apHarmony offers plugin development services.  Whether you are creating a new plugin or maintaining and supporting an existing plugin, we will be happy to bring our team to your software project.  Please feel free to give us a call at 630-855-7522 for a free evaluation and quote.

When using or implementing a software package, businesses may often reach a point when the existing configuration will no longer meet their requirements.  Plugins help extend a software package with new functionality, by providing an area where developer can “plug in” external programs that help the program achieve new goals that could not have been foreseen during original development.

There are three general types of plugins: scripted plugins, API plugins, and external automation plugins.  Scripted plugins are the easiest to build and also the least functional.  Scripted plugins generally leverage an existing language provided by the application to create new functionality.  Systems such as MATLAB and 3ds Max offer a full programming language that helps developer program entirely new modules using the existing program.  Although these modules can provide new functionality, they are also often limited in the scope of what they can do.

The next level of plugin development is at the API level.  APIs are external interfaces provided by an application, that enable external programs to “talk” to the application and execute actions or receive data.  APIs bring extended functionality to the program by enabling integration with other systems, and bidirectional data communication.  The primary limitation with APIs is that the API interface often will expose a limited subset of commands.  These may or may not contain the commands necessary to build the plugin.

Finally, external automated plugins offer both the highest level of customization and the most capability.  Automation enables a program to mimic the actions of a human operator, and both enter and export data per the requirements.  This comes at a cost, however of additional development time and maintenance to support the application.

Whatever the plugin development scenario, apHarmony will be happy to help with your software project.  Please feel free to give us a call at 630-855-7522 for a free evaluation and quote.