Plugin Development
Code Deck supports plugins. Plugins are located in the Plugins-directory. All plugins are coded in C# and gets compiled on startup using Roslyn. All the “builtin” (included in this repository) plugins work in the same way and their C#-scripts are available in the same Plugins-directory.
Quick Start
It’s very easy to make your own plugins for Code Deck by using one of the existing plugins as a template. The Counter-plugin might be a good starting point for a minimal plugin implementation.
Have a look at the Template-plugin for a more detailed overview of all the plugin features.
Below is a summary of the plugin skeleton and features:
// A wrapper class for the Plugin
public class Template : CodeDeckPlugin
{
// Static field that can be shared between the Tile classes
private static DateTime _dateTimeNow;
// A static constructor that initializes shared static fields
static Template()
{
_dateTimeNow = DateTime.Now;
}
// An example of how to implement a new Tile, a Tile class MUST extend the Tile class
public class TemplateTileOne : Tile
{
// This property will be automatically bound to the appropriate setting from
// the JSON configuration file.
[Setting] public int? Counter { get; set; }
// The constructor for a Tile
// The constructor may be used for assigning private fields, but DO NOT start long
// running tasks in the constructor!
public TemplateTileOne()
{
Counter = 0;
}
// This method is called by the plugin system when this Tile is instantiated.
// Use this method as you would normally use the constructor. Make sure to forward
// the CancellationToken to any long running tasks or background tasks.
public override Task Init(CancellationToken cancellationToken);
// This method is called when a key associated with this Tile is pressed
public override Task OnTilePressDown(CancellationToken cancellationToken);
// This method is called when a key associated with this Tile is released
public override Task OnTilePressUp(CancellationToken cancellationToken);
// This method is called when a Tile instance is removed
public override Task DeInit();
}
// A plugin my contain multiple Tile types
public class TemplateTileTwo : Tile
{
// A Tile can override only some of the Tile methods
public override Task OnTilePressDown(CancellationToken cancellationToken);
}
}
Plugin Directory Structure
"Code Deck Root Directory"
└───Plugins
└───MyCustomPlugin
│ # All C# source files making up the plugin
│ SourceFile1.cs
│ SourceFile2.cs
│ ...
│
├───bin
│ # Compiled assemblies, no user files should be placed here
│ MyCustomPlugin.dll
│ MyCustomPlugin.pdb
│
└───lib
# Any external libraries goes in here
MyExternalLib1.dll
MyExternalLib2.dll
...
Develop A User Plugin
This is a plugin developed by a regular user.
All you need to modify or create plugins is a text editor. A code editor with C# syntax highlighting is recommended.
Debugging
When developing a plugin it is suggested to run Code Deck through CodeDeck.exe in a terminal. This will give you access to the log output which shows errors and warnings.
An example would look something like this:
CodeDeck.PluginSystem.PluginLoader: Error: SourceFile([383..387)): The name '_ctn' does not exist in the current context
CodeDeck.PluginSystem.PluginLoader: Warning: Plugin Plugins\Counter did not produce an assembly.
External Libraries
It is possible to use external libraries by adding them to a lib directory.
Example from AudioDeviceSwitcher plugin:
Plugins
├───AudioDeviceSwitcher.cs
│
├───bin
│ AudioDeviceSwitcher.dll
│ AudioDeviceSwitcher.pdb
│
└───lib
AudioSwitcher.AudioApi.CoreAudio.dll
AudioSwitcher.AudioApi.dll
System.Drawing.Common.dll
System.Windows.Extensions.dll
Nuget
Automatic Nuget support through packages.json or similar is planned, but not implemented. It’s possible to download Nuget-packages and add them to the lib directory manually.
⚠️ Make sure to add the correct (runtime/framework version) assembly from the Nuget and only one assembly with the same name. Code Deck currently uses net7.0.
Example From The PerformanceCounters Plugin
Install System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter using nuget.exe:
> nuget install System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter
Installing package 'System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter' to 'Plugins\PerformanceCounters'.
GET https://api.nuget.org/v3/registration5-gz-semver2/system.diagnostics.performancecounter/index.json
OK https://api.nuget.org/v3/registration5-gz-semver2/system.diagnostics.performancecounter/index.json 606ms
Attempting to gather dependency information for package 'System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.7.0.0' with respect to project 'Plugins\PerformanceCounters', targeting 'Any,Version=v0.0'
Gathering dependency information took 18 ms
Attempting to resolve dependencies for package 'System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.7.0.0' with DependencyBehavior 'Lowest'
Resolving dependency information took 0 ms
Resolving actions to install package 'System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.7.0.0'
Resolved actions to install package 'System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.7.0.0'
Retrieving package 'System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter 7.0.0' from 'nuget.org'.
Adding package 'System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.7.0.0' to folder 'Plugins\PerformanceCounters'
Added package 'System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.7.0.0' to folder 'Plugins\PerformanceCounters'
Successfully installed 'System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter 7.0.0' to Plugins\PerformanceCounters
Executing nuget actions took 236 ms
Now lets have a look inside the Nuget and figure out which assembly to use.
> cd System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.7.0.0
> tree /F
├───lib
│ ├───net462
│ │ System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.dll
│ │ System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.xml
│ │
│ ├───net6.0
│ │ System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.dll
│ │ System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.xml
│ │
│ ├───net7.0
│ │ System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.dll
│ │ System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.xml
│ │
│ └───netstandard2.0
│ System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.dll
│ System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.xml
│
└───runtimes
└───win
└───lib
├───net6.0
│ System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.dll
│ System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.xml
│
└───net7.0
System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.dll
System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.xml
If lib contains an assembly for net7.0 (or net6.0), this is usually the assembly you want.
However, for System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.dll, the assembly in lib will give you an error similar to: “Performance Counters are not supported on this platform.” at runtime and that’s because System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.dll is platform specific.
In the above case we have to use the System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.dll assembly from System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.7.0.0\runtimes\win\lib\net7.0.
Copy the correct assembly to the plugins lib directory:
\publish\Plugins>tree /F
└───PerformanceCounters
│ PerformanceCounters.cs
│
└───lib
System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.dll
Code Deck should now be able to compile the plugin against the added assembly and reference the added assembly at runtime.
Develop A Builtin Plugin
This is inteded for advanced users and mainly for plugins that are general enough that it makes sense to include them into Code Deck itself.
If you want to have your plugin included as a part of the Code Deck application, I would suggest cloning the whole Code Deck repo from GitHub and creating a new plugin directory in the CodeDeck.Plugins-project using Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code.
CodeDeck.Plugins-project
The CodeDeck.Plugins-project is just a container project for the plugins. Each plugin should have their own directory and the source files should be set to Build Action: Content and Copy to output directory: Copy if newer.
The CodeDeck.Plugins-project should NOT reference any external packages.
Documentation
Add a README.md file in the same directory as the rest of the plugin. Use the README.md from one of the other plugins as a template.