HTML Panel for Illustrator plugin

Question

Hi
I'm adapting the Illustrator CC SDK Tutorial plugin, which has a Flash based UI (Tutorial UI) and trying to replace the Flash UI with an HTML5 extension-based one.
I'm having some issues which break down into two parts - (a) HTML5 panels and (b) Events from HTML5 Extensions
HTML5 Panels
In the tutorial, the plugin is divided into two parts, the plugin and the plugin panel controller. Since the original has a flash UI, the panel controller class inherits from FlashUIController (part of the SDK common code).
1) Do I need a panel controller class for HTML5 extensions and if so, what should they be based upon? There doesn't seem to be an equivalent library for HTML extensions.
2) If I don't need a panel controller, what do I need to put into the plugin code to bind that panel to a particular menu item etc.
Events
So far I have written a new HTML5 extension (in Extension Builder 3) which does nothing other than dispatch an event (using CSInterface().dispatchEvent(evt)) when you hit a link. So far so good.
When I debug it in illustrator it appears as expected under Window->Extensions and it is getting past the event code so I am assuming that the event is getting dispatched properly.
The problem is I cannot seem to get that event picked up by Illustrator.
I've added a AINotifier for the event in the main plugin code along with the other global event listener code, but am not sure that is the right place. The main Notify method of my plugin certainly isn't receiving it.
3) Is this the right approach? I'm a bit stuck for ideas - and the lack of samples (official or otherwise) is hampering me at the moment.
4) Is there a way of debugging the event generation to see if it is really getting dispatched?
I won't post my code here since I have editied it heavily and its a right mess, however I am struggling with the concepts involved and hope someone can point me in the right direction.
As you might be able to tell, I'm new to plugin development and my C++ is pretty rusty. It is quite possible I am missing something fundamental here, but any help you can provide will be useful.
Thanks in advance,
Rob

Answer 1

Hi Hui
Well, sort of, although I've made a bit more progress now and the events part seems to be working.
I originally thought that fPPLib was specifically for Flex/Flash but I now realise that it is the main PlugPlug interface (which now includes HTML5 panels - right?)
I think what I really need is HTML5 panels 101 (for Illustrator). The exmples in this forum are InDesign specific and all the c++ libraries are different. Also nothing I've seen so far shows how to make an extension work from within Illustrator's menus (as opposed to just from Window->Extensions).
I have a plugin which requires input parameters from the user.
What I am trying to do is.
1) Create an HTML5 extension panel which will collect values from the user.
2) Attach that panel (or is it a modal dialog) to say Object->Filters in the main Illustrator menu
3) Have that panel load previous plugin parameters (*from the current session)
4) Validate the user values in the panel.
5) Make the panel communicate those values to the plugin
6) Show/Hide the panel as required (i.e. open it from a menu item, close it when done).
Also, in the original flash panel which I am trying to adapt, there is a lot of ActionScript in the mxml file.
Where does all that go now? Is that what ExtendScript is for (and if so are there some useful tutorials on it anywhere?)
I know that is a lot of questions. Apologies - I'm new to this and impatient to make some real progress.
Cheers,
Rob