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vectorcraft/docs
Louise Fox c755909d67 Plug-ins: labels, units, groups, help and conditions for parameters (G17)
A plug-in's dialog labelled each field with its parameter's name spaced
out ("Line_spacing_mm:"), showed numbers without their unit and listed
at most 64 parameters in one column. A plug-in with many settings, such
as a generator's or an exporter's, could neither explain nor sort them,
and its dialog showed settings that don't apply to the choices made.

Each parameter may now say how dialogs show it, in keys that hosts
from before them ignore (plugins::dialog):

- label; unit, after the value ("0.25 mm"); help, on the label; and
  helpUrl, an https:// page opened from a button after the field.
- group: the parameters outside any group come first, then each group
  as a section that folds, in the order the groups first appear, the
  fields lined up down the dialog.
- visibleWhen: {"pattern": ["lines"]} shows a parameter only
  while each checkbox or choice it names, declared before it, has one
  of the values listed and is shown itself. Manifest::visible decides
  every parameter in one pass, in declaration order. A hidden parameter
  still goes to the plug-in with its value, so a run never depends on
  what the dialog showed.

Two types join number, int, bool and choice: string, a text field cut
to maxLength, and numberList, numbers typed separated by commas or
spaces, each clamped, minItems to maxItems of them. A plug-in declares
up to 256 parameters, at most 64 outside groups. The filter, live-effect
and exporter dialogs use every key. The Appearance panel's editor of a
plug-in effect uses the labels, units, help and conditions, and reads a
typed number list as the dialog does.

dialog.rs tests parsing, the round trip of a manifest written out,
sections, visibility (also of 256 overlapping conditions, which a
recursive check would take forever on) and the keys refused;
manifest.rs the new types and limits. tests_plugin_fields.rs draws a
dialog with kittest: labels and units, sections in order with their
fields lined up, visibleWhen hiding and showing rows, and the help
button opening its page.
appearance.rs checks the editor's labels, units, conditions and a
typed number list, and form.rs units after numbers (a unit starting
with a digit is spaced from it) and typed lists.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01HhvnnnD5fTFupK8WWq35un

# Conflicts:
#	docs/gaps.md
#	docs/target-app-parity.md
2026-10-20 08:17:53 +07:00
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