Index: F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/DefaultGrailsPluginManager.java
===================================================================
--- F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/DefaultGrailsPluginManager.java	(revision 3299)
+++ F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/DefaultGrailsPluginManager.java	(working copy)
@@ -662,4 +662,12 @@
   public ServletContext getServletContext() {
       return servletContext;
   }
+    
+  public void doArtefactConfiguration() {
+      checkInitialised();
+      for (Iterator i = pluginList.iterator(); i.hasNext();) {
+          GrailsPlugin plugin = (GrailsPlugin) i.next();
+          plugin.doArtefactConfiguration();
+      }	  	  
+  }  
 }
Index: F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/GrailsPlugin.java
===================================================================
--- F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/GrailsPlugin.java	(revision 3299)
+++ F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/GrailsPlugin.java	(working copy)
@@ -106,9 +106,11 @@
 	 */
 	String DEPENDS_ON = "dependsOn";
 
+	/**
+	 * Define the list of ArtefactHandlers supporting by the plugin
+	 */
+	String ARTEFACTS = "artefacts";
 
-
-
     /**
      * <p>This method is called to allow the plugin to add {@link org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinition}s
      * to the {@link org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionRegistry}.</p>
@@ -240,4 +242,6 @@
      * @param event The event to listen for
      */
     void notifyOfEvent(Map event);
+
+	void doArtefactConfiguration();
 }
Index: F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/AbstractGrailsPlugin.java
===================================================================
--- F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/AbstractGrailsPlugin.java	(revision 3299)
+++ F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/AbstractGrailsPlugin.java	(working copy)
@@ -72,11 +72,13 @@
 		this.application = application;
 		this.pluginClass = pluginClass;
 	}
+	
 	public abstract void doWithApplicationContext(ApplicationContext applicationContext);
 	
 
 	public abstract void doWithRuntimeConfiguration(RuntimeSpringConfiguration springConfig);
 	
+	public abstract void doArtefactConfiguration();	
 	
 	public void checkForChanges() {
 		// do nothing		
Index: F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/DefaultGrailsPlugin.java
===================================================================
--- F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/DefaultGrailsPlugin.java	(revision 3299)
+++ F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/DefaultGrailsPlugin.java	(working copy)
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 import org.apache.commons.lang.ArrayUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.ArtefactHandler;
 import org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.GrailsApplication;
 import org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.GrailsClassUtils;
 import org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.GrailsMetaClassUtils;
@@ -581,4 +582,34 @@
         onChangeListener.setDelegate(this);
         onChangeListener.call(new Object[]{event});
     }
+	
+	public void doArtefactConfiguration() {
+		if(this.pluginBean.isReadableProperty(ARTEFACTS)) {
+			List l = (List)this.plugin.getProperty(ARTEFACTS);
+			for (Iterator iter = l.iterator(); iter.hasNext();) {
+				Object artefact = iter.next();
+				if(artefact instanceof Class) {
+					Class artefactClass = (Class)artefact;
+					if(ArtefactHandler.class.isAssignableFrom(artefactClass)) {
+						try {
+							this.application.registerArtefactHandler((ArtefactHandler)artefactClass.newInstance());
+						} catch (InstantiationException e) {
+				            LOG.error("Cannot instantiate an Artefact Handler:" + e.getMessage(),e);
+						} catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
+				            LOG.error("The constructor of the Artefact Handler is not accessible:" + e.getMessage(),e);
+						}
+					} else {
+			            LOG.error("This class is not an ArtefactHandler:" + artefactClass.getName());
+					}
+				} else {
+					if(artefact instanceof ArtefactHandler) {
+						this.application.registerArtefactHandler((ArtefactHandler)artefact);
+					} else {
+						LOG.error("This object is not an ArtefactHandler:" + artefact + "[" + artefact.getClass().getName()+"]");
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 }
\ No newline at end of file
Index: F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/GrailsPluginManagerFactoryBean.java
===================================================================
--- F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/GrailsPluginManagerFactoryBean.java	(revision 3299)
+++ F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/GrailsPluginManagerFactoryBean.java	(working copy)
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  */ 
 package org.codehaus.groovy.grails.plugins;
 
