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I am trying to make a plug-in that loads a menu with a simple print command attached to a button. I got two files:

  1. test_menu.py
import maya.cmds as cmds import maya.mel as mel def say_hello(): print('hello') def menuui(): main_window = mel.eval("$retvalue = $gMainWindow;") custom_menu = cmds.menu('test_menu', label='test_menu', parent=main_window, tearOff=True) cmds.menuItem(label='say hello', command='say_hello()') cmds.setParent( '..', menu=True ) menuui()
  1. test_plugin.py
import maya.cmds as cmds from maya.api import OpenMaya import os maya_useNewAPI = True def load_menu(script_path): if os.path.isfile(script_path): with open(script_path) as f: exec(f.read(), globals()) def unload_menu(): cmds.deleteUI(cmds.menu('test_menu', e=True, deleteAllItems=True)) def initializePlugin(plugin): plugin_fn = OpenMaya.MFnPlugin(plugin) load_menu("C:/Users/Roger/Documents/maya/scripts/test_menu.py") def uninitializePlugin(plugin): plugin_fn = OpenMaya.MFnPlugin(plugin) unload_menu()

When the test_menu.py is executed within the 'Script Editor' it works as expected. But, when executed as a plug-in it only loads the menu but when pressing the button it returns: # Error: NameError: file line 1: name 'say_hello' is not defined # .

It seems as if when loading the plugin maya executes it outside the scene?

The only workaround i've found. Which is quite horrible tbh is to add import test_menu before executing the command.

cmds.menuItem(label='say hello', command='import test_menu; say_hello()')

I would appreciate any help :)

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  • I'd say the solution you found is not horrible but the normal solution with python if you cannot import your menu script into the plugin script. You wrote a python module and then you import it and create your menu. I'd rather impor in your plugin script and call it from there. Your first way to load a fiel and run it with the exec() command is a very unusual way. Commented Jul 9, 2023 at 14:38

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The way I've dealt with custom plug-ins in Maya, is to use a module file.

In the Maya preferences folder, you need a plug-ins folder as well as a modules folder (just create them if they don't exist).

File structure

As an example, let's make a plug-in called foo. Start by creating the following file structure

modules/ foo.mod plug-ins/ foo.py modules/ __init__.py menu.py

Edit the files

foo.mod

+ PLATFORM:win64 Foo 1.0 ..\plug-ins\foo MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH +:= + PLATFORM:mac Foo 1.0 ../plug-ins/foo MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH +:= + PLATFORM:linux Foo 1.0 ../plug-ins/foo MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH +:=

foo.py

import maya.api.OpenMaya as om import maya.cmds as cmds import modules.menu as menu def maya_useNewAPI(): pass def initializePlugin(plugin): plugin_fn = om.MFnPlugin(plugin, 'RogerP', '1.0', 'Any') menu.create_menu() def uninitializePlugin(plugin): menu.destroy_menu()

modules/menu.py

import maya.cmds as cmds import maya.mel as mel def create_menu(): main_window = mel.eval('$tmpVar=$gMainWindow') menu = cmds.menu('foo', label='foo', parent=main_window, tearOff=True) cmds.menuItem(label='Print Hello', command=print_command) cmds.setParent('..', menu=True) def destroy_menu(): if cmds.menu('foo', exists=True): cmds.deleteUI('foo', menu=True) # also deletes children def print_command(*args): print('Hello')

Note that the command argument uses a reference to the print_command and NOT a string 'print_command()'. You can use partial if you want to pass arguments.

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