@zipit Thank you for the reply. A practical example would be storing data about a set of objects (as in a character pose) in a tag. The Command plugin would have the UI used for organizing the multiple tags' data (adding/deleting poses to the tag, renaming poses, etc.). Here's one example. I'd be very happy to hear ideas for other paradigms.

Here's what I have now in my Tag:

    def Message(self, op, type, data):
        if type == c4d.MSG_EDIT:
            try:
                global dlg
                dlg.Open(dlgtype=c4d.DLG_TYPE_ASYNC, xpos=-1, ypos=-1, pluginid=COMMANDPLUGIN_ID, defaultw=540, defaulth=640)
            except NameError:
                global myDlg
                dlg = MyDlg()
                dlg.Open(dlgtype=c4d.DLG_TYPE_ASYNC, xpos=-1, ypos=-1, pluginid=COMMANDPLUGIN_ID, defaultw=540, defaulth=640)
        return True

This method only opens the dialog once. If I close and try to reopen it, however, nothing happens. Opening it this way creates double menu bars:

Also, I'm still unsure of how to check if the Command Plugin UI is already open from the Tag Plugin?

@mp5gosu Thank you. I'll check out the Message Plugin.

Hello,
I have seen tag plugins that, when they are double-clicked, open a dialog.

Using the py-look_at_camera_r13 example from the SDK, I came up with the code below. I'm trying to open the Dialog with the Execute method of the plugin class which is clearly the wrong place for it.

import c4d, os
from c4d import plugins, utils, bitmaps, gui, documents

TAG_ID = 1234567
PLUGIN_ID = 2345678

global dlg

class MyDlg(gui.GeDialog):
    def CreateLayout(self):
        self.SetTitle("MyDlg")
        self.GroupBegin(1, c4d.BFH_CENTER, 2, 1, None, 640)
        self.GroupBorderSpace(10, 20, 10, 20)
        self.AddButton(2, c4d.BFH_FIT, name="Yes", initw=100)
        self.AddButton(3, c4d.BFH_FIT, name="No", initw=100)
        self.GroupEnd()
        return True

    def Command(self, id, msg):
        return True

class MyTagPlugin(c4d.plugins.TagData):
    def Init(self, node):
        pd = c4d.PriorityData()
        if pd is None:
            raise MemoryError("Failed to create a priority data.")
        pd.SetPriorityValue(c4d.PRIORITYVALUE_CAMERADEPENDENT, True)
        node[c4d.EXPRESSION_PRIORITY] = pd
        return True

    def Execute(self, tag, doc, op, bt, priority, flags):
        global dlg
        if dlg == None:
            dlg = MyDlg()
            dlg.Open(dlgtype=c4d.DLG_TYPE_ASYNC, xpos=-1, ypos=-1, pluginid=PLUGIN_ID, defaultw=540, defaulth=640)
        return c4d.EXECUTIONRESULT_OK

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Retrieves the icon path
    directory, _ = os.path.split(__file__)
    fn = os.path.join(directory, "res", "icon.png")

    # Creates a BaseBitmap
    bmp = c4d.bitmaps.BaseBitmap()
    if bmp is None:
        raise MemoryError("Failed to create a BaseBitmap.")

    # Init the BaseBitmap with the icon
    if bmp.InitWith(fn)[0] != c4d.IMAGERESULT_OK:
        raise MemoryError("Failed to initialize the BaseBitmap.")

    c4d.plugins.RegisterTagPlugin(id=TAG_ID ,
                                  str="MyTagPlugin",
                                  info=c4d.TAG_EXPRESSION | c4d.TAG_VISIBLE,
                                  g=MyTagPlugin,
                                  description="Tmytagplugin",
                                  icon=bmp)

This code throws the following error:

RuntimeError: illegal operation, invalid cross-thread call

I'm guessing it's because it's a gui call off of the main thread.

It seems the Tag plugins launch a Command Plugin somehow. I have a few questions about this:

• How would I launch the Command Plugin once when the tag is double-clicked and not every time Init() or Execute() are called by the tag or if one is already open?
• How could I get the Dialog Plugin to update its UI when one of the Python tag plugins is selected?

Thank you.

@m_magalhaes I will check it out. Thanks Manuel!

To any future readers of this post, I got this working by saving the User Data to a Base Container using @zipit 's code:

    bc = c4d.BaseContainer()
    for descid, _ in op.GetUserDataContainer():
        # The first DescLevel of user data DescIDs is the c4d.ID_USERDATA
        # constant. The second level holds the ID of the user data element.
        uid = descid[1].id
        bc[uid] = op[descid]

Thanks a lot for your help, @zipit !!!

@zipit Thank you!

Yes, I am seeing the issue in my misconception of the UserDataContainer. I tried your script out (with a file path to an actual file on my machine) and it returns "Could not write file" & False.

I don't know much about Hyperfiles and have a few questions with regards to my original post if you don't mind:

• is that a good solution for a commercial plugin where I don't have control over the operating system's file paths?
• Why would I use a Hyperfile as opposed to a text file?
• Do Hyperfiles get deleted from the user's machine?
• Is writing the user data list to an object's BaseContainer impossible? It seems like a better solution to associate the data with the scene file rather than accumulating disk space in a location unknown to the user.

