31 - 1   Add-on Loading

You can load add-ons by several different methods: using the Drag-and-Drop Method, editing the Tecplot.add File, using the Specifying Add-Ons on the Command Line, or by Specifying a Secondary Add-On Load File.

31 - 1.1   Drag-and-Drop Method

The easiest method for loading an add-on for a single use is the drag-and-drop method. This method loads the add-on for the current session of Tecplot 360 EX (rather than every subsequent launch of Tecplot 360 EX).

To use this method, find the library file of the add-on you wish to load in the bin subdirectory of your Tecplot 360 EX installation. Select the library, and, while holding down the mouse button, drag the library into the Tecplot 360 EX window. Then release the mouse button to "drop" the add-on into Tecplot 360 EX. The add-on will be loaded and made available immediately.

This action will load the add-on only for the rest of the current Tecplot 360 EX session. The next time you close and reopen Tecplot 360 EX, you will need to load the add-on again if you wish to in the new session.

31 - 1.2   Tecplot.add File

Every time Tecplot 360 EX launches, it reads a file called tecplot.add from the Tecplot 360 EX home directory and loads all add-ons indicated in that tecplot.add file.

The tecplot.add file contains multiple $!LoadAddOn commands that load add-ons into Tecplot 360 EX. This special macro file accepts only $!LoadAddOn macro commands, which require this syntax:

In this example, libname represents the name of an add-on's shared object library file. The libname must be enclosed in quotes.

To unload an add-on (that is, to prevent Tecplot 360 EX from loading that add-on when launching), comment out the appropriate line in tecplot.add by adding a pound ("#") symbol in front of the load command. For example, the pound ("#") symbol at the beginning of the following line will prevent the Auxiliary Data Editor add-on (libname "tecutiltools_editauxdata") from loading:

To load an add-on that does not load automatically, remove the pound ("#") symbol from in front of the $!LoadAddOn command that includes the libname of the add-on you wish to load. If the tecplot.add file does not list the libname of the add-on you wish to load, add a $!LoadAddOn command followed by the libname of that add-on.

For information on loading the tecplot.add file, see Section 30 - 1 “Custom Files loaded on Startup”.

Libname

Special rules govern how the libname name is specified in the tecplot.add file. In all cases, the filename extension is omitted. If you assign libname to the basename of the shared object library, then Tecplot 360 EX will do the following:

• Linux - The shared library to load will come from the file specified by: Install-Directory/lib/lib+basename.so.

• Windows - Tecplot 360 EX will search for the add-on basename.dll in the following directories (in this order):

• The directory where the Tecplot 360 EX executable resides.

• The Windows system directories.

• The directories in your PATH environment variable.

When using V7ActiveX style add-on libraries on Windows, Tecplot 360 EX connects to the add-on via the libname entry in the registry.

If an absolute path name is used in libname, then on Windows platforms, .dll is appended and on Linux platforms, .so is appended.

31 - 1.3   Specifying Add-Ons on the Command Line

You can also instruct Tecplot 360 EX to load a particular add-on by using the command line. The following flags are available:

You may specify the -loadaddon flag as many times as you want in a single invocation of Tecplot 360 EX to load more than one add-on.

If your add-on is named with the proper suffix for your platform (.dll for Windows, .so for Linux) you can simply name the add-on on the command line without using the -loadaddon flag.

After add-ons are loaded, Tecplot 360 EX re-processes all command line arguments not processed earlier (for graphics and add-on initialization). This allows a data loader add-on to be used to load data specified on the command line.

31 - 1.4   Specifying a Secondary Add-On Load File

You may also instruct Tecplot 360 EX to load a different list of add-ons by naming a second add-on load file using one of the following methods:

• Include -addonfile addonfilename on the command line.

• Set the environment variable TECADDONFILE.

Both of these methods tell Tecplot 360 EX the name of an additional add-on load file to process. This secondary file will be processed after the main tecplot.add file.