Installing Kanzi Studio plugins

Kanzi Studio plugins extend the functionality of Kanzi Studio and run in Kanzi Studio.

Use a Kanzi Studio plugin to:

  • Automate tasks in Kanzi Studio. For example, to automate tasks that take a lot of time when you do them manually, or the task is prone to errors.

  • Import and export content from Kanzi Studio. For example, to import or export localization tables in a format not supported by Kanzi Studio.

  • Create editors that abstract the details and speed up the workflow. For example, to visualize the connections between nodes and resources used in your Kanzi Studio project.

To install a Kanzi Studio plugin:

  1. Copy the Kanzi Studio plugin DLL file to the %ProgramData%\Rightware\<KanziVersion>\plugins directory.

    If the plugins directory does not exist in %ProgramData%\Rightware\<KanziVersion>, create it.

    Tip

    In Windows Explorer, create a shortcut from your Kanzi Studio plugin DLL file and move the shortcut to the %ProgramData%\Rightware\<KanziVersion>\plugins directory.

    When you build the plugin, you can see in the Output window the location where Visual Studio stored the plugin DLL file.

  2. Open Kanzi Studio.

    Kanzi Studio loads the plugins in the plugins directory and adds them to either the main menu or the context menus invoked from nodes and resources.

    Tip

    When you download a Kanzi Studio plugin from the internet, Windows can block access to the plugin files, which prevents Kanzi Studio from loading the plugin.

    If a plugin does not load in Kanzi Studio:

    1. Open the Kanzi Studio log file

      %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/Temp/KanziStudioLogs/KanziStudio.log

    2. If the log contains this error message:

      Plugin loading failed for: <PathToPlugin>. Error "Unable to load one or more of the requested types."

      Open Windows PowerShell in the plugin directory, and execute this command:

      Get-ChildItem . -Recurse | Unblock-File

      This way you unblock all the files in the directory.

    3. Restart Kanzi Studio.