The Store is a centralized hub to discover, enable or disable, and install new plugins. Each and every plugin has the ability to extend or restrict the way i-net Clear Reports can be used. The interface offers an overview of all available plugins and their state. Using categories from the top bar, as well as using the search, the list of plugins can be narrowed down.

The list of plugins is updated regularly to provide new features and updates of i-net Clear Reports. The interval can be set in the top right-hand side menu of the interface.

Plugins can be installed and updated in this overview - or on the plugin details page. Plugins are also activated or deactivated on the details page. If a plugin requires additional dependencies, the user will be prompted to enable them as well. Uninstalling plugins that were not originally installed with the i-net Clear Reports is available too.

Note: In case the plugin list can not be updated, the interface still offers functionalities to enable or disable and to sideload custom plugins from the Public Store at store.inetsoftware.de.

Note: Plugins may be offered in beta versions that are usually not production ready but can be used in development and staging environments. The top right-hand side menu lets you enable the beta mode and install these pre-release plugins. The detail page of the plugin also shows when it is available as a beta version. Switching to the beta channel is also possible there.

The Tab Installed offers an overview of the current installation state of the server. It provides information about the current i-net Clear Reports version, as well as possible product updates and the changelog.

It also provides a grouped view of the installed, updatable, disabled and faulty plugins. If multiple plugins can be updated, an additional "Update All" button appears.

Every plugin provides additional information, including a description, version information, the changelog of its current state - also, in case the plugin could not be started, a specific error message is shown here.

The detail page offers the aforementioned functions for installing, updating, etc., as well as the options to switch to the beta channel. Plugins that offer applications on the start page and are already active offer a link to this application in the options menu.

The information area provides an overview of fixed and optional dependencies, as well as a listing of other plugins that extend the functionality of this plugin.

The developer information area provides information for various package managers and developer tools on how to add this plugin.

The Store allows sideloading plugins from external sources by dragging & dropping the plugin zip files into the store interface or using the menu button at the right side of the categories bar.

This makes it possible to add and update custom plugins directly in the web interface.

Sideloading can be used if the i-net Clear Reports server has no connection to the internet and plugins from the Public Store are to be installed. These can then be downloaded from the public store and installed in the store of the server via drag & drop.

With plugins you can extend or restrict the functionality,​ for example if specific functions are not used.

In this dialog you can activate or deactivate plugins. During this process you must be aware of possible existing dependencies between plugins. It can be necessary to start a required plugin.

With the search function of the configuration manager you can search for a specific plugin also within the plugin description.

Start or stop a plugin is a two-step process.

In the first step it is necessary to activate or deactivate the checkbox for the plugin. These changes takes effect after a click on the Save button. If there are other plugins required to be started also then a message box will be displayed.

A restart of the server is necessary to start or stop the plugins. A running plugin will not be stopped and a stopped plugin will not be started until the server was restarted. The modified status of the checkbox for a plugin takes effect after a server restart.

Therefore in the second step it is necessary to restart the server. If it is running as own application, e.g. as Windows service or Linux deamon then the restart can be triggered from the configuration manager GUI itself. If the server is running within an application server, like Tomcat or if it is embedded in a custom application then it is necessary to restart it together with the application server or custom application manually.

After the plugin was activated and started it could be necessary to give the user the right to access the plugin in the dialog Permissions.

If the plugin should be removed permanently from the server and from the list in this dialog, then you can delete the corresponding zip file from the folder "plugins" and restart the server. Depending plugins will be deactivated automatically.

Note: If you delete a plugin permanently then you should know what you do because you can loose the access to the i-net Clear Reports server if you delete a plugin that is necessary, e.g. for authentication.

With plugins it is possible to activate/deactivate default features of the server. Also, it is possible to add additional functions.

For more information about the architecture, life cycle and the steps to create your own plugin please refer to the chapter "Plugins" in the Server Programming Guide. A sample for a task planner plugin and a user-group-provider including a step by step description can be found in the documentation/samples directory of the SDK.