+import org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.DefaultGrailsApplication;
 import org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.GrailsApplication;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.FactoryBean;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean;
@@ -68,6 +69,8 @@
 			PluginManagerHolder.setPluginManager(pluginManager);
 		}
         this.pluginManager.setApplication(application);
+        this.pluginManager.doArtefactConfiguration();        
+        this.application.initialise();
     }
 
 }
Index: F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/GrailsPluginManager.java
===================================================================
--- F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/GrailsPluginManager.java	(revision 3299)
+++ F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/GrailsPluginManager.java	(working copy)
@@ -185,4 +185,7 @@
      * @param event The event
      */
     public void informObservers(String pluginName, Map event);
+    
+    public void doArtefactConfiguration();
+    
 }
\ No newline at end of file
Index: F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/support/aware/AwarePlugin.java
===================================================================
--- F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/support/aware/AwarePlugin.java	(revision 3299)
+++ F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/plugins/support/aware/AwarePlugin.java	(working copy)
@@ -68,4 +68,8 @@
         // do nothing
     }
 
+	public void doArtefactConfiguration() {
+		// do nothing		
+	}
+
 }
Index: F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/commons/GrailsApplication.java
===================================================================
--- F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/commons/GrailsApplication.java	(revision 3299)
+++ F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/commons/GrailsApplication.java	(working copy)
@@ -222,5 +222,6 @@
      */
     public ArtefactHandler[] getArtefactHandlers();
 
+	public void initialise();
 
 }
Index: F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/commons/DefaultGrailsApplication.java
===================================================================
--- F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/commons/DefaultGrailsApplication.java	(revision 3299)
+++ F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/commons/DefaultGrailsApplication.java	(working copy)
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@
     private Map artefactInfo = new HashMap();
     private boolean suspectArtefactInit;
     private Class[] allArtefactClassesArray;
+    private boolean neverInitialised = true;
 
     /**
      * Creates a new empty Grails application
@@ -190,16 +191,8 @@
             }
         }
 
-        // get all the classes that were loaded
-        if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
-            log.debug("loaded classes: [" + loadedClasses + "]");
-        }
-
-        Class[] classes = populateAllClasses();
-
-        configureLoadedClasses(classes);
     }
-
+    
     /**
      * Initialises the default set of ArtefactHandler instances
      *
@@ -589,6 +582,9 @@
      * @see org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.ArtefactHandler
      */
     public GrailsClass addArtefact(String artefactType, Class artefactClass) {
+    	
+    	checkInitialised();
+    	
         // @todo should we filter abstracts here?
         if (Modifier.isAbstract(artefactClass.getModifiers())) {
             return null;
@@ -630,6 +626,9 @@
      * @see org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.ArtefactHandler
      */
     public GrailsClass addArtefact(String artefactType, GrailsClass artefactGrailsClass) {
+    	
+    	checkInitialised();
+    	
         // @todo should we filter abstracts here?
         if (Modifier.isAbstract(artefactGrailsClass.getClazz().getModifiers())) {
             return null;
@@ -794,4 +793,21 @@
         }
         return super.getProperty(propertyName);    
     }
+
+    public void initialise() {
+        this.neverInitialised = false;
+        // get all the classes that were loaded
+        if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
+            log.debug("loaded classes: [" + loadedClasses + "]");
+        }    	
+        Class[] classes = populateAllClasses();
+        configureLoadedClasses(classes);
+    }
+    
+    private void checkInitialised() {
+    	if(this.neverInitialised) {
+    		initialise();
+    	}
+    }
+
 }
Index: F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/commons/GrailsApplicationFactoryBean.java
===================================================================
--- F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/commons/GrailsApplicationFactoryBean.java	(revision 3299)
+++ F:/src/grails-trunk/src/commons/org/codehaus/groovy/grails/commons/GrailsApplicationFactoryBean.java	(working copy)
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@
 		else {
 			this.grailsApplication = new DefaultGrailsApplication(this.groovyFiles);
 		}
-
         ApplicationHolder.setApplication(this.grailsApplication);
     }