Dependencies
You can make a plug-in dependent on another plug-in running successfully. For example, you can make a plug-in that checks portal content (plug-in A) dependent on a plug-in that first checks if the portal is running (plug-in B).
When you run plug-in A, the Support Platform first runs B. If B completes without any errors, plug-in A runs. If B completes with errors, a message is displayed for A saying A did not run because of errors in plug-ins on which it depends.
Creating Dependencies
The dependency element in a plug-in’s entry in the plugins.xml file determines if there are any dependencies for the plug-in. For example, the following creates two plug-ins, myPlugIn and myPlugInChild, with myPlugIn dependent on myPlugInChild.
<plugins>
<plugin name="myFolder/myPlugIn">
<class name="myPlugIn"/>
<dependency>myFolder/myPlugInChild</dependency>
</plugin>
<plugin name="myFolder/myPlugInChild">
<class name="myPlugInChild">
</class>
</plugin>
</plugins>
For more information about the plugins.xml file and developing plug-ins, see Developing Plug-Ins.