gtkradiant/setup/PluginSDK/README.html

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<center><b><font size=+2>GtkRadiant plugin SDK</font></b></center>
<center><b><font size=+2>http://www.gtkradiant.com</font></b></center>
<p><br>
<div align=right><b><font size=+2>Version: <font color="#FF0000">GtkRadiant
1.1-TA-beta</font></font></b>
<br><b><font size=+2><font color="#000000">Last updated: </font><font color="#FF0000">01/14/2001</font></font></b></div>
<p><br>
<hr WIDTH="100%"><font size=+2>What do I have?</font>
<br><font size=+1><tt>GtkRadiant/include/</tt>: Radiant plugin API
headers</font>
<br><font size=+1><tt>GtkRadiant/plugins/sample/</tt>: an empty plugin nutshell,
handy to start a new one (NOTE: a cygwin makefile for Sample is also
provided)</font>
<br><font size=+1><tt>GtkRadiant/plugins/textool/</tt>: TexTool plugin
source code</font>
<br><font size=+1><tt>src/</tt>: Gtk headers and libraries for win32</font>
<p> <font size=+2>A Word about Gtk:</font>
<br><font size=+1>GtkRadiant is using the <a href="http://www.gtk.org"
target="_new">Gtk toolkit</a> for all the user interface. There's a specific
page for the <a href="http://user.sgic.fi/~tml/gimp/win32/" target="_new">Gtk on
win32</a>. If you are going to write a plugin for GtkRadiant, we recommend you
use Gtk, but it's not a required feature. You can write plugins using the native
windows API or even VB. Don't hesitate to ask for help on the <a
href="http://www.egroups.com/register?referer=/subscribe/radiant-plugins"
target="_new">plugin mailing list</a> or to drop by on irc.telefragged.com
#qeradiant</font></p>
<p><font size=+2>Plugin basics:</font>
<br><font size=+2>main features available to plugins:</font>
<ul>
<li>
<font size=+1>Manipulate MAP data: read and write brushes, patches, epairs and entities</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1>Override the BSP menu to process your own building commands</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1>Read / Write project settings epairs</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1>Use OpenGL to draw in the 2D/3D view, or in your own plugin
windows</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1>Use listeners to catch events in Radiant (like a change of
texture or brush select / deselect)</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1>Use listeners to listen for window events (for mouse interaction
in the 2D view)</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1>Create new plugin entities that show up in the Radiant window,
which you can draw yourself and handle the user interaction</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1>Use the Radiant internal parser to hook your own MAP format
changes for plugin entities</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1>Access polygon and texture information on the current selected
face</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1>Override the texture / shader code to provide your own texture
formats and shader system</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1>Add new surface properties, and change the MAP format accordingly</font></li>
</ul>
<font size=+2>overall structure of a plugin:</font>
<br><font size=+1>A plugin is a DLL (dynamic loading library) that exposes
some API to Radiant. Plugins must be put in the plugins/ directory, they
get loaded at startup by Radiant. Any plugin has a few required entry points
in order to get loaded correctly:</font>
<ul>
<li>
<font size=+1><tt>QERPlug_Init</tt> is the first entry point called, used
for initialization and sending back the plugin name that appears in the
console</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1><tt>QERPlug_GetName</tt> returns the name of the plugin as
it appears in the plugin menu</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1><tt>QERPlug_GetCommandList</tt> returns a list describing
the items in the plugin submenu</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1><tt>QERPlug_GetFuncTable</tt> returns the address of the
_QERFuncTable_1 of the plugin. After Radiant got the pointer to the function
table it will fill it and the plugin is able to call into the editor.</font></li>
<li>
<font size=+1><tt>QERPlug_Dispatch</tt> is called when the user hits a
command in the plugin menu. The plugin is then free to process.</font></li>
</ul>
<font size=+2>the function table and interfaces:</font>
<br><font size=+1>Instead of exporting entry points, Radiant fills in function
pointer tables. The main and required function table is <tt>_QERFuncTable_1</tt>.
Each plugin must have it and let Radiant fill it. Some additional or specialized
functionalities can be accessed with other tables like <tt>_QERQglTable</tt>
for GL stuff. These have to be requested to Radiant using <tt>_QERFuncTable_1::m_pfnRequestInterface</tt>
(see <tt>TexTool</tt> for an example). Each additional function table has
a "globally unique identifier" (<tt>QERQglTable_GUID</tt> for GL stuff)
that's used to identify the interface across plugins.</font>
<p><font size=+1>NOTE: some function tables are used by Radiant and must
be filled by the plugin (ie. they work in reverse compared to usual ones).
In this case the plugin must export an additional entry point <tt>int WINAPI
QERPlug_RequestInterface( REFGUID, LPVOID );</tt></font>
<p><font size=+2>virtual classes:</font>
<br><font size=+1>some stuff is better represented by an abstract C++ class.
For those with COM knowledge, it's just a very lightweight COM way of doing
things. These classes have very basic reference counting through <tt>IncRef()</tt>
and <tt>DecRef()</tt> .. you are supposed to increment or decrement the
reference count each time you store or release a pointer to these classes,
otherwise they could get unexpectedly erased and you would be very very
sorry. The <tt>IListener</tt> class in <tt>IMessaging.h</tt> can be implemented
by the plugin and handed over to Radiant to listen for events. See <tt>TexTool</tt>
for examples.</font>
<br>&nbsp;
<p><font size=+2>More stuff:</font>
<br><font size=+1>If you need more information or if you want new features for
plugins, see the source code for <tt>TexTool</tt> and <tt>Curry</tt>.
<tt>TexTool</tt> source comes with the plugin SDK, and <tt>Curry</tt> source is
available <a href="http://curry.sourceforge.net">from their web site</a>. You
can <a
href="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/?cvsroot=curry">browse it
online</a> from <a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/?group_id=1263">the
project page</a>. <a
href="http://sourceforge.net/project/?group_id=5326">PrtView</a> has neat code
samples on how to draw in the 2D views or camera window. These two plugins are
under GPL licensing. The dedicated place to talk about plugin coding is the <a
href="http://www.egroups.com/group/radiant-plugins">plugins-coding mailing
list</a> ... see you there. You may also get an updated list of the plugins for
Radiant <a href="http://plugins.qeradiant.com">on our dedicated web
site</a>.<br>
Update: you can also have a look to the <a
href="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/?cvsroot=pk3man "
target="_new">pk3man source</a>.</font>
<p><font size=+2>Conclusion:</font>
<br><font size=+1>this document is intended as a quickstart for potential
plugin writers. I hope it meets it's objective. It's not a complete and
systematic documentation, I doubt there will be one ever unless someone
decides to do it. Feel free to send me contributions to this document.
<a href="mailto:timo@qeradiant.com">Send feedback to me</a>.</font>
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