A plug-in is a piece of software that installs itself into another application to extend the capabilities of that application. Abaqus plug-ins execute Abaqus Scripting Interface and Abaqus GUI Toolkit commands, and they provide a way to customize Abaqus/CAE for your particular needs or preferences. For example, a simple plug-in could automatically print the contents of the current viewport according to some predefined options. A more complex plug-in could provide a graphical user interface to a specialized postprocessing routine that you have written.

There are two types of plug-ins: kernel and GUI. A kernel plug-in consists of functions written using the Abaqus Scripting Interface. In contrast to a kernel plug-in, a GUI plug-in is written using the Abaqus GUI Toolkit and contains commands that create graphical user interfaces, which in turn send commands to the kernel. Both kernel and GUI plug-ins are available from the Plug-ins menu on the main menu bar or from a plug-ins toolbox.

By default, several kernel and GUI example plug-ins are available from the Plug-ins menu on the main menu bar. You can use these examples to see how plug-ins are created and to learn how plug-ins interact with Abaqus/CAE. In addition, you can access two example plug-ins from a plug-ins toolbox. When you select Plug-insToolboxesExamples from the main menu bar, Abaqus/CAE displays the Examples toolbox. You can click an icon in the toolbox to start a plug-in. Figure 81–1 shows the Toolboxes menu and the Examples toolbox.