Non-Plugin Module

Adding Non-Plugin Modules to Commerce Manager

If you have created a new Commerce Engine Extension jar module (e.g. ext-settings), or you have introduced a new third-party dependency (e.g. org.apache.commons:commons-text), you will likely need to add this module to the Commerce Manager, particularly if the module is a dependency of ext-core.

Understanding ext-cm-libs

New non-plugin modules can be made available to the Commerce Manager by embedding them within the com.elasticpath.extensions.cm.ext-cm-libs project. ext-cm-libs is a project which bundles together all extension libraries that must be deployed within Commerce Manager via an OSGi manifest. It also acts as a wrapper for libraries that are non-OSGi bundles, making their contents available to the OSGi container.

Adding modules to ext-cm-libs

To add modules to com.elasticpath.extensions.cm.ext-cm-libs, modify the extensions/cm/ext-cm-libs/pom.xml file and add your module to the <dependencies> section:

<dependencies>
    <!-- existing dependencies -->

    <dependency>
        <groupId>the.group.id</groupId>
        <artifactId>your-artifact-id-here</artifactId>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

To ensure that the module is included within the com.elasticpath.extensions.cm.ext-cm-libs bundle, add its artifact ID to the EmbedDependency entry within the maven-bundle-plugin configuration.

<Embed-Dependency>ext-core,ep-your-artifact-id-here</Embed-Dependency>

Exposing non-OSGi Classes to OSGi Bundles

If your module is a non-OSGi module, it’s like that it provides classes that need to be accessed by other bundles, perhaps to assign or instantiate a variable, in an instanceof condition, or in a catch block. In this case it must be exported from the com.elasticpath.extensions.cm.ext-cm-libs module.

OSGi bundles only provide access to packages that are explicitly exported - if a class in a non-exported package is attempted to be loaded by another bundle, it will cause a ClassNotFoundException or NoClassDefFoundError.

A key role of the com.elasticpath.extensions.cm.ext-cm-libs project is to allow non-OSGi modules to participate in an OSGi container. Part of its responsibility is to export the required packages on the embedded modules’ behalf.

Add the required packages to the maven-bundle-plugin configuration in the extensions/cm/ext-cm-libs/pom.xml file:

<_exportcontents>
  org.some.package.to.export,
  org.some.other.package.to.export,
  com.elasticpath.extensions.*
</_exportcontents>

The nature of OSGi applications tends to make the previous step iterative; exporting one package reveals another that is also required. Add your dependency, as well as any other dependancies required.