Json 3rd Party Add-on Service: Generate kar/json file for addon

Development Marketplace
, ,
1

Dear all,

I create a new Openhab 3 bundle/addon/binding to connect to an external device and successfully generated the corresponding .jar file e.g. org.openhab.binding.BINDINGNAME-3.3.0-SNAPSHOT.jar.

In Openhab 3, I appreciate to contribute alternative addons via Json 3rd Party Add-on Service providing a json file via web server that delivers a .kar file to the openhab installation.

Although, smarthomej provides such an external bundle (https://download.smarthomej.org/addons.json), I was not able to successfully generate

  • KAR file from the binding.jar
  • Json to be promoted via webserver.

Could you please provide a small tutorial how to build a KAR file and corresponding json file to deliver an alternative binding to an openhab installation.

Thanks in advance. Best ruebox

2

There is no mechanism to create the JSON automatically. You need to write it by hand (or create a script for that).

Regarding the kar: there are different ways. You can change the type in the Pom from jar to kar, or call the appropriate goal for the karaf-maven-plugin. It depends on your setup what is better.

In general: if you have no dependencies that need to be bundled or features that need to be installed, I recommend distributing the jar. It’s easier than creating a proper kar.

3

Hi @J-N-K

thanks for your fast response. I tried to write a corresponding json file. It is recognized by openhab, but the reponse of openhab ui is … installation failed.

My json looks alike:
[
{
“id”: “org-smarthome-binding-ofsomething”,
“type”: “binding”,
“version”: “3.3.0”,
“author”: “ruebox”,
“maturity”: “stable”,
“content_type”: “application/vnd.openhab.feature;type=karfile”,
“link”: “Amazon Echo Control Binding”,
“url”: “http://localhost:8888/bundles/org.openhab.binding.BINDINGNAME-SNAPSHOT.jar”,
“title”: “binding title”,
“description”: "This binding can control Something. "
}
]

I also checked content_type: jarfile.

unfortunately, no success. Could you give me a sample of a json that deploys a simple jar without any dependencies?

Thanks a lot.

4

The correct content_type for a jar file is application/vnd.openhab.bundle, otherwise looks good. But please use an id-prefix (before binding) that is related to a domain that you control (or that is otherwise guaranteed to be unique).

5

You made my day :+1:

Works ad-hoc …THANK YOU!

6

@Confectrician Where would be a good place to add documentation for that?

7

Good point, I searched at the following place:

I could imaging to add a section
Distribute your new binding

  1. Json 3rd Party Add-on Service
    How to deliver a new e.g. JAR binding in a lightweight way e.g. for testing
  2. Community Marketplace
    How to deliver a new binding via community marketplace.

What do you think? I could write a small section for the first part.
I am not aware how to distribute via community marketplace.

8

Clearly somewhere in the developer section, but probably this is too specific to include it into one of the existing pages.

Maybe a new page should be added for it.