your module run any code on exit?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-scale): Which external criteria influence the performance of your program (size of file in editor, number of files in menu, in source directory, etc.) and how well your code scales?
Answer:

Number of libraries.

Question (perf-limit): Are there any hard-coded or practical limits in the number or size of elements your code can handle?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-mem): How much memory does your component consume? Estimate with a relation to the number of windows, etc.
Answer:

Probably little.

Question (perf-wakeup): Does any piece of your code wake up periodically and do something even when the system is otherwise idle (no user interaction)?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-progress): Does your module execute any long-running tasks?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-huge_dialogs): Does your module contain any dialogs or wizards with a large number of GUI controls such as combo boxes, lists, trees, or text areas?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-menus): Does your module use dynamically updated context menus, or context-sensitive actions with complicated enablement logic?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-spi): How the performance of the plugged in code will be enforced?
Answer:

No special provisions.