Plugins and Per-Application Mappings

[Tony Nelson]

If you add a plugin to your application, ColdMVC will automatically
create a per-application mapping that points to the plugin so that
your application can easily access the plugin's components/views/
helpers/etc. I'm looking for feedback on what that mapping should be.

For example, let's say you're using the Markdown plugin (https://
github.com/tonynelson19/ColdMVC-Markdown).

Currently, ColdMVC will create a mapping for "/plugins/markdown/" that
points to the plugin, similar to the following:

this.mappings["/plugins/markdown/"] = "c:\inetpub\wwwroot\plugins
\markdown\";

If you wanted to then create a new instance of the
MarkdownProcessor.cfc, you could then write:

var markdownProcessor = new
plugins.markdown.app.model.MarkdownProcessor();

Does it make sense to have all plugins within the "plugins" mapping
namespace, or would it be better if each plugin had a mapping that
pointed directly at the plugin, like such:

this.mappings["/markdown/"] = "c:\inetpub\wwwroot\plugins\markdown
\";

Part of me likes having the mapping as direct/short/intuitive as
possible. Plus, with the shorter mapping, the plugins don't really
know they're plugins, which is rather nice.

Then again, I also like having everything bundled inside the "plugins"
namespace to not clutter the global mappings.

Thoughts?

[Ryan Arneson]

If you leave it inside the plugins namespace you're not going to run into naming conflicts with mappings created by ColdMVC.

My vote would be leave it in plugins.

[Joe]

I agree with Ryan A. Leave it in the plugins. It's so handy.

[Tony Nelson]

It wouldn't be any less handy outside of /plugins.


-Tony

[Joe]

I like that it's prefix with /plugins/ that way for some silly reason
if i make a mapping called /markdown/ it doesn't effect the plugins
one. Highly unlikely, but possible. And it also reads to me that it's
a plugin where /markdown/ could be something else.

[Ryan Arneson]

I also like looking at a list of mappings and knowing what's a plugin and what's not.

[Tony Nelson]

Fair enough. Those are some of the reasons why I choose to nest them inside /plugins/ in the first place.

It's nice to know I didn't do something completely stupid.

-Tony