Plug-in configuration file

The root element of the plugin.xml file is <plugin>, and must specify an id attribute. The id attribute is used to identify the plug-in, as well as to identify whether pre-requisite plug-ins are available. The id attribute should follow the syntax rules:

id    ::= token('.'token)*
token ::= ( [0..9] | [a..zA..Z] | ’_’ | ’-’ )+

The <plugin> element supports the following child elements:

• The <feature> element defines an extension to contribute to a defined extension point. The following attributes are supported:

  Attribute	Description	Required
  extension	extension point identifier	yes
  value	comma separated string value of the extension	either value or file
  file	file path value of the extension, relative to plugin.xml	either value or file
  type	type of the value attribute	no

• The <extension-point> element defines new a extension point that can be used by other plug-ins. The following attributes are supported:

  Attribute	Description	Required
  id	extension point identifier	yes
  name	extension point description	no

• The <require> element defines plug-in dependencies. The following attributes are supported:

  Attribute	Description	Required
  plugin	vertical bar separated list of plug-ins that are required	yes
  importance	flag whether plug-in is required or optional	no

• The <template> element defines files that should be treated as templates. The following attributes are supported:

  Attribute	Description	Required
  file	file path to the template, relative to plugin.xml	yes

• The <meta> element defines metadata. The following attributes are supported:

  Attribute	Description	Required
  type	metadata name	yes
  value	metadata value	yes

• The <transtype> element defines an output format (transformation type). The following attributes are supported for transformations:

  Attribute	Description	Required
  name	transformation name	yes
  desc	description	no
  abstract	defines an abstract transformation type that cannot be used directly	no
  extends	specifies the name of the transformation type being extended	no

  The <transtype> element may define additional parameters for the transformation type using <param> child elements. The following parameter attributes are supported:

  Attribute	Description	Required
  name	parameter name	yes
  desc	description	no
  type	parameter type (enum, file, string)	yes

  Enumeration parameters (<param> elements of type enum) define enumeration values with <val> child elements. The following attributes are supported:

  Attribute	Description	Required
  default	defines an enumeration value as the default value (default="true")	yes

Any extension that is not recognized by the DITA-OT is ignored; all elements other than <plugin> are optional. Since version 1.5.3 multiple extension definitions within a plug-in configuration file are combined; in older versions only the last extension definition is used.