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HAPTER
1: Overview
Types of plug-ins
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Plug-ins are notified by Illustrator when they have just been loaded or are about to be unloaded,
permitting them to restore or save any state information.
Types of plug-ins
This section describes the different types of Illustrator plug-ins you can create. A single plug-in file can
contain multiple plug-in types. For example, a shape creation plug-in may implement several plug-in
filters and a plug-in tool. Plug-in types are listed in the following table and described more fully after the
table.
Adobe
Illustrator
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Required
plug-ins
Additional
plug-ins
Plug-in Type
What it does
Action
Playback or register actions.
Effects
Add menu items to the Effects menu.
File format
Add file types to the Open, Save, and Export commands.
Filter
Add menu items to the Filter menu.
Menu command
Add menu items to the general menu structure.
Notifier
Receive and process art-state events.
Plugin group
Maintain “display” art that is associated with another art object
Suite
Implement and publish your own suite of callback functions.
Timer
Receive periodic notification.
Tool
Add tools to the Tools panel.
Transform again
Set the transform-again feature.