How can I create a textbox-like field?

Question

I am writing a After Effect Plug-in.
I want to create a textbox-like for user, when click om plugin in after effect cs4 popup textbox
So, if there is any example to create that UI for me?
Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

i'll try to give you a wider picture.
AE has no "text" parameter you can add to a plug-in.
you have to either create on using a custon UI, or open a window and use an OS control to allow the user to enter text.
if you're just beginning developing you should probably avoid custom UI. it's a pain.
the simples way to trigger an OS window is using javascript.
yes, just as you would in a regular AE javascript.
there are a few scripts that ship with AE that show how to open a window and even get text input.
the link i added to the previous post show EXACTLY how to implement java from within an effect.
all you have to do is change the java script to one you need.
copy/paste. the rest is ready to use as it is in that link.
how do you know when to launch that window?
there are a few ways to tell.
the most versatile would be a custom UI, but as i said, it's not easy to do.
the second method would be to use "param supervision".
it will tell you when the user clicked on a specific param, so you can launch the window.
relatively simple to pull off.
look at the "supervisor" sample to see how it's implemented.
the third method is the simplest, and i would recommend it for a beginner.
as many effects that require some window to open do, you can use the "options" button to launch the window.
you can even change the name of that button using PF_SetOptionsButtonName().
look at the "checkout" sample.
it has it all.
it changes the name of the "options" to "whatever i want!".
it even has a function called PopDialog() that... pops up a message window when clicking on the options button.
all you'll need to do, is replace the content of the PopDialog() function with your window code.
that should get you up and running.