Reload plugin with RMB on plugin.cfg or the plugin folder

[AdriaandeJongh]

Describe the project you are working on

Addons.

Describe the problem or limitation you are having in your project

In both creating, developing, and sometimes with installing new plugins, you gotta go into the project settings for plugins often to disable / enable them, or restart the editor. This could use improved UX.

Describe the feature / enhancement and how it helps to overcome the problem or limitation

As an alternative (or even an addition) to #13308, I suggest to add an additional option to the right-mouse-click-menu of plugin.cfg and / or the folder containing the plugin.cfg, an option with a checkbox that is checked with the text 'Plugin enabled' or a checkbox that is unchecked with the text 'Plugin disabled', depending on its state:

Describe how your proposal will work, with code, pseudo-code, mock-ups, and/or diagrams

I don't know C++ nor how the context menu items are populated. Sorry for being no help.

If this enhancement will not be used often, can it be worked around with a few lines of script?

@KoBeWi shared a script in his proposal with a workaround: #13308

Is there a reason why this should be core and not an add-on in the asset library?

From #13308: if making plugins involves having another plugin to reload the plugin, then something is wrong.

[AThousandShips]

I think this would be a bit unexpected and unintuitive, I wouldn't expect this file in particular to have these options in it, I'd rather expect the plugin folder to have this if anything, but I wouldn't know to look there for this option, I'd have to know it is there

[AdriaandeJongh]

I'd rather expect the plugin folder to have this if anything

Appended this to the proposal!

As for how "intuitive" this is, I think the currently live method of having to go into the project settings to enable a plugin is equally unintuitive, which is why it's explained in every tutorial and in every plugin installation guide how and where to enable it. The proposal by KoBeWi is perhaps even more unintuitive as you'd need to have the script editor open. So my suggestion would be to add all methods of enabling / disabling plugins to the documentation on plugins. The most important place would be here.

[AThousandShips]

The project settings is where you create them though, but indeed for people just installing them and not handling that menu it makes more sense, but people would still be more likely to know about the project settings are (especially since they'd see it whenever they open the settings for other things)

[AdriaandeJongh]

It would help this proposal if plugin folders would appear with a slightly different folder icon in the FileSystem.

[AThousandShips]

That would absolutely help, and would help in general to indicate that the add-on folders are special and shouldn't be operated on like other folders without knowing what you're doing

Mostly unrelated but I think having some form of "plugin edit mode" would help where you just don't access plugins directly in the file system unless you're editing them, and you get access to the files by other means, though that would mean having files that are just EditorScripts in the plugin would be harder to use, though I'd say that's kind of an anti-pattern already, it would make it easier to just hide the plugins if you're not actually editing the plugin itself

[KoBeWi]

The checkbox could be displayed directly next to the folder:

[Ivorforce]

The checkbox could be displayed directly next to the folder:

I'm pretty sure, without an explanation of what the checkbox does, that would confuse me as a first-time user. I'd prefer it with a clear explanation in a menu.

[DexterFstone]

I'm pretty sure, without an explanation of what the checkbox does, that would confuse me as a first-time user. I'd prefer it with a clear explanation in a menu.

I think the checkbox should be disabled by default in the editor settings

[AdriaandeJongh]

A few more implementation notes that I shared for this proposal sourced but improved from here:

The most common use case for this toggle will be to enable / disable a single and specific plugin, and I want to make the case that this action alone covers 90% of the proposed feature improvement. Other user actions, such as enabling and disabling multiple plugins at once, are already best done in the player settings plugins window.

I propose the following:

• when RMB on a folder containing a plugin.cfg or on the plugin.cfg itself, show an item in the context menu under the folder color item that has a toggle telling it's current active state and with the text 'Enable plugin' (regardless of the state).
• when multiple folders / plugin.cfg files are selected, set the checkbox to the state if they are all the same or show the indeterminate state, and apply any changes to the state to all selected plugins, eg: when I select plugin A (disabled) and plugin B (enabled) and plugin C (disabled) and I RMB on plugin A, the toggle will show as indeterminate, and clicking Enable plugin will enable all plugins.