/*
* CDDL HEADER START
*
* The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the
* Common Development and Distribution License, Version 1.0 only
* (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance
* with the License.
*
* You can obtain a copy of the license at
* See the License for the specific language governing permissions
* and limitations under the License.
*
* When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each
* file and include the License file at
* trunk/opends/resource/legal-notices/OpenDS.LICENSE. If applicable,
* add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the fields enclosed
* by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying information:
* Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
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*
*
* Copyright 2006-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
*/
/**
* Defines the Directory Server plugin API. Plugins are classes
* containing user-defined code that will be executed at specific
* times points during operation processing. In particular, the
* plugin points for operation processing include:
* <BR>
* <UL>
* <LI>
* Pre-parse plugins are invoked just before processing begins on
* an operation. They may be used to transparently alter the
* contents of the request in some way.
* </LI>
* <LI>
* Pre-operation plugins are invoked after a significant amount of
* validation has been performed on the request but just before
* the real heart of the core processing begins (e.g., the backend
* processing).
* </LI>
* <LI>
* Post-operation plugins are invoked just after the heart of the
* core processing on an operation but before the response is sent
* to the client. They may be used to modify the response that
* operation in the event that the real core processing failed.
* </LI>
* <LI>
* Post-response plugins are invoked after the response has been
* sent to the client and all other processing for the operation
* has completed. They may be used for cases in which the plugin
* processing does not need to occur before the client receives
* the response for the operation.
* </LI>
* </UL>
* <BR>
* These plugins may be invoked for most kinds of operations, although
* certain types of operations like abandon and unbind do not have
* responses and therefore there is no ability to invoke post-response
* plugins for those kinds of operations.
* <BR><BR>
* Other plugin Directory Server plugin points include:
* <BR>
* <UL>
* <LI>
* Startup plugins may be used to invoke user-defined code when
* the Directory Server starts.
* </LI>
* <LI>
* Shutdown plugins may be used to invoke user-defined code when
* the Directory Server performs a graceful shutdown.
* </LI>
* <LI>
* Post-connect plugins may be used to invoke user-defined code
* whenever a new client connection is established.
* </LI>
* <LI>
* Post-disconnect plugins may be used to invoke user-defined code
* whenever a client connection is terminated.
* </LI>
* <LI>
* Search result entry plugins may be used to alter entries as
* they are sent to clients.
* </LI>
* <LI>
* Search result reference plugins may be used to alter referrals
* as they are sent to clients.
* </LI>
* <LI>
* Intermediate response plugins may be used to alter intermediate
* response messages as they are sent to clients.
* </LI>
* <LI>
* LDIF import plugins may be used to alter entries as they are
* read from LDIF files.
* </LI>
* <LI>
* LDIF export plugins may be used to alter entries as they are
* written to LDIF files.
* </LI>
* </UL>
*/