This is probably something simple and I'll kick myself for it later - when I make a custom shelf tool and invoke it, the newly created nodes aren't wired/appended to the selected geo/node - what am I doing wrong?

you have to handle that yourself Terry…

have a look at toolUtils.py > genericTool

it has some logic for “nodes we'll want to connect to our new node.”

That strikes me as odd given that the auto-generated script appears to contain verbage for the connection.Simple colorSOP custom shelf tool script:



import sys
import toolutils

outputitem = None
inputindex = -1
inputitem = None
outputindex = -1

num_args = 1
h_extra_args = ‘'
pane = toolutils.activePane(kwargs)
if not isinstance(pane, hou.NetworkEditor):
pane = hou.ui.paneTabOfType(hou.paneTabType.NetworkEditor)
if pane is None:
hou.ui.displayMessage(
’Cannot create node: cannot find any network pane')
sys.exit(0)
else: # We're creating this tool from the TAB menu inside a network editor
pane_node = pane.pwd()
if kwargs.has_key(“outputnodename”) and kwargs.has_key(“inputindex”):
outputitem = pane_node.item(kwargs)
inputindex = kwargs
h_extra_args += ‘set arg4 = "’ + kwargs + ‘“\n’
h_extra_args += ‘set arg5 = ”’ + str(inputindex) + ‘“\n’
num_args = 6
if kwargs.has_key(”inputnodename“) and kwargs.has_key(”outputindex"):
inputitem = pane_node.item(kwargs)
outputindex = kwargs
h_extra_args += ‘set arg6 = "’ + kwargs + ‘“\n’
h_extra_args += ‘set arg9 = ”’ + str(outputindex) + ‘“\n’
num_args = 9
if kwargs.has_key(”autoplace"):
autoplace = kwargs
else:
autoplace = False
# If shift-clicked we want to auto append to the current
# node
if kwargs.has_key(“shiftclick”) and kwargs:
if inputitem is None:
inputitem = pane.currentNode()
outputindex = 0
if kwargs.has_key(“nodepositionx”) and kwargs.has_key(“nodepositiony”):
try:
pos = [ float( kwargs ),
float( kwargs )]
except:
pos = None
else:
pos = None

if not autoplace and not pane.listMode():
if pos is not None:
pass
elif outputitem is None:
pos = pane.selectPosition(inputitem, outputindex, None, -1)
else:
pos = pane.selectPosition(inputitem, outputindex,
outputitem, inputindex)

if pos is not None:
if kwargs.has_key(“node_bbox”):
size = kwargs
pos -= size / 2
pos -= size / 2
else:
pos -= 0.573625
pos -= 0.220625
h_extra_args += ‘set arg2 = "’ + str(pos) + ‘“\n’
h_extra_args += ‘set arg3 = ”’ + str(pos) + ‘“\n’
h_extra_args += ‘set argc = ”’ + str(num_args) + ‘“\n’

pane_node = pane.pwd()
child_type = pane_node.childTypeCategory().nodeTypes()

if not child_type.has_key('color'):
hou.ui.displayMessage(
‘Cannot create node: incompatible pane network type’)
sys.exit(0)

# First clear the node selection
pane_node.setSelected(False, True)

h_path = pane_node.path()
h_preamble = ‘set arg1 = ”’ + h_path + ‘“\n’
h_cmd = r'''
if ($argc < 2 || ”$arg2“ == ”“) then
set arg2 = 0
endif
if ($argc < 3 || ”$arg3“ == ”“) then
set arg3 = 0
endif
# Automatically generated script
# $arg1 - the path to add this node
# $arg2 - x position of the tile
# $arg3 - y position of the tile
# $arg4 - input node to wire to
# $arg5 - which input to wire to
# $arg6 - output node to wire to
# $arg7 - the type of this node
# $arg8 - the node is an indirect input
# $arg9 - index of output from $arg6

\set noalias = 1
set saved_path = `execute(”oppwf“)`
opcf $arg1

# Node $_obj_geo1_color1 (Sop/color)
set _obj_geo1_color1 = `run(”opadd -e -n -v color color1“)`
oplocate -x `$arg2 + 0` -y `$arg3 + 0` $_obj_geo1_color1
opparm $_obj_geo1_color1 ramp ( 2 )
opparm $_obj_geo1_color1 color ( 1 0 0 ) ramp2pos ( 1 ) ramp2c ( 1 1 1 )
opset -d off -r off -h off -f off -y off -t off -l off -s off -u off -F on -c on -e on -b off $_obj_geo1_color1
opexprlanguage -s hscript $_obj_geo1_color1
opuserdata -n ‘___Version___’ -v ‘' $_obj_geo1_color1
opuserdata -n ’___toolcount___' -v ‘2’ $_obj_geo1_color1
opuserdata -n ‘___toolid___’ -v ‘sop_color’ $_obj_geo1_color1
opset -p on $_obj_geo1_color1

opcf $arg1

set oidx = 0
if ($argc >= 9 && ”$arg9“ != ”“) then
set oidx = $arg9
endif

if ($argc >= 5 && ”$arg4“ != ”“) then
set output = $_obj_geo1_color1
opwire -n $output -$arg5 $arg4
endif
if ($argc >= 6 && ”$arg6“ != ”") then
set input = $_obj_geo1_color1
if ($arg8) then
opwire -n -i $arg6 -0 $input
else
opwire -n -o $oidx $arg6 -0 $input
endif
endif
opcf $saved_path
'''
hou.hscript(h_preamble + h_extra_args + h_cmd)

that's boilerplate around hscript to create the SOP that is auto-generated when you drag a node to the shelf - if you're writing a custom shelf tool you may not want that code there automatically…
what would you expect to see happen when writing a custom shelf tool?

Custom from scratch I'd expect to have to handle it myself. But a simple drag-in from the network (which is what I'm doing), I'd expect to work:

1. Select thing upon which I want to perform a function.
2. Do this (dragged-from-network shelf tool functionality) to it.

Otherwise, the “drag to shelf” functionality as a high-level workflow is limited in it's usefulness if I have to backwards-engineer basic functionality after the fact.

when I have 3 nodes (two color SOPs wired into a merge)
and I drag them to the shelf I get the boilerplate code
if I want to append them to an existing node I can
RMB+click on the output of the node and in the TAB menu click on the new tool
the nodes get placed and one of the color SOPs is wired to the existing node…

is this what you're trying to do?
or is there something different about your setup?

RMB-click on the output and TAB works, just too bad that I can't do it as easily from the shelf or the radial dial, in the viewport.