To create a new PETA plug-in that creates a timestamp, press the Create a new plug-in button in the toolbar. In the wizard, set the source folder of the plug-in's java file to TutorialProject/src and enter a package name. Enter Timestamp as the class name and press the Next button.

Figure 9.1.  Create new PETA plug-in

Enter a description for this plug-in on the second page, for example Creates a timestamp in specified format using the current time., and press the Next button to reach the last page.

Figure 9.2. Description of the new PETA plug-in

To specify the plug-in's argument, press the Add button, enter format as the name and activate the Required checkbox. Keep the other two checkboxes ( Multiple allowed and Requires key ) unselected and press OK.

Figure 9.3.  Definition of the PETA plug-in's argument

Finally, to leave the wizard, press the Finish button. A java file will be created in the specified package and opened in the editor.

Figure 9.4.  Arguments of new PETA plug-in

The following example shows the implementation of the Timestamp plug-in.

package de.verit.peta.tutorial.plugin;

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

import de.verit.peta.engine.plugin.Plugin;
import de.verit.peta.modules.Arguments;

/**
 * Implementation of a peta plugin that creates a timestamp from
 * current time.
 * The format of the timestamp must be specified by argument
 * 'format'.
 */
public class Timestamp implements Plugin {

	/**
	 * Constructor.
	 */
	public Timestamp() {
		super();
	}

	/**
	 * @see Plugin#process(de.verit.peta.modules.Arguments)
	 */
	public String process(Arguments arguments)
	    throws Exception {

		// create formatter from argument
		String format = arguments.get("format");
		SimpleDateFormat formatter =
		    new SimpleDateFormat(format);

		// get current date
		Date currentDate = new Date();

		return formatter.format(currentDate);
	}

}

The plug-in is now ready for use in the test case. To insert the current timestamp into the request, expand the operation of the first event, select the template and open the wizard (right-click, select Properties ). Press the Add Substitution button and enter /request/timestamp as the Constant Path that shall be substituted. To use the plug-in, press the Add Plug-in button and select Timestamp from the list of available plug-ins. Timestamp should now appear in the lower left window. Expand it, select its argument format and specify the argument's value by pressing Add Constant and entering the format string yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.

Figure 9.5. Timestamp insertion

When the test case is executed now, the current timestamp is sent with the client's request.