18 Plugins

Grails is first and foremost a web application framework, but it is also a platform. By exposing a number of extension points that let you extend anything from the command line interface to the runtime configuration engine, Grails can be customised to suit almost any needs. To hook into this platform, all you need to do is create a plugin.

Extending the platform may sound complicated, but plugins can range from trivially simple to incredibly powerful. If you know how to build a Grails application, you’ll know how to create a plugin for sharing a data model or some static resources.

• 18.1 Creating and Installing Plugins
• 18.2 Plugin Repositories
• 18.3 Providing Basic Artefacts
• 18.4 Evaluating Conventions
• 18.5 Hooking into Runtime Configuration
• 18.6 Adding Methods at Compile Time
• 18.7 Adding Dynamic Methods at Runtime
• 18.8 Participating in Auto Reload Events
• 18.9 Understanding Plugin Load Order
• 18.10 The Artefact API