Hi all,
I would like to create a dockable panel that will show information about the selected file(s). Can this be done? If so, could I use Visual Basic or C++?
At the moment the way to do this is to write a viewer plugin.
Using C++, if you know it, would be the most straightfoward language as that's what the viewer plugin SDK is written for and what most of the examples use. (There are also some Delphi examples.)
You should also be able to write one in Visual Basic but I don't think anyone has yet so, being slightly uncharted territory, there might be some complications that we don't know of and you'd have translate the header files into VB syntax.
The Opus plugin SDK can be downloaded from here (bottom of the page). You can find example source code by using my Plugin List and turning on the Source Code column to get info/links for all the plugins that come with source.
Alternatively...
Opus can also use standard ActiveX controls and Preview Handlers in the viewer panel, thanks to the ActiveX plugin. So if it is easier to write one of those than a native Opus viewer plugin, you could do that. If you are using VB then I suspect this will be the easier route.
Although Preview Handlers are mainly seen in Vista's Explorer and Office 2007's Outlook, the technology doesn't depend on Vista or Office 2007. If you make and install a Preview Handler then Opus will happily use it on any version of Windows and without requiring Office.
Thanks Leo,
I am going to give it a try using C#.
Please let me know if this is going to be a problem.
If you go with C# I'd recommend the ActiveX or Preview Handler route. Then your plugin will be hosted in a separate process and you won't have to deal with the complications of pulling the .Net runtime into Opus.