Plug-Ins In A Python Application

[Gary Herron]

redefined.horizons at gmail.com wrote:

>Its the Java developer again...
>
>I'm working on an application framework that I would like to implement
>in Python. Part of the application framework is a plug-in model that is
>similar to the one used in Eclipse.
>
>Is it possible to load and use "modules" containing plug-in code
>written by third party developers into a running instance of the
>framework? How would I do this? Do I need to "dynamically load" the
>module at runtime? (I will scan a folder in the application direcotry
>for XML files containing information about the plug-ins, including the
>modules that implement them.)
>
>Thanks,
>
>Scott Huey
>
>  
>
Look at the "imp" module.

Any module can be imported at any time in your code.   The import 
statement is usually used to the top of a file, making it *look* like a 
declaration, but in fact it may be executed anywhere.   The import 
statements does, however, hard code its module's name.  For a plugin 
system, you'll probably want to import a module given a string 
containing its name.  The "imp" module provides this as well as access 
to many of the features of the import mechanism.

Gary Herron