External tools

External Tools let you add your own programs to Tuning Editor and launch them from the Tools menu — optionally handing them the open collection or map through placeholders. You define and edit them in Configure External Tools, reached from Tools › Configure Tools….

Figure 1

The Configure External Tools dialog

The left side is the Tools list — your defined tools, which you can drag to reorder (the order is how they appear in the menu). + Add creates a new entry and − Remove deletes the selected one; a hint shows where the list is stored on disk.

The right side is the Tool details form for the selected tool:

• Title — the text shown in the Tools menu (an & marks a keyboard mnemonic).
• Executable — the program to run (required); Browse… to pick the .exe.
• Arguments — the command line passed to it; placeholders are supported (see below).
• Working dir — the folder the program starts in; optional (defaults to the executable’s folder), and also accepts placeholders.
• Description — the tooltip shown when you hover the tool in the menu.
• Icon — a PNG, SVG or ICO for the menu entry; leave empty for the default gear icon.
• Shortcut — a keyboard shortcut to launch the tool (for example Ctrl+Alt+D).
• Run mode — Run (no wait) launches and returns immediately, Run and wait blocks with a busy cursor until it finishes, and Open in terminal runs it inside a terminal window.
• Capture output and show in a dialog on completion — collect the program’s output and display it when it ends.
• Ask for confirmation before running — prompt before each launch.

Two buttons help while you set a tool up: Test Run launches it there and then, and Placeholder reference… opens a list of the available placeholders with their current values.

Placeholders

In Arguments and Working dir you can drop in ${…} tokens that expand at launch to the current context, so the tool acts on whatever you have open:

• ${activeCollectionPath} — the full path of the active collection file.
• ${activeCollectionDir} — the folder that collection lives in.
• ${activeCollectionName} — the collection’s name.
• ${activeMapName} — the name of the active map.

For example, an Arguments field of "${activeCollectionPath}" --flag passes the open file to the program. The Placeholder reference… button shows the full set with the values they currently resolve to for the active collection.

Running a tool

Each configured tool appears in the Tools menu with its title, icon, tooltip and shortcut. Choosing it runs the program in the chosen run mode; if you ticked Capture output, its output appears in a dialog when it finishes, and if you ticked Ask for confirmation, you are prompted first.

Tip — for a command-line utility whose result you want to read, combine Run and wait with Capture output; and use ${activeCollectionPath} in the arguments so the tool always works on the file you currently have open.

See also

• Keyboard shortcuts
• Preferences