Fledermaus Plugins?
Summary
During the course of developing Fledermaus we have searched for methods to share functionality with 3rd parties. This can and has taken many forms for example; sharing format specifications, sharing code snippets or libraries at times, using software integration techniques such as shared memory and so on.
Since 2010 Fledermaus developers have invested time and resources to investigate and create plugin technology. The plugin technology was intially created to support the work we were doing during the FMGeocoder -> FMGT development. However, the developers quickly realized that plugins - if done right - could be by far the best method to achieve many of the goals we had when we used other less successful technical methods.
Plugins have a key advantage in that they are useful for internal code development and can serve as the basis of technology sharing.
Currently the plugin technology developed so far is used exclusively within the Fledermaus software suite.
Version 7.3.2 Fledermaus was the first to make internal use of plugins and a set of internal plugins shipped with the product to deliver some functionality.
Plugin Development
There are two classes of plugin:
a) Internal Plugins - Plugins developed as part of the core system. These plugins have no external interface exposed. Within the application we are using plugins as a mechanism to enhance our core development method in specific areas. Plugins that are internal/core are simply distributed as part of our software package.
b) External Plugins - Provision of the ability for 3rd parties to potential develop their own plugins to work with our software.
3rd Party Plugin Documentation
We have available a 3rd party SDK (Software Development Kit) for plugin creation. The QPS Developer Guide and Reference Manual are available via the links below.
QPS_PluginSDK_Feb2013_v734.zip