Testing and debugging the plugin

You can test your plugin by using it with the Loupedeck software.

The plugin binary file is opened and loaded by the Loupedeck service on startup. Therefore you need to:

1. Restart the Loupedeck software to load the plugin.
2. If your plugin is already loaded, stop the Loupedeck software before building the plugin project. That way the output binary file can be overwritten with a new version. Otherwise, building the project fails.

The plugin project generated with the Loupedeck Plugin Tool has all the necessary settings in place. When you start debugging the generated plugin project in Visual Studio, the Loupedeck software installed on the computer is launched.

To debug your plugin, start the Loupedeck software using the built-in Visual Studio debugger. It is pre-configured in the project file. When you start the debugging session, the Loupedeck software stops.

1. To start debugging the plugin, switch the plugin solution to the Debug configuration.
2. Select Debug > Start Debugging, or click Start on the toolbar.

You can set breakpoints, navigate code, inspect data, and do any other usual debugging activity.

You can debug a Loupedeck plugin in the same way as you debug any other C# project.

Restarting the service

Manual plugin installation requires the service to be restarted. The service restart can also be manually issued via the command line:

• Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Loupedeck\Loupedeck2\LoupedeckServiceTool restart
• macOS: /Applications/Loupedeck.app/Contents/Resources/LoupedeckServiceTool.app --args restart