[mythtv] Guide to write a plugin?

[Steven Adeff]

On 10/12/06, Josh Lefler <joshlefler at leflerinc.com> wrote:
>
>  <snip>
>  Josh Lefler wrote:
>
>
>  Henrik,
>
> I recently wrote my first plugin for myth (Ticket #2482) and had much
> the same dilemma as you when I got started. Here are a few bits of
> information that made the process easier for me:
>
>
>  <snip>
>  Thank you very much for your reply. A few more questions:
>
> How do I go about compiling the thing? I should end up with what? A .so
> file? And where do I place this? With what filename?
>
>  Yes, you should end up with a .so file. Look at the (pluginname).pro file
> for one of the plugins or my patch. You'll see that each plugin actually has
> several .pro files. One in the parent directory, and one in each
> subdirectory. The one in the parent directory simply points to the ones in
> the subdirectories so you can keep different binaries for you plugin (if it
> has more than one binary) organized but still make them all with one
> command. Your best bet is just to copy these pro files from another plugin
> then tweak them to your needs by changing the lines specific to your plugin.
> Look through the files and you'll get a better idea of what I mean.
>
>  Then, you run qmake to generate a Makefile based upon the .pro files and
> then make as normal. If you setup your plugin like an existing official
> plugin (like I did mine), then you'll have an easier time with installation
> etc. as the mythplugins directory itself helps find the proper install
> location etc. Look through configure for mythplugins to see what I mean.
>
>
>
>  Regarding the UI xml file, does it need to have a specific name, or do I
> reference it from within my code?
>
>
>  You pass in a portion of the filename. Specifically, anything before the
> "ui.xml". I do this on line 46 of main.cpp in my plugin.
>
>
>
>  Do you know anything about the i18n folder, containing translations? Is
> that for internal use only, or does mythtv choose the translation etc
> somehow?
>
>
>  The i18n folder is for translations - but I haven't implemented it yet so
> can't help ya much there.
>
>  Sorry if I'm asking dumb questions, I haven't yet figured out how things
> play together.
>
>
>  I asked a lot of dumb questions when I was getting started, and Anduin,
> Isaac (chutt), xris, etc. were very helpful.. just happy to be able to
> return the favor in an indirect sort of way.
>
>  / Henrik
>
>
>  Henrik Gammelmark wrote:
>
>
>  I have looked around on mythtv.org, but I cannot seem to find any
> documentation / howtos / turorials / faqs on how to build a simple
> plugin for MythTV.
>
> Does anyone know of any such guide or at least some sort of
> documentation to use? For starters I wish to create simple Hello World
> plugin that appears in the main menu, and responds to a keystroke (or
> lirc key) by doing something useless.
>
> In #mythtv @ Freenode, I was told that there is no such guide or sample
> plugin, and the best way to go about it, is study an existing plugin. So
> I started taking apart mythweather, but I quickly got stuck.
>
> Any pointers would be helpful - what is the bare minimum of code
> required to accomplish the above task, and also, what is the build
> procedure? I never used qmake before, and I'm not sure I understand what
> it does.
>
> Thank you very much in advance

you guys should put this information on the Wiki.

-- 
Steve
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