Plugin Pipeline

The Jenny Pipeline

The code generator system works as a pipeline that runs the following steps:

1. Configuration: Read all configuration options from the .properties files in your project's root directory, and configure all plugins accordingly.
2. Pre-Processing: Pre-process your code or environment, via plugins that implement IPreProcessor.
3. Parsing and Caching: Parse your project's code into a format that the rest of your plugins can use.
4. Data Extraction: Extract whatever data you want from your project and store it in a big array for use by code generators. The extraction is done by plugins that implement IDataProvider, and is stored in an array of instances or subclasses of CodeGeneratorData.
5. Code Generation: The code is generated by any plugin that implements ICodeGenerator, and stored in instances of CodeGenFile. A CodeGeneratorData[] containing all data from all IDataProviders is made available for use as you see fit.
6. Post-Processing: The generated code is post-processed by all plugins that implement IPostProcessor. The previously-generated CodeGenFiles are made available to post-processors and can be manipulated freely.
7. Using Generated Code: Your code is now ready for use!

These stages are run in sequence, and each plugin within a stage is run in sequence. However, an individual plugin can process data in parallel if you'd like.

Each page describes a stage of the pipeline in detail.