Essentials Plugin Template (c) 2023

License

Provided under MIT license

Overview

Fork this repo when creating a new plugin for Essentials. For more information about plugins, refer to the Essentials Wiki Plugins article.

This repo contains example classes for the three main categories of devices:

• EssentialsPluginTemplateDevice: Used for most third party devices which require communication over a streaming mechanism such as a Com port, TCP/SSh/UDP socket, CEC, etc
• EssentialsPluginTemplateLogicDevice: Used for devices that contain logic, but don't require any communication with third parties outside the program
• EssentialsPluginTemplateCrestronDevice: Used for devices that represent a piece of Crestron hardware

There are matching factory classes for each of the three categories of devices. The EssentialsPluginTemplateConfigObject should be used as a template and modified for any of the categories of device. Same goes for the EssentialsPluginTemplateBridgeJoinMap.

This also illustrates how a plugin can contain multiple devices.

Cloning Instructions

After forking this repository into your own GitHub space, you can create a new repository using this one as the template. Then you must install the necessary dependencies as indicated below.

Dependencies

The Essentials libraries are required. They referenced via nuget. You must have nuget.exe installed and in the PATH environment variable to use the following command. Nuget.exe is available at nuget.org.

Installing Dependencies

To install dependencies once nuget.exe is installed, run the following command from the root directory of your repository: nuget install .\packages.config -OutputDirectory .\packages -excludeVersion. Alternatively, you can simply run the GetPackages.bat file. To verify that the packages installed correctly, open the plugin solution in your repo and make sure that all references are found, then try and build it.

Installing Different versions of PepperDash Core

If you need a different version of PepperDash Core, use the command nuget install .\packages.config -OutputDirectory .\packages -excludeVersion -Version {versionToGet}. Omitting the -Version option will pull the version indicated in the packages.config file.

Instructions for Renaming Solution and Files

See the Task List in Visual Studio for a guide on how to start using the template. There is extensive inline documentation and examples as well.

For renaming instructions in particular, see the XML remarks tags on class definitions

Build Instructions (PepperDash Internal)

Generating Nuget Package

In the solution folder is a file named "PDT.EssentialsPluginTemplate.nuspec"

1. Rename the file to match your plugin solution name
2. Edit the file to include your project specifics including
   1. PepperDash.Essentials.Plugin.MakeModel Convention is to use the prefix "PepperDash.Essentials.Plugin" and include the MakeModel of the device.
   2. https://github.com/PepperDash/EssentialsPluginTemplate Change to your url to the project repo

There is no longer a requirement to adjust workflow files for nuget generation for private and public repositories. This is now handled automatically in the workflow.

If you do not make these changes to the nuspec file, the project will not generate a nuget package