Tools

More than just an API, XPPython3 includes tools to make it easier to write and debug X-Plane plugins:

  • Mini Debugger (See Mini Python Interpreter.)

    The PI_MiniPython.py plugin, available under PythonPlugins/samples/, allows you to type in python expressions in a running application and see the results: You’ll need to move it from samples up into the PythonPlugins directory in order for it to load.

    ../_images/MiniPython.gif

    Most of the XPPython3 API can be directly cut-and-pasted into the Mini Debugger. For example, xp.registerDrawCallback() documentation includes the following code:

    >>> def MyDraw(phase, after, refCon):
...    xp.setGraphicsState(numberTexUnits=1)
...    xp.drawString([.9, 0, 0], 110, 175, "Hello there")
...
>>> xp.registerDrawCallback(MyDraw)
1

    Click on the >>> in the upper right corner of the code box to get remove the displayed prompts:

    def MyDraw(phase, after, refCon):
   xp.setGraphicsState(numberTexUnits=1)
   xp.drawString([.9, 0, 0], 110, 175, "Hello there")

xp.registerDrawCallback(MyDraw)

    Copy the above code and then paste it directly at the prompt in the textbox, and you’ll see the results!

  • Plugin Performance (See Plugin Performance.)

    XPPython3 monitors the performance of individual python plugins and displays this information when you select the XPPython3 -> Performance menu item.

  • Debug Config Initialization (See Preferences File.)

    For debugging, we’ve added some run-time flags which can be configured and stored. These increase the level of internal debugging output, and increase the frequency of buffer flushing. Will slow down execution time a small bit, but may make your debugging easier.

  • XPPythonGetDicts XPPythonGetDicts()

  • Python Stubs (Download from github: stubs.zip.)

    Because the XPLM* modules are contained within a shared library, they are not useful for support tools such as pylint. For this reason, we’ve included a set of stubs. See XPPython3 Stubs for details.

    Note

    Do not place stubs in XPPython3 or PythonPlugins folder where they will be found by X-Plane! The stubs do not actually execute code.

  • Porting from older plugin?

    Note that XPPython3 is backward compatible to the API, but you will need to make changes to support python3 vs. python2. That being said XPPython3 has a new simplified API which (though not backward compatible) will make new code easier to write.