User Preference

Default Preference

When creating an extension class, we can provide default extension preferences, which will be used when the user installs the extension for the first time.

class PaperlibHelloworldExtension extends PLExtension {
    constructor() {
        super({
        id: "...",
        defaultPreference: {
            [id: string]: {
                type: "string" | "boolean" | "options" | "pathpicker", 
                name: string,
                description: string,
                value: string | boolean,
                order？: number,
                options?: { [key: string]: string }, // only for options type
            },
            ...
        },
        });
    }
}

Each preference is a key-value pair, the key is the ID of the preference, and the value is an object that contains various information about the preference:

• The id field is required, it specifies the ID of the preference. This is used to access the value of the preference later.
• The type field is required, it specifies the type of the preference.
• The name field is required, it specifies the name of the preference displayed in the UI.
• The description field is required, it specifies the description of the preference displayed in the UI.
• The value field is required, it specifies the default value of the preference.
• The order field is optional, it specifies the display order of the preference.
• The options field is optional, it is only needed when the preference type is options, it specifies the options of the option type preference.

Preference Type

As shown above, we provide four types of preferences:

• string: String type preference, the user can enter any string.
• boolean: Boolean type preference, the user can choose true or false.
• options: Option type preference, the user can select one from the predefined options. The options field must be provided, and each key-value pair in it is an option. The key is the identical value of the option, and the value is the display name of the option.
• pathpicker: Path picker type preference, the user can select a file or folder.

Different types of preferences will display different components in Paperlib.

Access Preference

To access the value of a preference in an extension, we can use PLExtAPI.extensionPreferenceService.get. For example:

PLExtAPI.extensionPreferenceService.get(this.id, "lang")

By doing so, we can get the value of the lang preference. Note that we need to provide the ID of the extension (this.id) so that the ExtensionPreferenceService knows which extension's preference we want to access.

Set Preference

We can set the value of a preference by using PLExtAPI.extensionPreferenceService.set. For example:

PLExtAPI.extensionPreferenceService.set(this.id, {"lang": "en"})

Here we provide a patch object`` to modify the preferences. The patch object`` is a key-value pair, where each key-value pair is a modification of a preference. The key is the ID of the preference, and the value is the new value of the preference. You can pass in modifications for multiple preferences at the same time.

Listen Preference Change

We can listen to the change of a preference by using PLExtAPI.extensionPreferenceService.onPreferenceChange. For example:

PLExtAPI.extensionPreferenceService.onChanged(
    `${this.id}:lang`, 
    (changes: {key: string, value: string}) => {
        console.log(changes) // {key: "lang", value: "en"}
    }
)

⚠️ Please note that listening to a setting of an extension must be in the form of extID:preferenceKey to form the ID of the event to be listened to. Because extensionPreferenceService need to distinguish the preferences of different extensions.

By doing so, we can listen to the modification of the lang preference. When the user modifies the value of the lang in the preferences interface, we will run the callback function passed in. The function receives an Object as an argument , where the key field is the ID of the preference, and the value field is the new value of the preference.

⚠️ Please note that all listener registrations must be cancelled in the dispose function of the extension to avoid memory leaks.

Cancel Preference Change Listener

When the extension is uninstalling or reloading, Paperlib will call the dispose function of the extension. In this function, we need to cancel all listener registrations to avoid memory leaks.

When you are listening for changes to a preference, PLExtAPI.extensionPreferenceService.onChanged / on will return a function. Running this function will cancel the listener.

For example:

// Listen
const disposeCallback = PLExtAPI.extensionPreferenceService.onChanged(
    `${this.id}:lang`, 
    (changes: {key: string, value: string}) => {
        console.log(changes) // {key: "lang", value: "en"}
    }
)

// Cancel
disposeCallback()

Storing and Accessing Passwords

Paperlib also provides storage and retrieval of password items. Regular preferences are stored in a .json files near the extension directory, while password items are stored in different keychains depending on the platform. For example, the Keychain on macOS, the Credential Manager on Windows, etc.

await PLExtAPI.extensionPreferenceService.setPassword(
    this.id, "password-key", "your-password"
)

const password = await PLExtAPI.extensionPreferenceService.getPassword(
    this.id, "password-key"
)

Preference File

In Paperlib, the user's preferences are stored in a .json file.

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/paperlib/extensions/<extension-id>.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%/paperlib/extensions/<extension-id>.json
• Linux: ~/.config/paperlib/extensions/<extension-id>.json