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is it hard to make a rainmeter plugin?
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drakulaboy
- Posts: 165
- Joined: June 29th, 2014, 8:35 pm
is it hard to make a rainmeter plugin?
as the title says, is it hard? what software is good, C# or Visual Studio? i read the manual, but i want some more info if there is.
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jsmorley
- Developer
- Posts: 22631
- Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
- Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA
Re: is it hard to make a rainmeter plugin?
That isn't a question that has an objective answer... If you are really great at C++ or C#, then you will probably find it to be child's play. As the level of your general programming expertise and familiarity with C++ or C# decreases, the difficulty of working with plugins with Rainmeter can grow pretty quickly.
Either C++ or C# (Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 in either case) work fine. C# requires .NET runtime clients on the user's computer, but as long as you keep the required framework in your plugin to .NET 2.0, just about everyone will already have that. There won't be anything required by the user with C++, as we already ensure the runtimes are there when Rainmeter itself is installed.
The free Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop is all you really need to work in the code for Rainmeter itself, or for creating a plugin.
There really is no documentation other than what you have seen and the example / starter plugins that come with the plugin SDK. Tearing them apart, or even tearing apart an existing plugin, is probably the best way to get familiar with the peculiarities of how you code the plugin to both do whatever it is you want, and to interact with Rainmeter.
There is an assumption that someone who wants to write a plugin is going to have a decent handle on using Visual Studio, at least the concepts of version control and code repositories, and finally programming in C++ or C#. Unlike creating skins for Rainmeter, where we know we are the only resource for documentation, and make every effort to document every nook and cranny and provide as much help as we can, we can't, and won't, teach anyone how to do application development in C++ or C#.
Well, I can't, the others just won't...
Get the Rainmeter plugin SDK, load up one of the Example plugins in Visual Studio, code your heart out, build the plugin, and test it with Rainmeter.
http://docs.rainmeter.net/developers#CreatePlugin
http://docs.rainmeter.net/developers#APIDocumentation
Either C++ or C# (Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 in either case) work fine. C# requires .NET runtime clients on the user's computer, but as long as you keep the required framework in your plugin to .NET 2.0, just about everyone will already have that. There won't be anything required by the user with C++, as we already ensure the runtimes are there when Rainmeter itself is installed.
The free Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop is all you really need to work in the code for Rainmeter itself, or for creating a plugin.
There really is no documentation other than what you have seen and the example / starter plugins that come with the plugin SDK. Tearing them apart, or even tearing apart an existing plugin, is probably the best way to get familiar with the peculiarities of how you code the plugin to both do whatever it is you want, and to interact with Rainmeter.
There is an assumption that someone who wants to write a plugin is going to have a decent handle on using Visual Studio, at least the concepts of version control and code repositories, and finally programming in C++ or C#. Unlike creating skins for Rainmeter, where we know we are the only resource for documentation, and make every effort to document every nook and cranny and provide as much help as we can, we can't, and won't, teach anyone how to do application development in C++ or C#.
Well, I can't, the others just won't...
Get the Rainmeter plugin SDK, load up one of the Example plugins in Visual Studio, code your heart out, build the plugin, and test it with Rainmeter.
http://docs.rainmeter.net/developers#CreatePlugin
http://docs.rainmeter.net/developers#APIDocumentation
