I'm hoping to write a batch conversion extension/plugin for Inkscape, I want it to have a form with several 'radio buttons' to choose input file type and output file type along with some checkboxes for options and a couple of numeric entry fields with up/down arrows to increase/decrease the number in the field (for setting things like output resolution for non-vector output formats). What I need to know is what do I need to have in order to create the form in order for it to work with a standard install of Inkscape on various operating systems. Can someone recommend an IDE to help me write this that integrates the form designer with the code editor too?

I'm on Windows XP Pro w/sp3, but I do also have a partition with Ubuntu 10.04 installed in a dual boot configuration, the key thing here is that I want to be able to make this extension/plugin cross platform so I need to know what is and is not supported on the Windows version of Inkscape versus the Linux version (sorry I'm not a fan of Mac's nor do I have any access to a Mac, so I'm not too concerned about targeting the Mac platform).

I've tried looking on the main Inkscape site but there is very little documentation available about writing extensions/plugins for Inkscape (a VERY major problem in my opinion if we are to have any hope of extending the functionality of Inkscape to include features that are currently missing from it).

I'd like to thank everyone in advance for any help they can provide on this matter,
bartman2589

Welcome bartman!

This page may have some helpful info for you: http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Inkscape. Be sure to note Developer Documentation > Developer Tutorials > Extensions. Other than that page, I think you just have to dive in. There are a couple of topics posted reletively recently, by folks writing extensions, who might not mind sharing what they've learned. I'd be glad to try to search out those topics, if you like. Just lmk

ummm... are you sure you posted the right page link? I'm askng because the link you posted as possibly being able to help me points to the animated welcome .gif image you have in the top of your message.

I am SO sorry!
I editted my original message so that the link is now the one I meant.

Thank you, looks like I have a lot of reading to do, but just skimming over it I didn't see any mention of whether Inkscape extensions/plugins need to use QT3/QT4/GTK 1/GTK 2/wXwidgets or whatever for forms design, that's one of the main things I wanted to know actually. Or do I have to try to manually code the form layout? Hopefully someone who codes plugins/extensions will chime in on this thread. But thank you for pointing me to that page, I'm sure it will come in very handy.

If you use python, the easiest (only?) way to create a GUI is via the inx file. Here are the parameters supported:

http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/INX_Parameters

-Rob A>

Hey bartman,
I don't know if you are still watching this topic, but another member mentioned this in a recent post: http://www.hoboes.com/Mimsy/hacks/write ... uplicates/. Maybe it would be helpful for you?