SG-40163 [Workaround] - Generate the dynamic menu for Houdini before the app starts

[julien-lang]

Temporary workaround for regression in Houdini 21.0+ where FPTR menu does not show up.

Important

This PR is only a workaround and we don't intend to merge it as is.
It is not designed to be used for production.

This issur was reported on the community forum: https://community.shotgridsoftware.com/t/houdini-21-support/20304

For some reason, Houdini 21.0+ will not see the menu file if created by a startup script. But it still works if we create the file before launching the app.
This workaround works because we push a dynamic menu.

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

This PR implements a workaround for Houdini 21.0+ where dynamic menus created by startup scripts are not properly recognized. The solution generates the dynamic Flow Production Tracking menu before the application starts rather than during startup.

Key Changes

• Added pre-launch menu generation for Houdini 21.0+
• Created a mock engine object to interface with the existing menu creation system
• Configured menu name based on settings before application launch

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[Copilot]

The TODO comment should specify what needs to be done when this workaround is no longer needed and include a reference to when/how this version check should be implemented.

Suggested change

	# TODO - only for Houdini version 21.0+
	# TODO: Remove or refactor this block when support for Houdini versions prior to 21.0 is dropped.
	# Implement a Houdini version check (see VERSION_OLDEST_COMPATIBLE or use SoftwareVersion)
	# to ensure this code only runs for Houdini 21.0 and above.

[Copilot]

The MockEngine class is defined inline and lacks proper initialization. Consider moving this to a proper class with an init method or create a factory function to ensure all required attributes are consistently set.

Suggested change

	pass
	mock_engine = MockEngine()
	mock_engine.logger = self.logger
	mock_engine._menu_name = "Flow Production Tracking"
	if self.get_setting("use_short_menu_name", False):
	mock_engine._menu_name = "FPTR"
	def __init__(self, logger, menu_name):
	self.logger = logger
	self._menu_name = menu_name
	menu_name = "Flow Production Tracking"
	if self.get_setting("use_short_menu_name", False):
	menu_name = "FPTR"
	mock_engine = MockEngine(self.logger, menu_name)

[Copilot]

The import should be moved to the top of the file with other imports to follow Python import conventions and improve code readability.