My First Bazaar Package

Introduction

In this tutorial you will create a "Hello, World" Screen and package it as a Bazaar Package (.epm).

Requirements

You will need a working EPrints installation on which you have an administrator account. You will need to have access to the command line to create the files for the package.

Step 1 - Create a blank package

In Admin → System Tools → EPrints Bazaar, select the Developer Tools tab.

At the bottom of this screen is a form to create a new EPM. Enter the name (without quotes) "hello_world" and click Create.

You can fill out the metadata if you wish but at this stage you are only required to have a version, which defaults to "1.0.0".

Click Save and Return to return to the EPrints Bazaar screen.

Step 2 - Develop your package contents

From the root of the EPrints installation create the directory to contain the Screen plugin you're going to package:

mkdir -p lib/plugins/EPrints/Plugin/Screen/

Create the screen plugin using your preferred text editor:

gedit lib/plugins/EPrints/Plugin/Screen/Hello.pm

Hello.pm

package EPrints::Plugin::Screen::Hello;

@ISA = ( 'EPrints::Plugin::Screen' );

use strict;
# Make the plug-in
sub new
{
   my( $class, %params ) = @_;

   my $self = $class->SUPER::new(%params);

   # Where the button to access the screen appears if anywhere, and what priority
   $self->{appears} = [
      {
          place => "admin_actions",
          position => 1247,
      },
   ];

   return $self;
}

# Anyone can see this screen
sub can_be_viewed { 1 }

# What to display
sub render
{
   my( $self ) = @_;

   my $frag = $self->{repository}->xml->create_text_node( "Hello, World!" );

   return $frag;
}

1;

You need a configuration file to enable the plugin:

gedit lib/epm/hello_world/cfg/cfg.d/hello_world.pl

This file will be copied into the repository's configuration directory when an admin user enables the package.

hello_world.pl

$c->{plugins}{"Screen::Hello"}{params}{disable} = 0;

Step 3 - Add files to the package

You now have a blank package and some source files in the EPrint's directory. To add these files to the package go to the Developer Tools tab and click Edit for the hello_world package. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will find a directory tree. You need to add the two files you created above:

• epm/hello_world/cfg/cfg.d/hello_world.pl
• plugins/EPrints/Plugin/Screen/Hello.pm

Click Save and Return to return to the EPrints Bazaar screen.

Step 4 - Enable and test the package

On the EPrints Bazaar Installed tab click Enable for the hello_world package. After a short time you should see a repository configuration reloaded message.

In Admin → System Tools → Misc. Tools you should now see your plugin appear (with a missing phrase).

For some hints on loading and manipulating EPrints see Manipulating eprints in 3.2.