How to store Python Add-In menu customization/configuration in *.esriaddin file?

Question

There is a gap in my understanding of Python Add-Ins.

When I create a Python Add-In it is easy to see where buttons, tools and extensions are implemented as Classes in the *_addin.py script of the Install folder, and how these get written into the shareable *.esriaddin file.

However, I find the ArcGIS 10.2 Online Help for Creating an add-in menu to be more than minimalist. By some trial and error I have figured out, within ArcMap, how to drag add-in menus, buttons and tools from the Customize dialog onto an add-in toolbar to achieve a menu like below.

What I am unable to figure out is how this "layout" of the add-in toolbar, with its add-in menu and add-in button and add-in tool gets written into the *.esriaddin file.

Is the way to get add-in menu customization/configuration written into the *.esriaddin file by editing the config.xml, and if so, is the syntax used to do that documented anywhere?

Answer 1

An .esriaddin file is just a ZIP-compressed archive containing the files that make up your add-in. You can open it with something like 7-Zip to prove this to yourself. The Essential Python Add-in concepts article hints at this.

The layout of your-addin, including definitions of toolbars, menus and buttons, is all stored within the config.xml, whose syntax is not particularly well documented anywhere (though you might check the .NET or, particularly, the Java add-in docs which for some reason have a better-documented dissection of the file).

However, you are not really expected to have to mess with the config.xml and are encouraged to instead use the Python Add-in Wizard to build out your add-in's structure. Presumably you are already using this.

As far as adding a menu to a toolbar, and a button to a menu, it's just a matter of right-clicking the appropriate entries in the wizard and selecting the desired items:

Answer 2

The layout of a Python Addin can be changed by editing/updating the config.xml file.

Also trying to get my head and hands around the various ways ArcGIS can use Python via scripts (.py), ArcToolbox toolboxes (.tbx), Python toolboxes (.pyt), including Python Addins (.py and .xml).

Using the Python Addin Assistant (PAA) will generate a config.xml file that you can later update/edit via the PAA, or an editor to change the layout (e.g., to nest a tool under a menu, and the menu in a toolbox...the PAA UI seems to only allow buttons or menus under menus).

Here are screen shots of the nesting/layout edit i am trying to describe:

And here's a sample of the config.xml edit i am trying to describe:

<ESRI.Configuration xmlns="http://schemas.esri.com/Desktop/AddIns" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<Name>MouseClickTools</Name>
<AddInID>{bd14488e-47a2-4ab4-89d1-45aa9a8ef0d2}</AddInID>
<Description>Mouse Click Tools</Description>
<Version>0.1</Version>
<Image />
<Author>Author</Author>
<Company>Company</Company>
<Date>06/04/2014</Date>
<Targets>
    <Target name="Desktop" version="10.2" />
</Targets>
<AddIn language="PYTHON" library="MouseClick2_addin.py" namespace="MouseClick2_addin">
    <ArcMap>
        <Commands>
            <Tool caption="Window Click Tool" category="MouseClick" class="McToolClass_Win" id="MouseClick_addin.mcToolWin" image="Images\3DAnalystInterpolatePoint16.png" message="Click in Data Frame to see window coordinates." tip="Shows window coordinates."><Help heading="Windows Click Tool">Windows Click Tool</Help></Tool> <!-- 1st tool, defined -->
            <Tool caption="Map Click Tool" category="MouseClick" class="McToolClass_Map" id="MouseClick_addin.mcToolMap" image="Images\3DAnalystInterpolatePoint16.png" message="Click in Data Frame to see map coordinates." tip="Shows map coordinates."><Help heading="Map Click Tool">Map Click Tool</Help></Tool> <!-- 2nd tool, defined -->
        </Commands>
        <Toolbars>
            <Toolbar caption="Click Tools" category="MouseClick" id="MouseClick_addin.mcToolbar" showInitially="true"> <!-- 1st toolbar, defined -->
                <Items>
                    <Menu refID="MouseClick_addin.mcMenu" /> <!-- 1st menu nested in toolbar-->
                    <Menu refID="MouseClick_addin.mcMenu" /> <!-- 1st menu, added a 2nd time, just for layout editing illustration -->
                </Items>
            </Toolbar>
        </Toolbars>
        <Menus>
            <Menu caption="Click Clickity Click" category="MouseClick" id="MouseClick_addin.mcMenu" isRootMenu="true" isShortcutMenu="false" separator="true"> <!-- 1st menu, defined -->
                <Items>
                    <Tool refID="MouseClick_addin.mcToolWin" /> <!-- 1st tool, nested in menu-->
                    <Tool refID="MouseClick_addin.mcToolMap" /> <!-- 2nd tool, nested in menu -->
                </Items>
            </Menu>
        </Menus>
    </ArcMap>
</AddIn>