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Overview

This example creates a shelf tool that iterates over a list of links (with more work this could come from, for example, an internet news feed) and creates objects containing the text of the links. It sets the "pick script" (a script that runs when an object is selected) to open each object’s link URL when you select the object.

Implementation

To create a new shelf tool, right-click on an empty area in the shelf, choose New Tool, give the tool a name, and paste the following code into the Script tab:

# Some links to create
links = [
        ("Side Effects Software", "https://sidefx.com/"),
        ("Houdini Engine", "https://sidefx.com/engine"),
        ("OdForce", "https://odforce.net/"),
]

# Delete all the existing objects in /obj
# (Don't use this shelf tool in a real scene!)
for child in hou.node("/obj").children():
    child.destroy()

# Loop through the RSS feed articles, creating an object for each one
# encountered.
for i, (text, url) in enumerate(links):
    # Create an object with a font SOP inside, and set the text to the
    # article's text.  Note that we set run_init_scripts to False so the
    # geometry object doesn't contain a file sop.
    geo = hou.node("/obj").createNode("geo", run_init_scripts=False)
    font = geo.createNode("font")
    font.parm("text").set(text)

    # Append a color sop to the font SOP to change the color to black
    # so it's more readable in the viewer.
    color = geo.createNode("color")
    color.setFirstInput(font)
    color.parmTuple("color").set((0, 0, 0))
    color.setDisplayFlag(True)

        # Create a script to open the URL in the browser pane
        script = 'python -c "hou.ui.curDesktop().showSideHelp().setUrl(\'%s\')"' % url
        # Set it as the "pick script" for the object
        geo.parm("pickscript").set(script)

    # Move the geometry object's y position so the text doesn't overlap.
    geo.parm("ty").set(-2 * index)

# Fix the layout of the new nodes in the network editor
hou.node("/obj").layoutChildren()

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