How To: Create an Extension Plugin

In this example, we will create an extension plugin and publish it to NuGet feed, which can then be placed in the plugin folder of a pre-deployed ODS / API to extend it.

Before you begin:

• This walkthrough assumes you have a working extension project.
• This article uses the alternative education program extension as an example.
• This example assumes you have the NuGet CLI tool. You can follow the instructions for Installing NuGet Client Tools.
• This example assumes you have access to a NuGet Feed. Some options:
  • MyGet.
  • Azure Artifacts​
  • GitHub Packages

Creating Extension Plugins

Step 1. Run CodeGen

info

This step is optional. If you have followed through How To: Extend the Ed-Fi ODS / API - Alternative Education Program Example and have run initdev, code generation is already completed.

After creating your extension project by following the example on How To: Extend the Ed-Fi ODS / API - Alternative Education Program Example,

Open a PowerShell session and navigate to Ed-Fi-ODS-Implementation folder and execute the following command to run code generation.

cd <source dir>\Ed-Fi-ODS-Implementation
.\Initialize-PowershellForDevelopment.ps1
Invoke-CodeGen -Engine SQLServer -StandardVersion 5.1.0 -ExtensionVersion 1.0.0

Step 2. Build Your Extension Project

From a PowerShell session, run the following command to build your extension project. If you followed the example on How To: Extend the Ed-Fi ODS / API - Alternative Education Program Example to create the EdFi.Ods.Extensions.SampleAlternativeEducationProgram project, your extension will be in Ed-Fi-ODS-Implementation\Application folder.

dotnet build `
  <source dir>\Ed-Fi-ODS-Implementation\Application\EdFi.Ods.Extensions.SampleAlternativeEducationProgram `
  --configuration release

Step 3. Create a NuGet Package

Go to the location of NuGet.exe in your system and execute the following command in a command prompt. Make sure to update the contents of the nuspec file with your information. It is recommended that you version your extension package with the same version as the ODS / API for which it was built.

cd tools
.\NuGet.exe pack `
  <source dir>\Ed-Fi-ODS-Implementation\Application\EdFi.Ods.Extensions.SampleAlternativeEducationProgram\EdFi.Ods.Extensions.SampleAlternativeEducationProgram.nuspec `
  -OutputDirectory <output directory> `
  -Properties configuration=release `
  -Properties StandardVersion=5.1.0 `
  -Properties ExtensionVersion=1.0.0 `
  -NoPackageAnalysis `
  -NoDefaultExcludes

Step 4. Publish NuGet Package

In this step, execute the following command to publish NuGet package.

.\NuGet.exe push -source `
  https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/ed-fi-alliance/Ed-Fi-Alliance-OSS/_packaging/EdFi/nuget/v3/index.json `
  -apikey <PAT> `
  <nuget directory>\EdFi.Ods.Extensions.SampleAlternativeEducationProgram.1.0.0.Standard.5.1.0.1.0.0.nupkg

Consuming Extension Plugins

Follow the approach described in How To: Deploy an Extension Plugin to consume the published extension package.