Hello,
I'd like to save the state of the user data of an object for the user to recall at a later time. What would be the best way to go about this? Rather than trying to navigate through the parent groups, I'd rather store the user data in a base container in its entirety and then use SetUserDataContainer() to restore it later. Is that possible? As GetUserDataContainer() returns a list, I'm not able to use BaseContainer's SetContainer() method as demonstrated in the example below. My first two attempts were discovering that the UserDataContainer from GetUserDataContainer() is a list and not a Base Container. Thank you for any help you can give!

import c4d

PLUGIN_ID = 1234567

def main(doc):
    #get selected object
    obj = doc.GetActiveObject()

    #get object's base container
    bc = obj.GetDataInstance()

    #create new container to store user data values
    subBc = c4d.BaseContainer()
    
    #get user data container
    udc = obj.GetUserDataContainer()
    #returns a list: [(((700, 5, 0), (1, 400006001, 0)), <c4d.BaseContainer object at 0x00000271AB6F8870>)]
    
    #ATTEMPT 1: Storing the base container with SetContainer    
    #subBc.SetContainer(PLUGIN_ID,udc) #TypeError: argument 2 must be c4d.BaseContainer, not list

    #ATTEMPT 2: Storing the list by index
    #subBc[1000] = udc #TypeError: could not convert 'list'

    #ATTEMPT 3: Using the DescID to store the user data's BaseContainers
    #for index,item in udc:
    #    subBc[index] = item #TypeError: __setitem__ expected int, not c4d.DescID
    
    #adding the sub BaseContainer
    bc.SetContainer(PLUGIN_ID,subBc)

    #update object's BaseContainer
    obj.SetData(bc)

    #Print the values stored in the object's base container.
    for cid, value in bc.GetContainer(PLUGIN_ID):
        print cid, value  

# Execute main()
if __name__=='__main__':
    main(doc)

Thank you for the clarification, @zipit.

Hello,
I'm trying to mirror a Character Object pose on the XY plane. In this example scene, I would like to assign the rotation of each shoulder to the other. The script in effect would look like this: Mirror.gif

I have read the API documentation on Matrix Fundamentals. Here's what I've tried so far:

• Setting the matrices of each shoulder with the other shoulder multiplied in X by -1. The rotations were incorrect because (I think) the shoulders' Z axes are different.

import c4d

def main(doc):
    doc.StartUndo()
    lShoulder = doc.SearchObject("L_FK_Shoulder_con+")
    rShoulder = doc.SearchObject("R_FK_Shoulder_con+")

    rMat = rShoulder.GetMg()
    lMat = lShoulder.GetMg()

    rMat.v1 = c4d.Vector(lMat.v1[0]*-1,lMat.v1[1],lMat.v1[2])
    rMat.v2 = c4d.Vector(lMat.v2[0]*-1,lMat.v2[1],lMat.v2[2])
    rMat.v3 = c4d.Vector(lMat.v3[0]*-1,lMat.v3[1],lMat.v3[2])
    rMat.off = c4d.Vector(lMat.off[0]*-1,lMat.off[1],lMat.off[2])

    lMat.v1 = c4d.Vector(rMat.v1[0]*-1,rMat.v1[1],rMat.v1[2])
    lMat.v2 = c4d.Vector(rMat.v2[0]*-1,rMat.v2[1],rMat.v2[2])
    lMat.v3 = c4d.Vector(rMat.v3[0]*-1,rMat.v3[1],rMat.v3[2])
    lMat.off = c4d.Vector(rMat.off[0]*-1,rMat.off[1],rMat.off[2])

    doc.AddUndo(c4d.UNDOTYPE_CHANGE, lShoulder)
    lShoulder.SetMg(rMat)
    doc.AddUndo(c4d.UNDOTYPE_CHANGE, rShoulder)
    rShoulder.SetMg(lMat)

    c4d.EventAdd()
    doc.EndUndo()

if __name__=='__main__':
    main(doc)

• I found Matrix.invert(), but that seems to be inverting every item in the Matrix.
• I tried the code in this example from the forum, but it mirrors all axes and keeps adding rotation to the original matrix (ending up with rotations of thousands of degrees).
  Mirror a matrix over a defined plane.

Can anyone help me to understand how to mirror on XY with two objects please?

Thank you!!

@kbar Thank you for your response. That's really helpful, thank you.

Hi all,
Thank you for your responses. @zipit , thank you for this example! That was very helpful. I am on R20, though, so I will need a solution that works for it too.

@m_magalhaes , I appreciate you letting me know that I cannot use the registration view with Python. I don't know if you saw in my original post, but I was already aware of the Plugin Licensing manual and ExportLicenses.

One of my questions is still unanswered: I'd like to develop a Python licensing system that works for both R21 and R20 and below. Would I be able to use the user's C4D serial number to create a plugin serial by this method? GeGetSerialInfo

The documentation says not to use it, but I don't have R21.

Thank you.