Creating plug-in lifecycle actions

As a developer, you might want your plug-in to perform certain tasks immediately after install and just before uninstall.

Many different types of tasks can make up these plug-in lifecycle actions, including the following examples:

• Post-install actions:

  • An initial check
  • Additional setup
  • Adding the plug-in as an override of Zowe CLI's built-in credential manager

• Pre-uninstall actions:

  • Revert specialized setup
  • Removing the plug-in as an override of Zowe CLI's built-in credential manager

Creating and using lifecycle actions is optional, but they can be useful tools. Lifecycle actions can automate a manual process intended for the plug-in user to carry out. They can also avoid the need to create commands with uses limited to post-install and pre-uninstall tasks.

note

When creating a plug-in to override Zowe CLI's built-in credential manager, it is necessary to implement a post-install action to configure your plug-in as the credential manager.

Implementing lifeycyle actions

To add the pluginLifeCycle property to your plug-in definition file and include a plug-in class to implement lifecycle functions:

1. Navigate to the plug-in definition file.

   The path to this file is the value for the configurationModule property in the plug-in package.json file.

2. In the plug-in definition file, use the pluginLifeCycle property to add the path to the javascript file the plug-in uses to implement the class containing lifecycle functions.

   The pluginLifeCycle property is defined in this file.

   The class defined by this property extends the AbstractPluginLifeCycle class found in the Imperative package of utility functions.

3. In the plug-in lifecycle functions class you created, add instructions for both the postInstall and preUninstall functions.

   If implemented correctly, Zowe CLI calls the postInstall function of the plug-in immediately after the plug-in has been installed. Similarly, the preUninstall function is called immediately before the Zowe CLI uninstalls the plug-in.

note

If your plug-in needs to perform an operation at only post-install or pre-uninstall, implement the other action to simply return to Zowe CLI without taking any action.