The upgrade.xml file

To upgrade a plugin, you must create an upgrade XML file. This can be done as follows:

Increment the number of the version attribute of the <identifier> element in plugin.xml.
Create a <migrate> element in upgrade.xml with a to-version attribute containing the new number.
Place the property and step-type elements that match the updated plugin.xml file within this element, as shown in the following example.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <plugin-upgrade
            xmlns="UpgradeXMLSchema_v1"
            xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <migrate to-version="3">
        <migrate-command name="Run SQLPlus script">
          <migrate-properties>
            <migrate-property name="sqlFiles" old="sqlFile"/>
          </migrate-properties>
        </migrate-command>  
      </migrate>
      <migrate to-version="4">
        <migrate-command name="Run SQLPlus script" />
      </migrate>
      <migrate to-version="5">
        <migrate-command name="Run SQLPlus script" />
      </migrate>
    </plugin-upgrade>

Of course, you can also make a script-only upgrade, that is, an upgrade that contains changes to the step's associated scripts and files but does not change plugin.xml. This mechanism can be useful for plugin development and for minor bug-fixes/updates.

Any upgrade that does not change the step definitions or properties does not need to provide an upgrade.xml. You can simply load the new version of the plugin using the Automation Plugins pane in Deployment Automation.