Plugins Explained

  • A plugin is a simple ZIP file - you can view its content.

  • Each plugin contain a file called botsindex (at the root). This file keeps the configuration which is loaded to the database.

  • The plugins in our example repository includes the input EDI files so you can run bots and see its the actual translation results. The EDI files are in bots/botssys/infile; the results will be in bots/botssys/outfile.

  • When reading a plugin, your current configuration is automatically backed-up (in bots/botssys/).

  • When reading a plugin, the already existing database entries, mapping scripts, grammars, etc. are overwritten!

  • Plugin installation logs are saved in bots/botssys/logging.

  • There is no uninstall. You may restore your configuration manually using the automatic backup (see above).

  • Beware if you make a plugin and share this: do not use e.g. real password for an email account.

  • Plugins contain source code. This is a potentially security risk. Use only plugins from trusted sources.

  • There’s a warning when loading plugins created with bots older than v3.4, as they might not be compatible with Python 3.

  • Since Bots v4.0 plugins index (botsindex) is saved in json format. Loading of plugins in the legacy format will be disabled in the future.

Note

Grammars for EDIFACT and x12 might also be installed as plugins. This was not possible in bots v3.2.