Before you begin developing an add-in for Showcase, it is recommended that you take a look at the sample add-ins listed in
this section. These are included in the SDK to assist in acquiring a basic understanding of how to write an add-in for Showcase.
Some of them are add-ins you might find helpful to keep loaded, for reference purposes, while developing your own add-in.
For example, as noted elsewhere, much of the work of controlling the running Showcase application from an add-in is done using
the Showcase Message Passing Architecture. These Messages pass invisibly between the add-in and Showcase. However, a sample
add-in, EchoMessagesCustom.py, has been provided that makes all Messages visible in the Showcase Console. (To display the
console, run ShowcaseConsole.exe.)
Workflow, Samples and Tools
| Workflow |
Related samples and tools |
Details |
| Getting started developing an add-in |
Python:
|
A bare-bones add-in that:
- Adds a new item to the Appearance menu
- Adds a new menu called “Local Menu” to the Showcase menu bar and an item to it.
- Adds hotkeys for the new items
An excellent starting point for add-in development.
|
| Displaying messages |
Python:
|
Writes all Messages to the Showcase Console window. |
| Basic coding practices |
Python:
- CorrectSyntaxCustom.py
- CorrectSyntaxDialog.py
|
Presents coding syntax for Internal UI (html), Remote UI (Ajax/JavaScript), and Flash UI (Scaleform) calls. These are the three types of UI supported by the SDK.
|
| Triggering your add-in from a menu |
Python: Messges:
|
Triggers a custom script from a menu. |
| Link to a web page from a menu |
Python:
|
A model for adding hyperlinks to the online help for your add-in, to the home page of your company, etc. |
| Disabling automatic switch to Windows Basic theme |
Python:
|
Prevents Showcase from disabling Windows visual themes at application startup. |
