7 replies to this topic

[Xyzith]

Hello, I'm new here, and I'm a newbie programer.

(I'm a web fontend programer, not  familliar with c++)

I'd like to try to write some plugin for bb.

Where do I start?

 

Thanks.

[pitkon]

First of all, congrats on deciding to do that. Blackbox needs new developers, especially in the plugins field, and you are more than welcome.

Second of all, I am sure Mojmir is better qualified than me to tell you what you have to do, so let's wait for him, shall we?

[mojmir]

you need to learn at least C. blackbox uses a lot of plain old C.

http://stackoverflow...-guide-and-list

 

how to get source codes:

http://blackbox4wind...x-from-sources/

how to debug blackbox:

http://blackbox4wind...gging-blackbox/

[Xyzith]

Thx alot mojmir, I'll look into it.

[starstuff]

would it be possible to add support for other languages for plugins development?

[mojmir]

what do you mean, unicode?

[hal]

mojmir, I am sure he means other programming languages.

 

As to that question, I am sure the answer is "yes", but I couldn't elaborate much. Wrapping scripting languages interpreted with C libraries and languages that compile to the appropriate format(?) should be kosher.

[diabol]

would it be possible to add support for other languages for plugins development?

 

Sure. Infact it is already possible and no harder or easier than writing them in C/C++.

The requirements for plugins:

a) They need to be a shared library (dll)

They need to export a few functions in a C-style interface

int beginPlugin(HINSTANCE hDllInstance);void endPlugin(HINSTANCE hDllInstance);LPCSTR pluginInfo(int field);

and that's all.

 

The magically tight integration with blackbox of course comes through using bblib and sending/receiving bro@ms for which a wrapper in your language of choice would be convenient, but not required (as long as you can import/call C-style functions).

 

For C# it is surprisingly straightforward, but meeting these requirements is a little tricky for other languages which bring their own runtime like Python, Lua or Java.

For those you will need a wrapper binary in one form or another. (In java you can at least use JNA to access bblib)