More Dialog Boxes...

Plugins Dialog

To open the Plugins Dialog, click on Plugins on the Tools menu.  The Plugins Dialog lists all the plugins you have installed (if any).  A plugin is an extension to the main program which adds capabilities and features.  The features added could be almost anything - a new report, a new diagram, a new way of entering or importing data, a new way of exporting data, a new mapping or timeline tool, a new website generator .... anything at all.  Before you can run a plugin, you have to install it.

To find and install a plugin, click on the Plugin Store button.  This will open your web-browser and take you to the Plugin Store page on the Family Historian website.  The Plugin Store contains numerous free plugins, with more being added all the time.  Browse the available plugins until you find one or more you wish to install.  Within the details page for each plugin is a Download Now button.  Click this button to download and install the plugin file.  When you click on this button, your web-browser may ask you if you wish to 'open' or 'run' the file.  If you do either, this will install the plugin.  Alternatively, you can download the plugin file to your hard disk and run it there (e.g. if you download it to your desktop you can double-click on it to run it).  This is another way of installing it.  It doesn't matter whether or not Family Historian itself is running when you install a plugin.

The Plugin Store is only one possible source of plugins.  Anyone can write a plugin, and can make them available wherever they want.  See the Plugin Store home page for other possible sources of plugins.

Plugins can be run from the Plugins Dialog by selecting it and clicking the Run button.  If you find that a plugin is particularly useful and you wish to be able to access it more easily, make sure it is selected and tick Add To Tools Menu, to add it to the Tools menu (you may need to click the More >> button to see this tick box).  Thereafter you will be able to run the plugin by simply clicking the new command on the Tools menu.

Any plugins obtained from external sources should be treated with care as they could potentially contain errors or even malicious code. If you are using plugins obtained from other people you should treat them with no less caution than you would treat any other computer program.  You should not import or run a plugin unless you know and trust the source of the plugin, and you know what it does.

How to Write Your Own Plugins

Family Historian provides everything you need to write your own plugins, and it isn't hard to do - especially for anyone who has prior experience of writing scripts, macros, plugins or computer programs of any kind.  Family Historian plugins are written in a language called Lua, which is used in a similar way in many commercial applications such as Adobe Lightroom and also in games software.  Its emphasis is on ease-of-use for non-programmers.  But it is also powerful, fast and lightweight.

To create your own plugin, simply click the New button.  This will open the Family Historian Editor/Debugger for a new plugin.  All the documentation and information you need for writing a plugin, is provided in the Family Historian Plugin Help, which is accessible from the Family Historian Editor (see the Editor's own Help menu or just click F1 when viewing the editor), or can be accessed by clicking on the How To Write Plugins button in this dialog (see below).  The Plugin Help documentation includes (or provides links to) everything you need to know about Lua, about how to access your data from within a plugin, and about the Editor/Debugger.

Buttons

New*	Opens the Plugin Editor to create a new plugin.
Edit*	Edit a plugin in the Plugin Editor.
Rename*	Rename a plugin.
Import*	Import a plugin.
Export*	Export a plugin.
Delete*	Delete a plugin.
How to Write Plugins*	Access the Plugin Help to learn how to write plugins.
Add To Tools Menu*	Select a plugin and tick this option if you want the plugin to be added as a command to the Tools menu.  You can remove it from the Tools menu at any time, by selecting the plugin and unticking this option.
Run	Run a plugin.
Plugin Store	Access the Plugin Store (see above).
More >> (<< Less)	Show or hide the buttons on the right hand side.

* If there buttons are not visible, click the More >> button to show them.