User interface (UI) plugins provide the capability to extend the Ansys Orbit Determination Tool Kit (ODTK�) application at runtime. UI plugins enable you to leverage your own software development environment (SDE) to integrate custom user interfaces that run seamlessly inside the application and exist alongside the standard elements and controls provided by ODTK software.
What can be customized?
UI plugins enable you to add custom toolbars, extend existing context menus, host custom windows, and manage plugin properties. Using these custom toolbars, context menus, and user controls, you can follow workflows unique to your organization or use third-party code directly within the desktop environment. The result is powerful user-defined workflows that can enhance your user experience and extend the ODTK application to accommodate powerful integration of ODTK technology and in-house functionality.
Extend menus
The UI plugins libraries provide the tools necessary to integrate object-level context menus into the hosting environment. You can use these custom context menus and menu items to control integrated and external tools seamlessly from within the hosting environment. Using UI plugins, you can:
- Add items to an object's context menu
- Create object-level context menus
Add toolbars
The UI plugins libraries provide the tools necessary to integrate and control custom toolbars that are accessible via the hosting environment. You can then use these custom toolbars to drive your customized workflows and controls seamlessly from within the hosting environment. Using UI plugins, you can:
- Create toolbars
- Implement toolbar items, such as push-style buttons and separators
- Control a toolbar's state
- Get and set information, such as caption, ID, visibility, etc., about toolbars
Host custom windows
The UI plugins libraries enable seamless integration of custom window forms into the ODTK environment. The framework provides facilities to host native custom windows as well as the window forms based on .NET user controls. You can use these custom windows to extend the hosting environment by integrating custom functionality and workflows. Using UI plugins, you can:
- Create and arrange custom windows
- Display progress tracking animation related to the status of integrated tasks and calculations
- Integrate UI controls into the application's user interface
- Open a new window and load the document specified by a given URL
- Manipulate the position and state of windows (state, height/width, pinning, docking, etc.)
- Get information about windows and their associated toolbars
Manage UI plugins
To manage the registered plugins, the ODTK environment offers a user interface integrated into the application level options that displays all registered plugins, their status, and a list of supported commands. The application hosts the custom configuration page, which provides a user interface that you can use to edit the plugin's settings. To access this page, do the following:
- Click the Edit menu.
- Select Preferences..., which opens the Preferences dialog box.
- In the dialog box, click UI Plugins on the left. You should see your registered UI plugins.
Plugin details
On the UI Plugins page of the Edit -Preferences dialog box, you can see version information from a XML plugin registration file by clicking .
The version information is defined in the <UI plugin name>.xml file, located at <Install_Dir>\ODTK <version number>\Plugins or C:\users\<username>\Documents\STK_ODTK 13\Config\Plugins\.
The Details window provides the following status:
Valid indicates whether the UI plugin is valid or not. The ODTK application considers the UI plugin valid if it has been properly registered and resolved at runtime.
System Plugin indicates that the UI plugin cannot be disabled. You can change the value of this property by setting the "AlwaysEnabled" attribute in the UI plugin XML manifest file. Setting AlwaysEnabled to "true" prevents users from disabling the plugin at runtime.
Has sufficient licenses indicates whether or not the available ODTK license allows the UI plugin to run and function.
Compatible indicates that the plugin is compatible with the ODTK personality but not necessarily with a particular version of the ODTK application.
Licensed is always true for ODTK UI plugins.