Plugins authors should adhere to the following guidelines when developing plugins.

Name

The plugin name should be concise and convey some meaning as to what the purpose of the plugin is.

If you find it difficult to name because the plugin functions are so varied then you should consider splitting the plugin into several plugins.

Ideally, plugins should perform their own discrete functions specific to a purpose.

Meaningful Description

Place a meaningful description in the plugin description.

The description should explain the following:

Purpose of the plugin

A brief summary of what the plugin does. Even if there is an external link to a documentation page, the plugin description should still offer a summary of purpose.

System Settings

If the plugin defines any System Settings, the plugin description should at the very least alert the reader to this fact. The System Setting descriptions can explain each setting, but the plugin description should mention that there are System Settings so the reader can know to examine and set them.

Custom Fields

If the plugin defines any Custom Fields, the plugin description should at the very least alert the reader to this fact. The Custom Field descriptions can explain each setting, but the plugin description should mention that there are Custom Fields so the reader can know to examine and set them.

Deployment Instructions

If there are deployment steps beyond just importing the plugin, then these should be listed in numbered order.

Author

The Author should identify the organisation or individual who authored the plugin.

Versioning

The plugin version should use a dotted version number, with the last number incrementing with each published change.

For example, if a plugin is first published as version 1.0.0, then this should be incremented to 1.0.1 when next published.

Exception Policy

The Exception Policy should be set to Abort if it performs critical business processes, otherwise the default Exception Policy of Report should be used.

A plugin with an Abort Exception Policy will not allow processes (such as the REST API or Plugin Scheduler) to logon if the plugin is unable to be loaded.