/* * plugins.dox - this file is part of Geany, a fast and lightweight IDE * * Copyright 2008-2009 Enrico Tröger * Copyright 2008-2009 Nick Treleaven * * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or * (at your option) any later version. * * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the * GNU General Public License for more details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, * MA 02110-1301, USA. * * $Id$ * * This file contains additional plugin documentation like the signal system and a small howto. * It is best viewed when filetype is set to C or C++. */ /** * * @mainpage Geany Plugin API Documentation * * @author Enrico Tröger, Nick Treleaven * @date $Date$ * * @section Intro * This is the Geany API documentation. It is far from being complete and should be * considered as a work in progress. * We will try to %document as many functions and structs as possible. * * To get started, see the @link howto Plugin Howto @endlink. * * Other pages: * - @link plugindata.h Main Datatypes and Macros @endlink * - @link pluginsymbols.c Plugin Symbols @endlink * - @link signals Plugin Signals @endlink * - @link guidelines Plugin Writing Guidelines @endlink * * @note Some of these pages are also listed in Related Pages. */ /** * @page signals Plugin Signals * * * @section Usage * * To use plugin signals in Geany, you simply create a PluginCallback array, list the signals * you want to listen to and create the appropiate signal callbacks for each signal. * The callback array is read @a after plugin_init() has been called. * @note The PluginCallback array has to be ended with a final NULL entry. * * The following code demonstrates how to use signals in Geany plugins. The code can be inserted * in your plugin code at any desired position. * * @code static void on_document_open(GObject *obj, GeanyDocument *doc, gpointer user_data) { printf("Example: %s was opened\n", DOC_FILENAME(doc)); } PluginCallback plugin_callbacks[] = { { "document-open", (GCallback) &on_document_open, FALSE, NULL }, { NULL, NULL, FALSE, NULL } }; * @endcode * * @section Signals * * @signaldef document-new * @signalproto * void user_function(GObject *obj, GeanyDocument *doc, gpointer user_data); * @endsignalproto * @signaldesc * Sent when a new %document is created. * * You need to include "document.h" for the declaration of GeanyDocument. * * @param obj a GeanyObject instance, should be ignored. * @param doc the new document. * @param user_data user data. * @endsignaldef * * @signaldef document-open * @signalproto * void user_function(GObject *obj, GeanyDocument *doc, gpointer user_data); * @endsignalproto * @signaldesc * Sent when a new %document is opened. * * You need to include "document.h" for the declaration of GeanyDocument. * * @param obj a GeanyObject instance, should be ignored. * @param doc the opened document. * @param user_data user data. * @endsignaldef * * @signaldef document-save * @signalproto * void user_function(GObject *obj, GeanyDocument *doc, gpointer user_data); * @endsignalproto * @signaldesc * Sent when a new %document is saved. * * You need to include "document.h" for the declaration of GeanyDocument. * * @param obj a GeanyObject instance, should be ignored. * @param doc the saved document. * @param user_data user data. * @endsignaldef * * @signaldef document-activate * @signalproto * void user_function(GObject *obj, GeanyDocument *doc, gpointer user_data); * @endsignalproto * @signaldesc * Sent when switching notebook pages. * * You need to include "document.h" for the declaration of GeanyDocument. * * @param obj a GeanyObject instance, should be ignored. * @param doc the current document. * @param user_data user data. * @endsignaldef * * @signaldef document-close * @signalproto * void user_function(GObject *obj, GeanyDocument *doc, gpointer user_data); * @endsignalproto * @signaldesc * Sent before closing a document. * * You need to include "document.h" for the declaration of GeanyDocument. * * @param obj a GeanyObject instance, should be ignored. * @param doc the document about to be closed. * @param user_data user data. * @endsignaldef * * @signaldef project-open * @signalproto * void user_function(GObject *obj, GKeyFile *config, gpointer user_data); * @endsignalproto * @signaldesc * Sent after a project is opened but before session files are loaded. * @param obj a GeanyObject instance, should be ignored. * @param config an exising GKeyFile object which can be used to read and write data. * It must not be closed or freed. * @param user_data user data. * @endsignaldef * * @signaldef project-save * @signalproto * void user_function(GObject *obj, GKeyFile *config, gpointer user_data); * @endsignalproto * @signaldesc * Sent when a project is saved(happens when the project is created, the properties * dialog is closed or Geany is exited). This signal is emitted shortly before Geany * will write the contents of the GKeyFile to the disc. * @param obj a GeanyObject instance, should be ignored. * @param config an exising GKeyFile object which can be used to read and write data. * It