README.md

Plugin Development

LCDPossible uses a plugin architecture for both display panels and device drivers. This guide covers creating your own plugins.

Plugin Types

Type	Purpose	Interface
Panel Plugin	Display content on LCD	IPanelPlugin
Device Plugin	Support new LCD hardware	IDevicePlugin

Quick Start

Creating a Panel Plugin

1. Create a new .NET class library targeting net10.0
2. Reference LCDPossible.Sdk
3. Implement IPanelPlugin
4. Create a plugin.json manifest

public class MyPlugin : IPanelPlugin
{
    public string PluginId => "my-plugin";
    public string DisplayName => "My Custom Panels";

    public IReadOnlyDictionary<string, PanelTypeInfo> PanelTypes => new Dictionary<string, PanelTypeInfo>
    {
        ["my-panel"] = new PanelTypeInfo
        {
            TypeId = "my-panel",
            DisplayName = "My Panel",
            Category = "Custom"
        }
    };

    public IDisplayPanel? CreatePanel(string typeId, PanelCreationContext context)
    {
        return typeId switch
        {
            "my-panel" => new MyPanel(context),
            _ => null
        };
    }
}

See Creating Panels for detailed guide.

Creating a Device Plugin

1. Create a new .NET class library targeting net10.0
2. Reference LCDPossible.Core
3. Implement IDevicePlugin
4. Create a plugin.json manifest with "type": "device"

See Creating Devices for detailed guide.

Topics

• Creating Panels - Panel development guide
• Creating Devices - Device driver development
• Plugin Manifest - plugin.json reference
• SDK Reference - Base classes and utilities

Panel Base Classes

Class	Use Case
WidgetPanel	Grid-based layouts with web components
HtmlPanel	Custom HTML templates
CanvasPanel	Direct pixel drawing (screensavers, effects)

Plugin Manifest

Every plugin requires a plugin.json file:

{
  "id": "my-plugin",
  "type": "panels",
  "name": "My Custom Panels",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Custom panels for LCDPossible",
  "assemblyName": "MyPlugin.dll",
  "panelTypes": [
    {
      "typeId": "my-panel",
      "displayName": "My Panel",
      "description": "A custom panel",
      "category": "Custom",
      "isLive": true,
      "isAnimated": false
    }
  ]
}

Plugin Locations

Plugins are loaded from:

Platform	System Plugins	User Plugins
Windows	{app}/plugins/	%APPDATA%\LCDPossible\plugins\
Linux	{app}/plugins/	~/.local/share/lcdpossible/plugins/
macOS	{app}/plugins/	~/Library/Application Support/LCDPossible/plugins/

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