Maya API How-To #27

How do I access a MEL variable from the API?

There are a few ways to transfer values from MEL to a plug-in:

1. The correct way (in my opinion) is to construct a MEL command, derived from MPxNode, which accepts the value as an argument and assigns it appropriately within your plug-in.

   float $myValue = 3.14;
   
   myCommand -value $myValue;
   

   When "myCommand" is parsed it will recognize the '-value' flag and assign the specified value to a class variable. This API variable could be static as well, if you wish for the value to be persistent.

2. Assign the value to an attribute on a dependency node, then read the attribute from the API.

3. Assign the value to an optionVar, and then read the optionVar from the API.

4. Write the value to a disk file, and read the disk file from the API.

5. All of the above are "push" methods; the MEL programmer is responsible for writing the variable to a specific location for the API to obtain its value.

   One "pull" method which doesn't require (much) preparation from the MEL side is to capture the result argument from the MGlobal::executeCommand() method:

   MGlobal::executeCommand( const MString& command, double& result,
                            bool displayEnabled, bool undoEnabled )
   

   One caveat: The variable you need to transfer to the API will need to be in MEL's global declaration space. Globals are evil, so use sparingly.

   // in MEL, declared as a global.
   //
   global float $gToAPI = 3.14;
   

   // in API
   //
   void get_value_from_mel( const MString& var, double& fromMEL )
   {
     // Assembled, the command looks like this:
     //
     //   proc float _floatToAPI() { global float $gToAPI; return $gToAPI; } _floatToAPI();
     //
     MString fromMELCmd( "proc float _floatToAPI() { global float $" );
     fromMELCmd += var;
     fromMELCmd += "; return $";
     fromMELCmd += var;
     fromMELCmd += "; } _floatToAPI();";
   
     MGlobal::executeCommand( fromMELCmd, fromMEL );
   }
   
   double valueFromMEL;
   get_value_from_mel( MString( "gToAPI" ), valueFromMEL );
   

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12 Sep 2004