must not be closed or freed. * @param user_data user data. * @endsignaldef * * @signaldef project-close * @signalproto * void user_function(GObject *obj, gpointer user_data); * @endsignalproto * @signaldesc * Sent after a project is closed. * @param obj a GeanyObject instance, should be ignored. * @param user_data user data. * @endsignaldef * * @signaldef update-editor-menu * @signalproto * void user_function(GObject *obj, const gchar *word, gint pos, GeanyDocument *doc, * gpointer user_data); * @endsignalproto * @signaldesc * Sent before the popup menu of the editing widget is shown. This can be used to modify or extend * the popup menu. * * @note You can add menu items from @c plugin_init() using @c geany->main_widgets->editor_menu, * remembering to destroy them in @c plugin_cleanup(). * * You need to include "document.h" for the declaration of GeanyDocument. * * @param obj a GeanyObject instance, should be ignored. * @param word the current word (in UTF-8 encoding) below the cursor position where the popup menu will be opened. * @param click_pos the cursor position where the popup will be opened. * @param doc the current document. * @param user_data user data. * @endsignaldef * * @signaldef editor-notify * @signalproto * gboolean user_function(GObject *obj, GeanyEditor *editor, SCNotification *nt, * gpointer user_data); * @endsignalproto * @signaldesc * This signal is sent whenever something in the editor widget changes (character added, * fold level changes, clicks to the line number margin, ...). * A detailed description of possible notifications and the SCNotification can be found at * http://www.scintilla.org/ScintillaDoc.html#Notifications. * * If you connect to this signal, you must check @c nt->nmhdr.code for the notification type * to prevent handling unwanted notifications. This is important because for instance SCN_UPDATEUI * is sent very often whereas you probably don't want to handle this notification. * * By default, the signal is sent before Geany's default handler is processing the event. * Your callback function should return FALSE to allow Geany processing the event as well. If you * want to prevent this for some reason, return TRUE. * Please use this with care as it can break basic functionality of Geany. * * The signal can be sent after Geany's default handler has been run when you set * PluginCallback::after field to TRUE. * * An example callback implemention of this signal can be found in the Demo plugin. * * @warning This signal has much power and should be used carefully. You should especially * care about the return value; make sure to return TRUE only if it is necessary * and in the correct situations. * * You need to include "editor.h" for the declaration of GeanyEditor and "Scintilla.h" for * SCNotification. * * @param obj a GeanyObject instance, should be ignored. * @param editor The current GeanyEditor. * @param nt A pointer to the SCNotification struct which holds additional information for * the event. * @param user_data user data. * @return @c TRUE to stop other handlers from being invoked for the event. * @c FALSE to propagate the event further. * * @since 0.16 * @endsignaldef * * * * @page guidelines Plugin Writing Guidelines * * @section intro Introduction * * The following hints and guidelines are only recommendations. Nobody is forced to follow * them at all. * * @section general General notes * * @subsection ideas Getting a plugin idea * * If you want to write a plugin but don't know yet what it should do, have a look at * http://www.geany.org/Support/PluginWishlist to get an idea about what users wish. * * @subsection code Managing the source code * * For authors of plugins for Geany, we created a dedicated @a geany-plugins project at * Sourceforge to ease development of plugins and help new authors. * Project website: http://sourceforge.net/projects/geany-plugins * * Each plugin author is welcome to use these services. To do so, you need an account at * Sourceforge. You can easily register at (http://sourceforge.net/account/registration/). * After you successfully created an account, * tell your account name Enrico or Nick and you will write access to the SVN repository * (http://geany-plugins.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/geany-plugins/). * Then you can use the repository for your own plugin. * * Authors using this service should subscribe to the * geany-plugins-commits at uvena.de and geany-plugins-tracker at uvena.de * mailing lists(see my previous post) to stay up to date with changes. * General plugin discussion can happen on the normal geany at uvena.de or * geany-devel at uvena.de lists. * * At time of writing, there are some plugins already available in the * repository. Feel free to use any of these plugins as a start for your own, * maybe by copying the directory structure and the autotools files * (Makefile.am, configure.in, ...). Most of the available plugins are also ready for * i18n support, just for reference. * * New plugins should be imported into a new directory inside the trunk/ * directory. There