Documentation/CTK Plugin Framework: Getting Started

The CTK Plugin Framework is directly based on the OSGi specifications, hence any material explaining OSGi also applies to CTK (without the Java specifics, of course).

CTK Plugin Tutorials

See this list of tutorials targeting the CTK Plugin Framework.

CTK Plugin Documentation

CTK provides default implementations for some OSGi specifications and other functionality. See this list of Plugin Subprojects for more information.

CTK API Documentation

The API documentation is also a good place to learn more about the CTK Plugin Framework capabilities.

OSGi Tutorials

There are many OSGi tutorials for the major OSGi frameworks (Equinox, Knopflerfish, and Apache Felix) on the web. The principles are the same and can be applied to CTK.

You may also want to read Neil Bartlett's free book on OSGi, which is available as a preview draft. You can skip the first 20 pages about Java class dependencies and read the rest of Part I. Basically everything described in Part I applies to the CTK Plugin Framework.

Specifications

The original OSGi specifications are a gread read for detailed technical information about the plugin framework itself and the provided interfaces and implementations for the compendium services. The CTK Plugin Framework is based on OSGi Release 4 Version 4.2, with some API inspired by the upcoming Version 4.3.