Order of events when plugins are initializing

Question

I am seeing that 
 
 Events_BeforeUpdate ( UserBeforeUpdateEventArgs e ) 
 
 is being called before

SetController ( ISqlServerConnectedPlugionController controller ) 
 
 The event is being setup in the main plugin and the ISqlServerConnectedPlugin is a child of this plugin.

Michael Monteleone · Accepted Answer

This is unchanged. The order of plugin initialization has never been deterministic, including whether or not plugins are child plugins. 
 One option in this case is to use the AfterInitialization event.

Michael Monteleone · Answer

Robert Nash said: that's great for simple plugins, but ones that are complex and need separation of concern 
 I can assure you I've used this pattern on highly complicated plugins (including many components of the platform, itself) with clear separations of concerns, DI, etc. It's in service of that, not orthogonal to it. That said, it's just one of many possible approaches. 
 Robert Nash said: or always initialize the ISqlServerConnectedPlugins first? 
 This actually is the case. Let's back up for a moment: 
 For any given set of plugins, their controllers are injected before they're initialized. This includes ISqlServerConnectedPlugin, IConfigurablePlugin, etc. 
 The order is: 
 
 ISqlServerConnectedPlugin.SetController (called on all plugins of this type, in a non-deterministic order) 
 IPlugin.Initialize (called on all plugins, but the order is non-deterministic) 
 PluginManager.AfterInitialize (after all plugins have initialized)

Michael Monteleone · Answer

Just to confirm the above, here's an unrealistic example of a parent plugin with 2 child plugins, where all 3 implement ISqlServerConnectedPlugin and IConfigurablePlugin . 
 
 using Telligent.Evolution.Extensibility.Configuration.Version1;
using Telligent.Evolution.Extensibility.Version1;
using Telligent.Evolution.Extensibility.Version2;

namespace TestPlugins;

public class TestChildPluginB : IPlugin, ISqlServerConnectedPlugin, IConfigurablePlugin
{
	public string Name => "Test Child Plugin B";

public string Description => Name;

public void Initialize()
	{
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestChildPluginB.Initialize");

PluginManager.AfterInitialization += (sender, args) =>
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestChildPluginB.AfterInitialization");
	}

public void SetController(ISqlServerConnectedPlugionController controller) =>
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestChildPluginB.SetController");

public void Update(IPluginConfiguration configuration) =>
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestChildPluginB.Update");

public Version Version => new(1, 0, 0, 0);
	public PropertyGroup[] ConfigurationOptions => [ new() { LabelText = "" } ];
	public void Install(Version lastInstalledVersion) { }
	public Task InstallAsync(Version lastInstalledVersion, CancellationToken cancellationToken) => Task.CompletedTask;
	public void Uninstall() { }
	public Task UninstallAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken) => Task.CompletedTask;
}

public class TestParentPlugin : IPlugin, IPluginGroup, ISqlServerConnectedPlugin, IConfigurablePlugin
{
	public string Name => "Test Parent Plugin";

public string Description => Name;

public IEnumerable<Type> Plugins => [typeof(TestChildPluginA), typeof(TestChildPluginB)];

public void Initialize()
	{
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestParentPlugin.Initialize");

PluginManager.AfterInitialization += (sender, args) =>
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestParentPlugin.AfterInitialization");
	}

public void SetController(ISqlServerConnectedPlugionController controller) =>
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestParentPlugin.SetController");

public void Update(IPluginConfiguration configuration) =>
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestParentPlugin.Update");

public Version Version => new(1, 0, 0, 0);
	public PropertyGroup[] ConfigurationOptions => [ new() { LabelText = "" } ];
	public void Install(Version lastInstalledVersion) { }
	public Task InstallAsync(Version lastInstalledVersion, CancellationToken cancellationToken) => Task.CompletedTask;
	public void Uninstall() { }
	public Task UninstallAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken) => Task.CompletedTask;
}

public class TestChildPluginA : IPlugin, ISqlServerConnectedPlugin, IConfigurablePlugin
{
	public string Name => "Test Child Plugin A";

public string Description => Name;

public void Initialize()
	{
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestChildPluginA.Initialize");

PluginManager.AfterInitialization += (sender, args) =>
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestChildPluginA.AfterInitialization");
	}

public void SetController(ISqlServerConnectedPlugionController controller) =>
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestChildPluginA.SetController");

public void Update(IPluginConfiguration configuration) =>
 System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("TestPlugins: TestChildPluginA.Update");

public Version Version => new(1, 0, 0, 0);
	public PropertyGroup[] ConfigurationOptions => [ new() { LabelText = "" } ];
	public void Install(Version lastInstalledVersion) { }
	public Task InstallAsync(Version lastInstalledVersion, CancellationToken cancellationToken) => Task.CompletedTask;
	public void Uninstall() { }
	public Task UninstallAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken) => Task.CompletedTask;
}

When the parent plugin is enabled, a plugin initialization demonstrates that controllers and configuration are set/injected first on all 3, followed by Initialize() on all 3, followed by AfterInitialization on all 3. 
 
 TestPlugins: TestParentPlugin.SetController
TestPlugins: TestParentPlugin.Update
TestPlugins: TestChildPluginA.SetController
TestPlugins: TestChildPluginA.Update
TestPlugins: TestChildPluginB.SetController
TestPlugins: TestChildPluginB.Update
TestPlugins: TestParentPlugin.Initialize
TestPlugins: TestChildPluginA.Initialize
TestPlugins: TestChildPluginB.Initialize
TestPlugins: TestParentPlugin.AfterInitialization
TestPlugins: TestChildPluginA.AfterInitialization
TestPlugins: TestChildPluginB.AfterInitialization

Order of events when plugins are initializing

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