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Configuring plugins

The main configuration for a plugin is set in plugin.js.

Plugin constants

The following constants are defined in the file-level scope:

const PLUGIN_ID = "MyCompany_MyAddon";
const PLUGIN_VERSION = "1.0.0.0";	// addon SDK v1 only
const PLUGIN_CATEGORY = "general";

The ID and version constants must match the values specified in addon.json.

PLUGIN_ID
This is a unique ID that identifies your plugin from all other addons. This must not be used by any other addon ever published for Construct 3. It must never change after you first publish your addon. (The name is the only visible identifier of the addon in the Construct 3 editor, so that can be changed any time, but the ID must always be the same.) To ensure it is unique, it is recommended to use a vendor-specific prefix, e.g. MyCompany_MyAddon.
PLUGIN_VERSION Addon SDK v1 only
A string specifying the addon version in four parts (major, minor, patch, revision). Be sure to update this when releasing updates to your addon, which must also be updated in addon.json.
PLUGIN_CATEGORY
The category for the plugin when displaying it in the Create New Object Type dialog. This must be one of "3d", "data-and-storage", "form-controls", "general", "input", "media", "monetisation", "platform-specific", "web", "other".

Updating plugin identifiers

The main class declaration of the plugin looks like this:

const PLUGIN_CLASS = SDK.Plugins.MyCompany_MyAddon = class MyCustomPlugin extends SDK.IPluginBase

Be sure to update the identifiers to describe your own plugin, in both the SDK namespace and the class name.

Updating in type.js and instance.js

Likewise in both type.js and instance.js, you must update the following:

  • PLUGIN_CLASS to refer to your plugin's name
  • The class name suffixed with Type or Instance. (For example the Audio plugin uses AudioPlugin, AudioType and AudioInstance as the three names.)

Optional plugin scripts

Addon SDK v2 only With the addon SDK v2, you may omit the editor script files type.js and instance.js, as well as the runtime script files plugin.js and type.js. If these files are omitted, it uses the default base class with no modifications. To remove these files, be sure to do the following:

  1. Delete any unused script files
  2. Remove the files from the "file-list" array in addon.json
  3. Remove any unused editor script files from the "editor-scripts" array in addon.json
  4. In the editor plugin script, call this._info.SetC3RuntimeScripts() with an array of the runtime script files in use, as the default list includes c3runtime/plugin.js and c3runtime/type.js.

The plugin constructor

The main function of plugin.js is to define a class representing your plugin. In the class constructor, the configuration for the plugin is set via the this._info member, which is an IPluginInfo interface. The constructor also reads potentially translated strings from the language subsystem.

For more information about the possible plugin configurations, see the IPluginInfo reference.

Specifying plugin properties

The plugin properties appear in the Properties Bar when instances of the plugin are selected. To set which properties appear, pass an array of PluginProperty to this._info.SetProperties. An example is shown below. For more details see the PluginProperty reference.

	this._info.SetProperties([
		new SDK.PluginProperty("integer", "test-property", 0)
	]);
Addon SDK Manual 2024-05-20