Plug-in Example

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# Plug-in Example

The Natural Studio plug-in example demonstrates how the Natural Studio metastructure can be extended with plug-ins that define your own object types, assign commands to them and display objects as nodes in tree views and list views.

The plug-in example shows information about the Natural application programming interfaces contained in the library `SYSEXT`. It allows users to list their documentation and to execute a test program for each of the application programming interfaces.

The source code of the plug-in example is delivered in the library `SYSEXPLG`. It is intended to give an impression of how plug-ins can be implemented with Natural Studio.

The following topics are covered below:

- Activating the Plug-in Example

- Using the Plug-in Example

## Activating the Plug-in Example

The plug-in example is installed automatically during Natural Studio installation. Initially, the activation of plug-ins is disabled. Therefore, in order to use the plug-in example, you must first enable plug-in activation and then activate the plug-in example.

To activate the plug-in example

1. Make sure that plug-in activation has been enabled. See Workspace Options in the documentation Using Natural Studio.

2. Invoke the Plug-in Manager as described in Invoking the Plug-in Manager in the documentation Using Natural Studio.

3. In the Plug-in Manager window, select Plug-in Example.

4. Activate the plug-in example as described in Activating and Deactivating a Plug-in in the documentation Using Natural Studio.

## Using the Plug-in Example

When the plug-in example has been activated in the Plug-in Manager, the following additional elements are available in the Natural Studio window.

### Menu Commands

The Tools menu provides the cascading menu Plug-in Example with the following commands:

Command | Description
--- | ---
Open Tree View | If an application programming interface (subprogram `USRnnnnN`), its description (text member `USRnnnnT`) or its test program (program `USRnnnnP`) is selected in library `SYSEXT`, this command displays information about this application programming interface in a tree view window. If none of the above is selected, this command displays information about all application programming interfaces in a tree view window.
Open List View | Displays the same information as above in a list view window.

### Context Menus

The cascading menu Plug-in Example with the above commands is available in the context menus of the Natural object types program, subprogram and text.

### Toolbar

An additional toolbar is shown. The toolbar buttons represent the following menu commands:

| Open Tree View
| Open List View

### On this page

- Activating the Plug-in Example
- Using the Plug-in Example