UPDATE: Please see the comment from Patrick for a tip. Thanks!
You can use Plugin.UserData to pass data into a plugin.
For example, from outside the plugin, you can store a list in the UserData:
p = Application.Plugins("MyTestPropertyPlugin")
p.UserData = ['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example']
In the plugin callbacks, you would access the UserData like this:
def MyTestProperty_Test_OnClicked( ):
p = Application.Plugins("MyTestPropertyPlugin")
if p.UserData == None:
Application.LogMessage( "UserData is empty" )
else:
Application.LogMessage( p.UserData )
Application.LogMessage( p.UserData[2] )
This will work with lists, but not with dictionaries.
Softimage cannot convert Python dictionaries into a COM Variant type. If you try to store a dict in User Data:
x = Application.Plugins("MyTestPropertyPlugin")
x.UserData = {"author":"blairs", "name":"testplugin"}
You’ll get this error:
# TypeError: Objects of type 'dict' can not be converted to a COM VARIANT
I’m afraid there’s no way around that error for Python dictionaries.
This also prevents you from saving dictionaries with SetGlobal or SetGlobalObject.
eX-SI 
To get around the dict limitation a sane way to find your way around your code and have things _look like_ a dict is to use constants to refer to indices:
UD_LENGTH = 0
UD_WIDTH = 1
UD_NAME = 2
userData = [None] * 3
userData[UD_LENGTH] = 5.0
userData[UD_WIDTH] = 4.365
userData[UD_NAME] = ‘test’
plugin.UserData = userData
assert plugin.UserData[UD_NAME] == ‘test’, ‘WTF?’
Hey, thanks for that info Patrick
Here the example in Softimage SDK Documentation
# How to access a plug-in user data
from win32com.client.dynamic import Dispatch
# Optional global variable to speed up data access
g_userdata = None
def GetUserData():
if ( g_userdata == None ):
# Dictionary not defined yet
# Get the plug-in object storing the dictionary
myPlugin = Application.Plugins(“My plugin”);
if ( myPlugin.UserData == None ):
# Dictionary not defined yet, create it and add some object
dict = Dispatch( “Scripting.Dictionary” )
dict[ ‘SurfPos’ ] = XSIMath.CreateVector3()
dict[ ‘OutPos’ ] = XSIMath.CreateVector3()
# Store the new dictionary in the plug-in
myPlugin.UserData = dict
# Cache the dictionary in this module for fast access
g_userdata = myPlugin.UserData
return g_userdata