[Closed] How to add a toolbar to the UI via maxscript

Hi guys,
I’m writing an installer for a script of mine.
Everywhere I looked people were saying that you could not add a toolbar to the UI via script.
Anyway, I was able to do it and thought I might share the code.

I’m fairly new to this kind of thing so I’d be happy to hear any feedback you might have.

The trick was using the callback #postSystemShutodwn to modify the “CUIData” “WindowCount”, setting of cui.getConfigFile() (MaxStartUI.cui) which would otherwise get saved over by max, reverting any changes you made.

ps… Use at your own risk, I would suggest backing up your cui file before testing this.
Ive tried it with max 2010 and 2011 so far.

 global maxStartUIFile = ""
 global incrementCuiDataCountStr = ""
 
 function addToolbarUi = 
 	(		
 		maxStartUIFile = cui.getConfigFile() -- finds the UI file location		
 		
 		-- Set the [CUIWindows] "F00n = T:NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR"
 		cuiWindowsAr = getINISetting maxStartUIFile "CUIWindows" -- gives an array of all entries F000, F001 etc
 		nextCuiWindowsInt = cuiWindowsAr.count -- how many in array,
 		concatenate = (formattedprint nextCuiWindowsInt format:"03d") -- no need to add 1 because first entry is 000
 		nextCuiWindowsString = "F" + (concatenate as string) -- now have F00n
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "CUIWindows" nextCuiWindowsString "T:NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" -- add to ini, F00n		
 		
 		-- Set the [CUIData] "WindowCount = n+1" 	
 		CuiDataCountStr = getINISetting maxStartUIFile "CUIData" "WindowCount" -- always a number 1 higher than existing F00n
 		CuiDataCountInt = CuiDataCountStr as integer -- make it an Int
 		incrementCuiDataCountStr = (CuiDataCountInt += 1) as string -- add 1 for later use in postSystemShutdown callback
 		
 		if uiEditFailing == false then
 		(
 		-- Since the only part of the maxStartUIFile that seams to be overwritten is the [CUIData] WindowCount, This is the only bit that needs saving on shutdown
 		callbacks.addScript #postSystemShutdown "setINISetting maxStartUIFile \"CUIData\" \"WindowCount\" incrementCuiDataCountStr"
 		)
 		else 
 		(
 			messagebox "Attempts to edit the user interace file configFile failed. Try manual installation of toolbar"
 		)
 				
 		-- Adding the [NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR] toolbar info
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "Rank" "307"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "SubRank" "2"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "Hidden" "0"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "FRect" "310 314 611 375"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "DRect" "1235 93 1536 132"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "DRectPref" "2147483647 2147483647 -2147483648 -2147483648"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "DPanel" "1"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "Tabbed" "0"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "TabCt" "0"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "CurTab" "-1"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "CurPos" "1 1235 93 1536 132"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "CType" "1"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "ToolbarRows" "1"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "ToolbarType" "3"
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "ItemCount" "9"		
 		setINISetting maxStartUIFile "NAMEOFYOURTOOLBAR" "Item0" "2|0|0|31|3|647394|BUTTONNAME`TOOLBARNAME|0|0|\"BUTTONLABEL\"|\"BUTTONLABEL\"|-1|"
 		
 -- etc etc, for all your tool buttons, go set up your toolbar manually to see the structure of the .cui file. Then just copy it over to here using the above format. 
 	)