Class Loaders
Each plugin has a dedicated class loader, which is used to load the plugin's classes. This allows each plugin to use a different library version, even if the same library is used by the IDE itself or by another plugin.
Overriding IDE Dependencies
Gradle 7 introduced the implementation
scope that replaced the compile
scope. For this setup, to use a library dependency declared by a plugin instead of the version bundled in the IDE, add the following snippet to the Gradle build script:
Loading Classes from Plugin Dependencies
By default, the main IDE class loader loads classes that are not found in the plugin class loader. However, in the plugin.xml file, you may use the <depends>
element to specify that a plugin depends on one or more other plugins. In this case, the class loaders of those plugins will be used for classes not found in the current plugin. This allows a plugin to reference classes from other plugins.
Using ServiceLoader
Some libraries use ServiceLoader
to detect and load implementations. To make it work in a plugin, the context class loader must be set to the plugin's classloader and restored afterward with the original one around initialization code: