Register a custom asset type

You can use the asset_types extension to define how the editor should display and handle custom resource types in your project.

You might do this if you want your plug-in to help the user create and modify different kinds of files than the ones that are already handled by the editor. When you register a custom asset type, you can customize the way your resource files are shown in the Asset Browser, and what happens when one of your assets is opened (i.e. when a user double-clicks it in the Asset Browser).

• You might also want to accompany your custom asset type extension with a template extension, which can create new assets of your custom type. See Define templates for new assets.
• You also might want to set up a preview extension, which determines the behavior of the Asset Preview panel when the user selects an asset of your type in the Asset Browser. See Define previews for custom assets.
• If you can use SJSON for storing your custom asset data, you can take advantage of some of the built-in editing and asset creation features offered by the editor. See Editing custom asset types.

Asset type extensions accept the following parameters.

extensions = {
    asset_types = [
        {
            type = "csv"
            name = "Comma-separated data"
            description = "A data file exported from another application."
            category = "Custom"
            icon = "img/csv.svg"
            invoke = "open_in_spreadsheet $project/$1"
        }
    ]
}

type

The resource type (that is, the file extension) of the asset type you want to register. Required.

name

A display name for this asset type. Optional.

description

A general description for this type of resource. Optional.

category

When you filter assets in the Asset Browser, you can use this category name to show and hide assets of your custom type. Optional.

icon

If specified, the Asset Browser uses this image as the thumbnail for all instances of this resource type in the project. The path must be relative to the location of your .stingray_plugin file. Optional.

invoke

An action or an array of actions that will be triggered when the user double-clicks an asset of this type in the Asset Browser. Each action can be either the name of an action that you have already set up in the actions extension, or an inline action definition. For more information, see Register an action.

In addition to the $project and $editor dynamic strings, you can use $1 in this setting to specify the path within the project of the asset being invoked. So, you can get the full path to the asset file using $project/$1.

This setting is optional. If omitted, double-clicking an asset of this type in the Asset Browser has no effect.