Skip to main content
Rick E Johnson
Rick E Johnson
Inspiring
March 20, 2016
Answered

When a sample plugin builds, but won't load

  • March 20, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 563 views

Are there some common reasons why a sample plugin (in this case, CS6, Mac OS X 10.11, Xcode 7) will build without issues but won't load into Illustrator? In this case, I'm studying MultiArrowTool, but it simply won't load. I haven't found any place where I can put a breakpoint to see where it fails, so it appears as though AI CS6 rejects it before it even loads any code. At first I thought it might need a separate UI installed, but none was included with the sample project. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer LeoTaro

Have you tried putting a breakpoint in PluginMain in Main.cpp? If the plugin fails silently it is normally because this function returns an error code when it gets the startup message.

1 reply

L
LeoTaroCorrect answer
Inspiring
March 20, 2016

Have you tried putting a breakpoint in PluginMain in Main.cpp? If the plugin fails silently it is normally because this function returns an error code when it gets the startup message.

Rick E Johnson
Rick E JohnsonAuthor
Inspiring
March 20, 2016

Yes, I have breakpoints at Main, AllocatePlugin, and FixupVTable. It was as though it didn't like the Pipl resource and bailed.

It's interesting perusing the console for clues. I wish AI were more specific as to the context of the errors, i.e., if a plugin caused the error, which plugin.

I'm compiling with the 10.6 base SDK  and 10.6 target. Wondering if the earlier SDKs added by XcodeLegacy.sh were the problem, I tried compiling with the current (and later) SDKs, and got a Rez error (exit code 3).

Then: SUCCESS! It must have had a conflict with another plugin I'd started which was based on MultiArrow Tool. I removed that plugin, and it now MultiArrow works. Today's assignment is to figure out how simply renaming a copy of a sample project can break it. I guess it's search-and-replace time in the source files...

I'll mark this as answered, Leo, since you encouraged me to look outside of the code. Thanks!

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices