Echelon LNS Plug-in - Manual (Page 59)

The items managed by LNS. LNS treats each network as a collection of objects. These objects
include application devices, routers, connections, functional blocks, network variables, and the system.
LNS Plug-in API
The COM API used by LNS Plug-in directors to instantiate and command LNS plug-ins.
LonMarkObject
The type of LNS database object used to represent LonMark functional blocks. The LonMark
terminology for this construct changed since LNS was introduced.
Object
See LNS Object.
Object Class
The category of an LNS object. Each object managed by LNS (such as application devices and
routers) is in a particular class, identified by ID (such as LcaClassIdAppDevice [7] and
LcaClassIdRouter [9]).
Object Name
A string passed from a director to a plug-in that specifies the location of the target object in the LNS
object hierarchy. The name includes any qualification required to find the appropriate object in the
hierarchy.
Plug-in
A special kind of LNS application, implemented as an out-of-process COM automation server, that
implements the LNS Plug-in API. Plug-ins provides a standard way to extend and customize the
functionality of LNS applications.
Registered Server
The COM Server that implements the LNS plug-in.
Registration
The two-phase process by which a plug-in is installed into the LNS Object Server. In the first phase of
registration, the plug-in installs registration data for itself in the Windows registry. This step is
typically performed when the plug-in is installed onto the user’s machine.
In the second phase of registration, the plug-in creates ComponentApp objects in the LNS Object
Server that represent the plug-in’s functionality. This phase of registration is initiated by a director
sending a registration command to the plug-in. The director knows which plug-ins are installed on the
user’s machine by accessing the information that was placed into the Windows registry during the first
phase of the registration process.
Scope
The “breadth” of a particular plug-in or one of its actions. This document uses the term scope in three
different contexts:
Action Scope, Command Scope
For example, if the scope of a command that applies to AppDevice objects is ObjectServer (1),
the command is applicable anywhere within the LNS Object Server. If the scope of the same
command were System (2), then the command would apply to all objects in a particular system. If
the scope of the same command were DeviceTemplate (3), then the command would apply to all
AppDevice objects that use a particular device template (that is, all devices of a particular type).
If the scope of the same command were LonMarkObject (4), then the command would apply
only to a specific type of functional block on all AppDevice objects that use a particular
DeviceTemplate.