ReadMe First
The VMware vSphere Web Client SDK allows you to extend vSphere Web Client with UI and server plugins.
Note: VWC refers to vSphere Web Client in this documentation.
Versions Compatibility
If you are upgrading from VWC 5.1 please see the Release-Notes for a list of changes.
The VWC platform provides backward compatibility. The ground rules are:
vSphere Web Client (VWC) works with the current and previous vCenter releases.
Plugins are supported for at least one more VWC release.
In particular you cannot use 5.5 features in a plugin targeting VWC 5.1 (If you don't use any new features then SDK 5.1 and 5.5 are equivalent).
A plugin using 5.5 features won't get loaded in VWC 5.1 as long as its plugin-package dependency is set correctly. See the SDK Tutorial for more information.
Content
The SDK package contains the following files:
Release-Notes
License Agreement
vsphere-client-sdk-version: this SDK version and build number.
- /docs
- /libs
- vsphere-client-lib.swc: Flex library for UI plug-ins.
- vsphere-client-lib.jar: Java library for server plug-ins.
- /resources
- Additional scripts and configuration files.
- /samples
- helloworld, etc.: source and project files for the plug-in
examples described in SDK-Samples.
- /build/plugin-packages: the packaged examples ready to be used with your vSphere Web Client server.
- /tools
- /vSphere Client SDK plugin site: files to install the SDK Tools Eclipse plug-in.
- /scripts: command-line Ant scripts to create new plug-in projects.
Getting Started
Please follow the instructions in SDK-Setup to setup your development
environment. Then see the
SDK-Tutorial to learn how to create your first plug-in.
The following documentation is available online: vSphere 5.5 Web Client SDK Programming Guide (requires to login to the VMware communities site).
See the SDK samples documentation and import the projects
in Eclipse to review the code and run each sample.
You can also run the samples right away without involving Eclipse by following these steps:
- Stop your vSphere Web Client server
- Copy 1 or more samples from /samples/build/plugin-packages
to your server's plugin-packages directory
- Restart your vSphere Web Client server
- Login to vSphere Web Client and select the various views
described in SDK-samples
- Note: remember to remove the sample's plugin package later on if you switch to Eclipse to run it.
Getting Help
For questions not covered in the FAQs search the vSphere Web Client SDK forum. For questions related to other VMware APIs see the corresponding VMware community. Check also VMware announcements for future help resources.
Enjoy the SDK!
The vSphere Web Client Platform team