Plug-in Developer's Guide
(PDK version 1.2.1 )
Plug-ins are user created extensions to the DigiView application. They allow the user to modify the formatting of DigiView's built in interpreters, implement entirely new custom protocols and/or control the run-time behavior of the application.
Plug-ins are fully integrated into the DigiView applications. Signals based on plug-ins can be searched,exported, and printed in all the same manners as built-in types. All snaps, scrolls, lists, waveform views, searches, auto-searches, etc work in exactly the same way as built-ins. In fact, the internal protocol interpreters use the same framework as the plug-ins, ensuring equal functionality.
Plug-ins can be written in any language and do not require any special Windows programming knowledge. They are written as simple console-mode executables or scripts, using standard console read and write calls to interface with the application. We provide wrapper routines so that you do not have to deal with the read/writes at all. You simply respond to calls to 'parse()' to accept data and use calls like 'startfield()' and 'stopfield()' to return your data and formatting instructions. No knowledge of DLLs, sockets, COM, OLE, etc. is required. In fact, you don't need to know anything at all about Windows specific programming.
The 'Getting Started' tutorial demonstrates that you really can create your first functional plug-in in less than 20 minutes!
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