(v13) What do you get with the plugin kit?

This page applies to Harlequin v13.1r0 and later; and to Harlequin MultiRIP but not Harlequin Core

The plugin kit is available for all platforms the RIP runs on, and in configurations that suit all popular compilation environments on those platforms.

The plugin kit distribution contains multiple directory hierarchies, including folders for input plugins, output plugins, screens, filters, PostScript language devices, and color management modules. Though there may be some files which are the same in each, each directory contains only those parts necessary to build a particular type of plugin. Some files are common to all plugin types, and these are supplied in the Common folder.

The distribution contains:

• Header files to be included in the plugin.
  A single header file, outplug.h , combines all the RIP header files in the correct order for an output plugin, and another, inplug.h , does the same for an input plugin. There are similar files for other plugin types. The inclusion of pfi.h gives access to further functions and macros which are designed to ease compilation for multiple platforms, reducing development time and maintenance
  Header files necessary for compiling programs on particular systems are not listed in outplug.h or inplug.h , nor are they included in the plugin kit, and must be included in your plugin source explicitly. plugdefs.h provides some system dependent definitions.
• The plugin library object code.
  This code is presented as an object file or library that should be linked into your plugin. See (v13) The Plugin Library and the appendix appropriate to your platform.

• Example source code with commentary.
  Much of this example code can be used as boilerplate for real plugin code. But you will need to make changes to these examples.

Warning: We do not recommend mixing your own plugins' sources with the plugin kit distribution. Keep them separate and it will be easier to build plugins with different versions of the kit in the future. For example, use a separate compiler option to retrieve header files from the plugin kit.