Workbench creation

This page will show you how to add a new workbench to the FreeCAD interface. Workbenches are containers for FreeCAD commands. They can be coded in python, in C++, or in a mix of both, which has the advantage to ally the speed of C++ to the flexibility of python. In all cases, though, your workbench will be launched by a set of two python files.

The workbench structure
Basically it is simple: You need a folder, with any name you like, placed in the Mod directory, with an Init.py file, and, optionally an InitGui.py file. The Init file is executed when FreeCAD starts, always, and the InitGui.py file is executed immediately after, but only when FreeCAD starts in GUI mode, not in console mode. That's all it needs for FreeCAD to find your workbench at startup and add it to its interface.

Inside those files you can do whatever you want. Usually they are used like this:


 * In the Init.py file you just add a couple of things used even when FreeCAD works in console mode, for example the file importers and exporters


 * In the InitGui.py file you usually define a workbench, which contains a name, an icon, and a series of FreeCAD commands (see below). That workbench also defines functions that are executed when FreeCAD loads (you try to do as little as possible there, so you don't slow down the startup), another that gets executed when the workbench is activated (that's where you'll do most of the work), and a third one when the workbench is deactivated (so you can remove things if needed).

C++ workbench structure
If you are going to code your workbench in python, you don't need to take special care, and can simply place your other python files together with your Init.py and InitGui.py files. When working with C++, however, you should take greater care, and start with respecting one fundamental rule of FreeCAD: The separation of your workbench between an App part (that can run in console mode, without any GUI element), and a Gui part, which will only be loaded when FreeCAD runs with its full GUI environment. So when doing a C++ workbench, you will actually most likely be doing two modules, an App and a Gui. These two modules must of course be callable from python. Any FreeCAD module (App or Gui) consists, at the very least, of a module init file. This is a typical AppMyModuleGui.cpp file:

The Init.py file
You can choose any license you like for your workbench, but be aware that if you wish to see your workbench integrated into and distributed with the FreeCAD source code at some point, it needs to be LGPL2+ like the example above. See Licence.

The and  functions allow you to give the name and extension of a file type, and a python module responsible for its import. In the example above, an module will handle  files. See Code snippets for more examples.

Python workbenches
Other than that, you can do anything you want: You could put your whole workbench code inside the InitGui.py if you want, but it is usually more convenient to place the different functions of your workbench in separate files. So those files are smaller and easier to read. Then you import those files into your InitGui.py file. You can organize those files the way you want, a good example is one for each FreeCAD command you add.

Preferences
You can add a Preferences page for your Python workbench. The Preferences pages look for a preference icon with a specific name in the Qt Resource system. If your icon isn't in the resource system or doesn't have the correct name, your icon won't appear on the Preferences page.

Adding your workbench icon:
 * the preferences icon needs to be named "preferences-" + "modulename" + ".svg" (all lowercase)
 * make a qrc file containing all icon names
 * in the main *.py directory, run pyside-rcc -o myResources.py myqrc.qrc
 * in InitGui.py, add import myResource(.py)
 * update your repository(git) with myResources.py and myqrc.qrc

You'll need to redo the steps if you add/change icons.

@kbwbe has created a nice script to compile resources for the A2Plus workbench. See below.

Adding your preference page(s):
 * You need to compile the Qt designer plugin that allows you to add preference settings with Qt Designer
 * Create a blank widget in Qt Designer (no buttons or anything)
 * Design your preference page, any setting that must be saved (preferences) must be one of the Gui::Pref* widgets that were added by the plugin)
 * In any of those, make sure you fill the PrefName (the name of your preference value) and PrefPath (ex: Mod/MyWorkbenchName), which will save your value under BaseApp/Preferences/Mod/MyWorkbenchName
 * Save the ui file in your workbench, make sure it's handled by cmake
 * In your workbench, for ex. inside the InitGui file, inside the Initialize method (but any other place works too), add: FreeCADGui.addPreferencePage("/path/to/myUiFile.ui","MyGroup"), "MyGroup" being one of the preferences groups on the left. FreeCAD will automatically look for a "preferences-mygroup.svg" file in its known locations (which you can extend with FreeCADGui.addIconPath)
 * Make sure the addPreferencePage method is called only once, otherwise your pref page will be added several times

C++ workbenches
If you are going to code your workbench in C++, you will probably want to code the workbench definition itself in C++ too (although it is not necessary: You could also code only the tools in C++, and leave the workbench definition in python). In that case, the InitGui.py file becomes very simple: It might contain just one line:

where MyModule is your complete C++ workbench, including the commands and workbench definition.

Coding C++ workbenches works in a pretty similar way. This is a typical Workbench.cpp file to include in the Gui part of your module:

Preferences
You can add a Preferences page for C++ workbenches too. The steps are similar to those for Python.

FreeCAD commands
FreeCAD commands are the basic building block of the FreeCAD interface. They can appear as a button on toolbars, and as a menu entry in menus. But it is the same command. A command is a simple python class, that must contain a couple of predefined attributes and functions, that define the name of the command, its icon, and what to do when the command is activated.

C++ command definition
Similarly, you can code your commands in C++, typically have a Commands.cpp file in your Gui module. This is a typical Commands.cpp file:

"Compiling" your resource file
compileA2pResources.py from the A2Plus workbench: