# Plugins and Engines **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 17, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/plugins-and-engines/98749 "2006-07-17T23:29:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wycats](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/eb9ed0/32.png) [@wycats](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wycats)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/plugins-and-engines/98749/1 "2006-07-17T23:29:30Z")
I’m trying to work out how to use the functionality from a plugin in an engine. It sounds weird, but it’s actually not so strange. I assume I can’t just add a vendor directory to an Engine, so some strategy for getting the plugin in the lib folder is probably necessary (and then requiring the plugin, perhaps?). – Yehuda K. ---
**Author:** ![wycats](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/eb9ed0/32.png) [@wycats](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wycats)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/plugins-and-engines/98749/2 "2006-07-18T00:28:32Z")
On 7/17/06, Yehuda K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I’m trying to work out how to use the functionality from a plugin in an > engine. It sounds weird, but it’s actually not so strange. > > I assume I can’t just add a vendor directory to an Engine, so some > strategy for getting the plugin in the lib folder is probably necessary > (and then requiring the plugin, perhaps?). > > – Yehuda K. I think your saying you want to have an engine utilize a plugin? I’m not sure I ever tried that, but I do have plugins and engines being utilzed in the same app, it just worked. I would expect that same to be true of an engine that needs to utilize plugin code. i.e install your\_plugin to vendors/plugins/your\_plugin install the generic engines plugin to vendors/plugins/engines install your\_engine into vendors/plugins/your\_engine Then when your rails env. fire ups it will run the init.rb from both your\_plugin and from the generic engines plugin, that should get the basic environment for both accessible, but your engine will not yet have been initialized. Then invoke Engines.start :your\_engine from environment.rb. Where does the problem come in? ## Greg Greg F. The Norcross Group Forensics for the 21st Century ---
**Author:** ![wycats](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/eb9ed0/32.png) [@wycats](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wycats)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/plugins-and-engines/98749/3 "2006-07-18T00:31:59Z")
I’d have preferred if I could get the plugins in the Engine, so people wouldn’t need to get a bunch of plugins to make my Engine work. That said, I could just say that certain features of the Engine require certain plugins. Greg F. wrote: > I think your saying you want to have an engine utilize a plugin? > > I’m not sure I ever tried that, but I do have plugins and engines > being utilzed in the same app, it just worked. > > I would expect that same to be true of an engine that needs to utilize > plugin code. > > i.e > install your\_plugin to vendors/plugins/your\_plugin > install the generic engines plugin to vendors/plugins/engines > install your\_engine into vendors/plugins/your\_engine > > Then when your rails env. fire ups it will run the init.rb from both > your\_plugin and from the generic engines plugin, that should get the > basic environment for both accessible, but your engine will not yet > have been initialized. > > Then invoke Engines.start :your\_engine from environment.rb. > > Where does the problem come in? > > ## Greg > > Greg F. > The Norcross Group > Forensics for the 21st Century ---
**Author:** ![wycats](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/eb9ed0/32.png) [@wycats](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wycats)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/plugins-and-engines/98749/4 "2006-07-18T00:38:48Z")
There are engines users and dev lists. If you want to pursue this, I would post on them. On 7/17/06, Yehuda K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > basic environment for both accessible, but your engine will not yet > > Forensics for the 21st Century > > – > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) – Greg F. The Norcross Group Forensics for the 21st Century