Thoughts about the plugin API for scaleApp 0.4.x

scaleAppPluginAPI.js

/* *******************
 * Defining a plugin *
 * ******************/

/*** 1. Variant ***/

var SandboxPlugin = (function(){
  function SandboxPlugin (sandbox){
    this.sb = sandbox;
  };
  SandboxPlugin.prototype.foo = function(){
    return "bar";
  };
  return SandboxPlugin;
})();

var CorePlugin = (function(){
  function CorePlugin (core){
    this.core = core;
  };
  CorePlugin.prototype.x = function(){
    return "y";
  };
  return CorePlugin;
})();

var BasePlugin = {
  a: function(){ return "b";}
}

/*** 2. Variant ***/

var SandboxPlugin = {
  attach: function attach(options) {
    this.foo = function(){
      return "bar";
    };
  },
  detach: function detach() {},
  init: function init(done) {
    // do some async stuff
    done();
  }
};

var CorePlugin = {
  attach: function attach(options) {
    this.x = function(){
      return "y";
    };
  },
  detach: function detach() {},
  init: function init(done) {done();}
};

var BasePlugin = {
  attach: function attach(options) {
    this.a = function(){
      return "b";
    }
  },
  detach: function detach() {},
  init: function init(done) {done();}
};

/* *******************
 * Register a plugin *
 * ******************/

/*** 1. Variant ***/

var customPlugin = {
  id: "custom",
  sandbox: SandboxPlugin
  core:CorePlugin
  base:BasePlugin
};

scaleApp.plugin.register(customPlugin);

/*** 2. Variant ***/

// scaleApp.plugin.register(name, type, plugin);
scaleApp.plugin.register("custom", "sandbox", SandboxPlugin);
scaleApp.plugin.register("custom", "core",    CorePlugin);
scaleApp.plugin.register("custom", "base",    BasePlugin);

/*** 3. Variant ***/

// register core plugin
scaleApp.use(BasePlugin);

// register app plugin
var app = new scaleApp.Core();
app.use(CorePlugin);

// register sanbox plugin
// within the module
module = function(sanbox){

  sandbox.use(SandboxPlugin);

  return ({
    init: function(){},
    destroy: function(){}
  });

};

/* *******************
 * Plugins in action *
 * ******************/

scaleApp.a(); // returns "b"

var app = new scaleApp.Core();

app.x(); // returns "y"

scaleApp.register("myModule", function(sanbox){
  return ({
    init: function(){
      sanbox.foo(); // returns "bar"
    }
    destroy: function(){ }
  });
});