54.1 What is a plug-in?

A plug-in is a piece of software that installs itself into another application to extend the capabilities of that application. ABAQUS plug-ins execute ABAQUS Scripting Interface and ABAQUS GUI Toolkit commands, and they provide a way to customize ABAQUS/CAE for your particular needs or preferences. For example, a simple plug-in could automatically print the contents of the current viewport according to some predefined options. A more complex plug-in could provide a graphical user interface to a specialized postprocessing routine that you have written.

A typical ABAQUS/CAE plug-in has two components:

A Python module containing one or more Python functions.
Registration commands that define the action that should be taken when the user initiates the plug-in. A registration command adds a menu item or an icon to the ABAQUS/CAE main window. In addition, a registration command associates the menu item or icon with the Python module and one of its functions. When the user selects the menu item or icon, ABAQUS/CAE calls the associated function in the Python module.

There are two types of plug-ins: kernel and GUI. A kernel plug-in consists of a file containing functions written using the ABAQUS Scripting Interface. In contrast to a kernel plug-in, a GUI plug-in is written using the ABAQUS GUI Toolkit and contains commands that create graphical user interfaces, which in turn send commands to the kernel. Both kernel and GUI plug-ins are available from the Plug-ins menu on the main menu bar or from a plug-ins toolbox.

By default, several kernel and GUI example plug-ins are available from the Plug-ins menu on the main menu bar. You can use these examples to see how plug-ins are created and to learn how plug-ins interact with ABAQUS/CAE. In addition, you can access two example plug-ins from a plug-ins toolbox. When you select Plug-insToolboxesExamples from the main menu bar, ABAQUS/CAE displays the Examples toolbox. You can click an icon in the toolbox to start a plug-in. Figure 54–1 shows the Toolboxes menu and the Examples toolbox.

Figure 54–1 The Examples plug-in toolbox.