How can one quickly open a floating Geometry Spreadsheet window ?

I know there's a TAB that opens a full screen Spreadsheet, or I can use another Desktop, or open an new floating panel and then manually set it to the geometry spreadsheet every time, but that quickly becomes annoying .

Often I just quickly need the Spreadsheet and it would be so much better if it were included in the "Windows" dropdown menu or somewhere else, or one could undock the Spreadsheet TAB to open a floating panel.

Any pointers ?

you can open create a new floating window from the Window menu or press the hotkey alt-shift-W (I have it like that, but I'm not sure if these are hotkeys by default, but they are visible right in the menu.) . And in the header, right-click - inspectors - geometry spreadsheet. Or - hotkey alt-8. As you can see, two hotkeys and the spreadsheet is open in the floating window. The main nuance here is that you need to release the pushpin pressed by default - and then the window will display the spreadsheet of the current node. And for a specific node, the spreadsheet can be called by right-clicking on the node itself and there is a spreadsheet item there. It will be rigidly tied to this node.
By the way, I think it's probably possible to make a tool on the shelf with python code to open a window with spreadsheet at once and assign your own hotkey to it. You should ask chatgpt to write such a script.

Gaalvk
you can open create a new floating window from the Window menu or press the hotkey alt-shift-W ...

Hey gracias, yes that's basically what I do every time.

But I consulted ChatGPT and came up with a Python script that opens it with a single click, sooo much better.

Just add this script to a Tool on a Shelf:

import hou

def open_geometry_spreadsheet(width=900, height=700, x=200, y=150):
desktop = hou.ui.curDesktop()
floating_panel = None

# Try to find an existing Geometry Spreadsheet to clone
for tab in hou.ui.paneTabs():
if isinstance(tab, hou.GeometrySpreadsheet):
floating_panel = tab.clone().floatingPanel()
break

if floating_panel is None:
floating_panel = desktop.createFloatingPanel(hou.paneTabType.SceneViewer)
hou.ui.displayMessage("No Geometry Spreadsheet was open. Opened a generic floating panel instead.")

try:
from PySide2 import QtWidgets, QtCore
qt_window = hou.qt.floatingPanelWindow(floating_panel)

# Use QTimer to resize AFTER the window has been shown
def resize_later():
qt_window.showNormal() # make sure it's not maximized
qt_window.resize(width, height)
qt_window.move(x, y)

QtCore.QTimer.singleShot(200, resize_later) # 200ms delay usually safe
except Exception as e:
hou.ui.displayMessage("Could not resize/move panel:\n{}".format(e))

return floating_panel

# Example usage
open_geometry_spreadsheet(1000, 800, 100, 100)

toonafish
Often I just quickly need the Spreadsheet and it would be so much better if it were included in the "Windows" dropdown menu or somewhere else

RMB on any SOP and choose Spreadsheet...
this will be specific only to that SOP but sometimes that's what you need

tamte
RMB on any SOP and choose Spreadsheet...
this will be specific only to that SOP but sometimes that's what you need

I didn't know that thanks.

Just checked it and like you say, it's locked to that specific SOP.

Also you can edit the point coordinates without adding an Edit SOP with this Spreadsheet. But that breaks the geometry SOP after reloading the scene as well.

Very strange ...

You can do this is using the "pane" command in hscript,
you can write-
where -f means open a floating window, and with -m you have to specify the pane type, for spreadsheet it is "details", you can create shortcuts for other panes using this command too.
Assign this command to a shelf tool, and create a shortcut for that, and there are more options for this command you can check too!

toonafish

tamte
RMB on any SOP and choose Spreadsheet...
this will be specific only to that SOP but sometimes that's what you need

I didn't know that thanks.

Just checked it and like you say, it's locked to that specific SOP.

Also you can edit the point coordinates without adding an Edit SOP with this Spreadsheet. But that breaks the geometry SOP after reloading the scene as well.

Very strange ...

Spreadsheet can always edit attributes. It has nothing special about the floating window.

It's just a strongly discouraged thing to do and should be saved for debugging only.

Umang_Raj
You can do this is using the "pane" command in hscript

even better, thanks.