are also the common branches and tags directories, use * them as needed, use always a subdirectory for your own plugin. * * We encourage authors using this service to only commit changes to their * own plugin and not to others' plugins. Instead just send patches to * geany-devel at uvena.de or the plugin author directly. * * (the full announcement of this service can be found at * http://lists.uvena.de/geany/2008-April/003225.html) * * * @section paths Installation paths * * - The plugin binary (@c pluginname.so) should be installed in Geany's libdir. This is * necessary so that Geany can find the plugin. * An easy way to retrieve Geany's libdir is to use the pkg-config tool, e.g. @code * `$PKG_CONFIG --variable=libdir geany`/ geany * @endcode * - If your plugin creates other binary files like helper programs or helper libraries, * they should go into @c $prefix/bin (for programs, ideally prefixed with @a geany), * additional libraries should be installed in Geany's libdir, maybe in a subdirectory. * - Plugins should install their documentation files (README, NEWS, ChangeLog, licences and * other documentation files) into the common documentation directory * @c $prefix/share/doc/geany-plugins/$pluginname/ * - Translation files should be installed normally into @c $prefix/share/locale. There is no * need to use Geany's translation directory. To set up translation support properly and * for additional information, see main_locale_init(). * - Do @a never install anything into a user's home directory like installing * the plugin binary in @c ~/.config/geany/plugins/. * * * @page howto Plugin Howto * * @section intro Introduction * * Since Geany 0.12 there is a plugin interface to extend Geany's functionality and * add new features. This %document gives a brief overview about how to add new * plugins by writing a simple "Hello World" plugin in C. * * * @section start Getting started * * @subsection structure Plugin structure * * Every plugin must contain some essential symbols unless it won't work. A complete * list of all necessary and optional symbols can be found in * @link pluginsymbols.c Plugin Symbols @endlink. * Every plugin should include "geany.h" and "plugindata.h" which provide necessary * preprocessor macros and other basic information. * There are two important preprocessor macros which need to be used at the beginning: * PLUGIN_SET_INFO() and PLUGIN_VERSION_CHECK(). * * PLUGIN_SET_INFO() tells Geany about basic plugin information like name, description, * version and author of the plugin. * * PLUGIN_VERSION_CHECK() checks for compatibility of the API version which * the plugin uses with the used Geany sources. Furthermore, it also checks * the binary compatiblity of the plugin with Geany. * * A few functions are necessary to let Geany work with the plugin, at least plugin_init() must * exist in the plugin. plugin_cleanup() should also be used to free allocated memory or destroy * created widgets. * * @subsection buildenv Build environment * * To be able to write plugins for Geany, you need the source code and some development * packages for GTK and its dependencies. I will only describe the way to compile and * build plugins on Unix-like systems [1]. * If you already have the Geany source code and compiled it from them, you can skip the * following. * * First you need to get the source code of Geany from the website at * http://www.geany.org/Download/Releases [2]. Then install the development files for GTK * and its dependencies. The easiest way to do this is to use your distribution's package * management system, e.g. on Debian and Ubuntu systems you can use * @code apt-get install libgtk2.0-dev intltool @endcode * This will install all necessary files to be able to compile Geany and plugins. On other * distributions, the package names and commands to use may differ. * * Basically, we are done at this point and could continue with writing the plugin code. * You don't need necessarily to configure and build the Geany sources when the sources * have the same version as your running Geany installation. But if the version of the * sources differ from your Geany installation or especially when you used the source code * from the Subversion repository, we strongly recommend to configure and build these * sources and use it. To do so, run @code ./configure && make su -c "make install" * @endcode * in your Geany source directory. This will build and install Geany on your system. * * [1] For Windows, it is basically the same but you might have some more work on setting up * the general build environment(compiler, GTK development files, ...). This is described on * Geany's website at http://www.geany.org/Support/BuildingOnWin32. * * [2] You can also use the bleedging edge source code from our Subversion repository. * More information about this can be found at http://www.geany.org/Download/SVN. * * @section helloworld "Hello World" * * We want to write a really simple "Hello World" plugin which opens a message dialog * and just prints "Hello World". * * * ... to be continued ... * * **/