Save extensions

A save extension runs each time a drawing is saved (File › Save or Save As…), after the file is written. It is given everything known about the drawing - what it is, its notes, variables, layers, elements and totals - and the file, so it can record the drawing somewhere else: in an index of your drawings, or a database.

Declaring one

onSave({
  name: "Drawing index",
  description: "What each drawing is, for the database.",
  saved(drawing, file) {
    print(`Indexed ${file.fileName}`);
    return {
      file: file.path,
      saved: file.saved,
      category: drawing.classification.category,
      style: drawing.classification.style,
      tags: drawing.classification.tags,
      customer: drawing.notes["Customer"] ?? null,
      length: drawing.variables.L,
      cut: drawing.totals.lengthByLayer["Cut"] ?? 0
    };
  }
});

drawing is everything known about the drawing, as drawingInfo() gives it. file is the file written:

What it gives back

What saved returns - an object, an array, text - is kept as JSON with the drawing's window, for the app to pass on; returning nothing is fine. If you keep a drawing index, it is written there too, with the drawing's entry (saveExtensions). Extensions are sandboxed: one can't reach a database or a file itself. What it prints with print(…) or console.log(…) is shown in the Interactive window.

Notes

• Every save extension runs on every save, in turn. One that goes wrong says so in the Interactive window, with the file and line; the drawing is saved anyway, and the others still run.
• A save extension only looks at the drawing: one that tries to change it (setNote, classify, line …) is stopped with a message.
• File › Extensions › Reload Extensions says how many save extensions were found.

See also: Extensions, Drawing API, CLASSIFY, Saving.