The functions implemented by a plug-in logically are grouped into Component Object Model (COM) interfaces.
An interface is a set of logically related methods on a class that iSeries™ Navigator can call to perform a specific function. A plug-in may implement one or more COM interfaces, depending on the type of function that the developer intends to provide. For example, when a user right-clicks an object in the tree hierarchy, iSeries Navigator constructs a context menu for the object and displays the menu on the screen. The Navigator obtains the menu items by calling each plug-in that has registered its desire to supply context menu items for the selected object type. The plug-ins pass their menu items to the Navigator when it calls their implementation of the QueryContextMenu method on the IContextMenu interface.
| Interface | Method | Description |
|---|---|---|
| IContextMenu | QueryContextMenu | Supplies context menu items when a user right-clicks on an object. |
| GetCommandString | Supplies help text for context menu items and, based on the state of the object, also indicates whether the item should be enabled or grayed. | |
| InvokeCommand | Displays the appropriate dialog and performs the requested action. It's called when the user clicks on a given menu item. | |
| IPropSheetExt | AddPages | Creates the property page or pages being added by using standard Windows® APIs. It then adds the pages by calling a function that was passed to it as a parameter. |
| IDropTarget | DragEnter | Active when the user drags an object over the drop area. |
| DragLeave | Active when the user drags an object out of the drop area. | |
| DragOver | Active while the user is over the drop area. | |
| Drop | Active when the user drops the object. | |
| IPersistFile | Load | Called to initialize the extension with the fully qualified object name of the selected folder. |
| IA4SortingHierarchyFolder | IsSortingEnabled | Indicates whether sorting is enabled for a folder. |
| SortOnColumn | Sorts the list on the specified list view column. | |
| IA4FilteringHierarchyFolder | GetFilterDescription | Returns a text description of the current include criteria. |
| IA4PublicObjectHierarchyFolder | GetPublicListObject | Implemented by a plug-in when it desires to make its list objects available for use by other by other plug-ins |
| IA4ListObject | GetAttributes | Returns a list of supported attribute IDs and the type of data associated with each. |
| GetValue | Given an attribute ID, returns the current value of the attribute. | |
| IA4TasksManager | QueryTasks | Returns a list of tasks supported by this object |
| TaskSelected | Informs the IA4TasksManager implementation that a particular task has been selected by the user. |
In addition to Microsoft's COM interfaces, IBM® supplies the IA4HierarchyFolder and IA4PropSheetNotify interfaces.
IA4PropSheetNotify, notifies third-party property pages when the main dialog closes. It also defines methods that communicate information to the plug-in. For example, the method may communicate whether the iSeries user whose properties are being displayed already exists or is being defined, and whether changes should be saved or discarded.
IA4HierarchyFolder allows a plug-in to add new folders to the iSeries Navigator hierarchy. The purpose of this interface is to supply the data used to populate the contents of a new folder that your plug-in added to the Navigator hierarchy. It also defines methods for specifying list view columns and their headings, and for defining a custom toolbar that is associated with a folder.
See the following topics for more information: