plugins folder (in your current version's SDS2 data directory)

page 1 | contents | current version's data directory

plugins

Primary purpose: User-authored custom members or custom components may be placed directly in the plugins folder for the data directory used by your current version of this program. Alternatively, you may prefer to place them into the plugins folder in your current Job . See " Also see " at the bottom of this page.

Note to parametric programmers: Occasionally, plugins will require features not present in older versions of SDS2 programs, or which are known not to work because of bugs present in specific versions of SDS2 programs. In these cases, the plugin should test the CurrentVersion() using VersionCompare() and raise an ImportError exception before calling any registration functions. For example, if a plugin named FooBar requires a new feature added in version 7.208, it should use the following test:

if version.VersionCompare(version.CurrentVersion(), '7.208') < 0:
    raise ImportError, 'FooBar plugin requires SDS2 software v7.208 or later'

Because SDS2 programs use Python 2.7.2: Custom members must now use a call of the following form to register the custom member type:

 MemberBase.RegisterMemberType(ExampleMember, "Example Member")

The first argument is the class itself, not a string. This form is also compatible with v7.2 programs, which uses Python 2.3.

page 1 | contents | current version's data directory | top

plugins/SDS2/ in the data directory for your current version of SDS2 programs contains information about custom members and other Python -based plugins that are overwritten each time you update to a new version of an SDS2 program. You may want to copy plugins from this folder to your current Job's plugins folder as described in " Also see " at the bottom of this page. In v2018, it contains folders named Components, Examples, Materials, Properties, Shared and Tools.

plugins/SDS2/Components contains plugins for custom components .

plugins/SDS2/Examples contains examples of source code.

plugins/SDS2/Examples/DesignablesExamples contains examples of source code for plugin developers who wish to become more familiar with how to use Designable code in their custom components and processable custom members. The example plugins will not be loaded with actual plugins when running an SDS2 program so long as they remain in this folder.

plugins/SDS2/Examples/ModularCustomPropertiesExamples contains source code related to the development of plugins that are shown at Home > Project Settings > Job > Activate Custom Properties .

VIDEO How to create a plugin file using source code that is stored in the ModularCustomPropertiesExamples folder.

plugins/SDS2/Properties/SDS2Properties contains modular custom property plugins.

plugins/SDS2/Members/Steel contains plugins for steel custom members such as anchor rod (AnchorRod), girt (CustomGirt), hand rail (HandRail) and others.

plugins/SDS2/Members/Steel/MiscellaneousCM contains plugins for the various miscellaneous member types that are available to users of SDS2 software. Here is a list of these miscellaneous member types:

Bent Plate Flat Bar Rectangular Plate Round Plate
Bent Plate Layout Grating Rolled Plate Shear/Threaded Stud
Clevis Grate Tread Rolled Section Square Bar
Decking Plate Layout Round Bar Turnbuckle

plugins/SDS2/Members/Concrete contains plugins for concrete custom members such Concrete Wall . (concretewall).

page 1 | contents | current version's data directory | top

Also see :

You can use the Plugin Manager utility to copy a plugin from the plugins/SDS2 folder to the plugins folder in your current Job . This will ensure that the same plugin is used in a particular Job, throughout the course of that Job's development, instead of being overwritten each time the installation of a new version of an SDS2 program updates the plugins/SDS2 folder.

" Plugins " can be exported to any folder using Transmittal from the ( Home ).

" Advanced options " for Project Transfer allow you to pack plugins along with a packed Job.

page 1 | contents | current version's data directory | top