Plugin Overview

Plugins require two kinds of files, which are loaded into the Plugins subdirectory of the Factsmith installation and are processed when Factsmith loads:

.plugin declaration files, which specify various information on how the plugin will appear in the Export dialog dropdown and the name of the .exe file to use. For more information on .plugin files, see Plugin File Format.

.exe executable files, which actually do the necessary processing.

Here's how a brief is actually exported:

1. Using the current style, the entire brief is exported to a special intermediary format with the extension .fsx.
2. Factsmith consults the information from the selected export plugin's .plugin file to determine what executable to use.
3. The specified executable is run with the .fsx file passed as a command-line option.
4. Once the executable is done using the .fsx file to create a new file in the final format, the .fsx file is deleted.

For details on the format of the intermediary .fsx file, see FSX File Format and the FSX Code Reference.