Is it possible to create my own panel UI through the C++ interface?
I've found how to do it with the ScriptUI system, which is pretty slick, but the functionality I'm working on is a bit big, hairy, and scary to think of doing all in JavaScript.
Is the panel UI creation stuff only exposed to JavaScript and not to C++?
yes, you can create panels using the sdk in c++ (there is at least one sample that does so that's included with the sdk),
but,
creating panels using java scripts and creating them using the sdk and c++ are two VERY different methods.
as far as i know, these two methods don't mix.
it seems that you'll have to choose either the one (uncompiled java script), or the other (compiled c++ code using the sdk).
sorry.
:-(
It's okay. I don't want to mix JavaScript and C++.
I'd like to build a panel of my own with the C++ SDK interface.
I can't decipher some of the samples, and I don't see anything in the SDK documentation about building panels with the C++ interface.
Could you possibly provide me with some more details on how to build a panel with the C++ SDK interface? Or can you direct me to some documentation describing how to build a panel with the C++ SDK interface?
the sample that builds a panel is called: panelator.
it ships with the cs3 sdk. (AE8.0 sdk)
the reason you didn't find any information about it, is because it's undocumented.
it's not mentioned anywhere. but none the less, there it is.
if it doesn't load with the rest of the samples in the BuildAll.sln then look for it in the AEGP samples folder.
panelator creates a dockable panel (such as the info or tracker panels). it shows some info and has a custom built button.
once compiled, you'll find it in the window menu as "Panelator!".
for someone developing a panel based plug-in, what could be better?
:-)
Thanks for your help. The panelator does indeed build a panel in C++.
Since this is all, as you mention, undocumented... Perhaps you also know the answer to a couple of other questions:
1) The panelator seems to be drawing it's own controls. Is there a way to use the AE controls so that my panel will look like the rest of AE? For example, is there some way to get the nice AE drop-down menus with the rounded corners?
2) Can my panel respond to the user selecting different items in the AE UI? For example, I want to show 1 UI in my panel when footage is selected and another UI when a composition is selected. Is this possible? (Like, is there some 'selection' callback I can subscribe to?)
1) i looked into that and found a good way to generate migraines, and nothing else.
perhaps you should look at the ADM commands and see if they apply to panels as well (which i doubt).
I didn't do a thorough search, but it's possible that it's entirely up to you to draw the controls in the panel.
if you want your panel to look AE-ish, then the fonts and colors used by AE are mentioned somewhere in the documentation.
2) yes you can do that.
selections are referred to as "collections" in the sdk.
there's a collection suite that enables you to read/change the current selection.
when the user changes the selection AE sends an update command to all plug-ins who requested to to be notified (i can't remember that command's name). so given your plug-in gets called upon whenever the collection changes you can change the content of your panel accordingly.
another way to go about this problem is to use "idle hook".
idle hook is a command requesting AE to tell you when it's got some free CPU time.
that usually happens 10-20 times per second whenever AE doesn't render anything.
you can use that command for a quick check of the current collection as well.
As far as I know, still not possible to use native AE control elements in custom panels from the C++ side, even with the latest SDK. The most common/convenient way in my opinion is to build a Javascript panel that sends commands to the C++ effect/plugin.
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