How to get a layer's offset from frame 0 (SDK)?

Hi gang;

I have a plugin that does it's thing via checking out another layer.

If I grab the effect layer in the timeline (the colored bar) and shift it left or right, to have my effect start earlier or later, it doesn't. It just starts the effect midway through. This is because the effect relies on the composition's current frame.

As such, I think I need to find a function that returns the offset that the layer has been shifted in the timeline. So if I were to shift the layer 5  frames earlier in the timeline, I need a function that returns that. I saw in the SDK there is AEGP_GetLayerOffset:

Get the offset from the start of the composition to
layer time 0, in composition time.
AEGP_GetLayerOffset(
AEGP_LayerH layerH,
A_Time *offsetPT);

Is this what I would want? I tried to find some examples of how to use this but didn't find any. Any suggestions?

I'm not sure I was able to convey what I'm after but hopefully so.

Thanks,

-Rich