CDS Plugin Packages

The cds-plugin technique allows to provide extension packages with auto-configuration.

• Add a cds-plugin.js
• Auto-Configuration
• cds. plugins
• Configuration Schema beta

Add a cds-plugin.js

Simply add a file cds-plugin.js next to the package.json of your package to have this detected and loaded automatically when bootstrapping CAP Node.js servers through cds serve, or other CLI commands.

Within such cds-plugin.js modules you can use the cds facade object, to register to lifecycle events or plugin to other parts of the framework. For example, they can react to lifecycle events, the very same way as in custom server.js modules:

cds-plugin.js

const cds = require('@sap/cds')
cds.on('served', ()=>{ ... })

Sometimes cds-plugin.js files can also be empty, for example if your plugin only registers new settings.

Auto-Configuration

Plugins can also add new configuration settings, thereby providing auto configuration. Simply add a cds section to your package.json file, as you would do in a project's package.json.

For example, this is the configuration provided by the new SQLite service package @cap-js/sqlite:

package.json

{
  "cds": {
    "requires": {
      "db": "sql",
      "kinds": {
        "sql": {
          "[development]": {
            "kind": "sqlite"
          }
        },
        "sqlite": {
          "impl": "@cap-js/sqlite"
        }
      },
    }
  }
}

In effect this automatically configures a required db service using the sql preset. This preset is configured below to use the sqlite preset in development. The sqlite preset is in turn configured below, to use the plugin package's main as implementation.

cds. plugins

This property refers to a module that implements the plugin machinery in cds, by fetching and loading installed plugins along these lines:

1. For all entries in your package.json's dependencies and devDependencies ...
2. Select all target packages having a cds-plugin.js file in their roots ...
3. Add all target packages' cds entry in their package.json to cds.env
4. Load all target packages' cds-plugin.js module

The plugin mechanism is activated by adding this to CLI commands:

await cds.plugins

Currently, the following commands support plugins: cds-serve, cds watch, cds run, cds env, cds deploy, cds build, cds.test().

Configuration Schema beta

To help developers conveniently add configuration for a plugin with code completion, plugin developers can declare additions to the cds schema in their plugin.

Declaration in Plugin

All schema definitions must be below the schema node:

package.json

"cds": {
  "schema": {
    "buildTaskType": {
      "name": "new-buildTaskType",
      "description": "A text describing the new build task type."
    },
    "databaseType": {
      "name": "new-databaseType",
      "description": "A text describing the new database type."
    },
    "cds": {
      "swagger": {    // example from cds-swagger-ui-express
        "description": "Swagger setup",
        "oneOf": [
          ...
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Currently, the following schema contribution points are supported:

Contribution Point	Description
buildTaskType	Additional build task type
databaseType	Additional database type
cds	One or more additional top level settings

Usage In a CAP Project