Extensions#

Extension plugins are implemented as classes. The initializer should take only a StenoEngine as a parameter.

[options.entry_points]
plover.extension =
  example_extension = plover_my_plugin.extension:Extension
# plover_my_plugin/extension.py

class Extension:
  def __init__(self, engine):
    # Called once to initialize an instance which lives until Plover exits.
    self.engine = engine

  def start(self):
    # Called to start the extension or when the user enables the extension.
    # It can be used to start a new thread for example.
    pass

  def stop(self):
    # Called when Plover exits or the user disables the extension.
    pass

Extensions can interact with the engine through the StenoEngine API, and receive engine events through its engine hooks mechanism.

For example, a simple extension plugin that just writes strokes to a file, using the stroked hook:

class StrokeLogger:
  def __init__(self, engine):
    self.engine = engine
    self.output_file = None

  def start(self):
    self.output_file = open("strokes.txt")

    # self.on_stroked gets called on every stroke
    self.engine.hook_connect("stroked", self.on_stroked)

  def stop(self):
    self.engine.hook_connect("stroked", self.on_stroked)
    self.output_file.close()

  def on_stroked(self, stroke):
    print(stroke, file=self.output_file)