Is it possible to require code from another plugin in your plugin?

jongarrison

I'd like to call functionality from an existing plugin from my plugin. Is there a way to refer to the code in other plugins with something similar to this:

require.main.require('./src/plugins/nodebb-plugin-name/lib/filename.js');

<baris>

Yes it should work as long as the required plugin is installed. The path would be something like

require.main.require('./node_modules/nodebb-plugin-name/lib/filename.js');

jongarrison

Thank you @baris !

jongarrison

lol, of course it would be the filesystem path. Years of java has damaged me

frissdiegurke

I think it's better to use require('nodebb-plugin-name/lib/filename.js') (see node.js docs) rather than require.main.require('./node_modules/...') in this case
Try avoiding the use of node_modules anywhere in your code

jongarrison

@frissdiegurke Thanks! That makes sense and works well with one caveat. It looks like from a plugin that you need to refer to the main module loader (is that the right terminology?) like so:

require.main.require('nodebb-plugin-pluginname/lib/modulename');

julian

@jongarrison Yes, you'd need the require.main to require from the NodeBB context.

yariplus

I've used plugins.libraries['pluginid'].function() to do this. Are there any caveats to using this method? Other than the plugin needing to actually be enabled.

frissdiegurke

@yariplus The plugin needs to export the method you want to use within the main script. Using any of the ways above, you can use exports of non-main modules within that plugin.
Checking whether any plugin is enabled or not would be a task to check via NodeBB modules. Directly attempting to access a plugins exports however should not depend on the internal structure of NodeBB in my opinion.
If you want to call a plugins exported attributes only iff the plugin is enabled, your way seems to be good though.
I guess I'd still use

 // would be neat if NodeBB provides a function for this ;-) Accessing NodeBB's non-function attributes directly seems somehow wrong to me
// proposal: plugins.isEnabled("my-plugin") if nothing alike exists already
if (plugins.libraries.hasOwnProperty("my-plugin")) {
  require("my-plugin").function();
}

since it clearly states where the functions source code lies.

julian

Ooh, @yariplus @frissdiegurke I hadn't really thought of that, but yes, that'd work really well to enhance/load behaviour only if a peer is loaded...

... and only because peer dependencies are such crap on npm..