[Puppet Users] can I pass a class or type to be executed into another class?

Hi,

I think you're overcomplicating.

I suppose you have something like

class mywebapp {
   tomcat7::war { "mywebapp": ... }
}

You can wrench your code inbetween if you slightly modify your defined
type like so:

define tomcat7::war(...) {
   file { "tomcat7-war-file-$name":
     path => "${tomcat7::sites_dir}/${destFile}",
     notify => Exec["clean-tomcat7-war-$name"],
   }
   exec { "clean-tomcat7-war-$name":
     ...
   }
}

to make the interface more transparent. Then add to class mywebapp:

exec { "notify-loadbalancer":
   command => ...
   suscribe => File["tomcat7-war-file-mywebapp"],
   before => Exec["clean-tomcat7-war-mywebapp"],
}

This is not exactly clean design, of course (use this pattern in enough
places and you've got a maintenance nightmare right on hand).

If you *want* to make it clean, you will have little choice but to
include the code in tomcat7::war after all, along with a new parameter
to explicitly enable it (e.g. $do_notify_loadbalancer = false).

If a compromise is acceptable, you may get away with making it somewhat
generic like

define tomcat7::war(
   ...
   $pre_cleanup_hook = "") {

...

   if $pre_cleanup_hook {
     exec { "tomcat7-war-pch-$name":
       command => "$pre_cleanup_hook",
       subscribe => File[...],
       before => Exec[...],
     }
   }
...
}

HTH,
Felix