newbie: unclear how to use plugins

Totally new here. Want to make a business app, so I have the lastest Coronalabs installed (Macos) and want to use a plugin like the business framework together with the UI plugin.I activated both, ut it is unclear what to do next. When I copy build settings and main from the business plugin, it just mentions something is wrong with loading/finding the plugin. I can’t find where I should download a plugin (or even how to). There was a hint using the android/download_plugins.sh but that is not found on my system.
I hope to find a really good guide in how to use plugins, but the android didn’t work for me, and the xcode which should have an option for the plugins either, because my up-to-date xcode doesn’t have that. It’s also unclear to me where I should put the software, if I use an example template. Hope someone will have the patience to guide me through this.

Hello and welcome!

A good place to start is here:

Now, can you be more specific? For instance, what version of Corona/Solar2D are you running specifically? If it is the newest public build, then that’s ancient. Are you working in native or on simulator? Can you show what you’ve written in your build.settings and how you are requiring the plugin in your code?

The plugins should download automatically (unless you are using Native/Enterprise feature). On the simulator log, you should see something like this. If plugin is not downloadable, an error will appear

PluginSync: downloading plugin: http://plugins.coronasphere.com/com.coronalabs/plugin.openssl/2016.2883/win32-sim/plugin.openssl.zip

Where can I find or see the simulator log?
The thing is, when i Start, I have an almost empty main.lua and a emulated Iphone. I dind’t get how to get an android in there. But my step was to look at a plugin, in my case:


I clicked on documentation (of that specific plugin)
changed my main into the example one.
Added a config.lua from the example one and added a part to the plugin section of the build.settings.
The simulator then pops up a window with an alert:

Module 'plugin_app_framework_masters_master_tab_menu' not found:
	no field package.preload['plugin_app_framework_masters_master_tab_menu']
	no file '/Users/marcelloh/Library/Application Support/Corona/Simulator/Plugins/plugin_app_framework_masters_master_tab_menu.lua'
	no file '/Users/marcelloh/data/Solar2D/SBC1/sbc1/plugin_app_framework_masters_master_tab_menu.lua'
	no file '/Applications/Corona-3582/Corona Simulator.app/Contents/Resources/plugin_app_framework_masters_master_tab_menu.lua'
	no file '/Users/marcelloh/Library/Application Support/Corona/Simulator/Plugins/plugin_app_framework_masters_master_tab_menu.dylib'
	no file './plugin_app_framework_masters_master_tab_menu.dylib'
	no file '/Applications/Corona-3582/Corona Simulator.app/Contents/Resources/plugin_app_framework_masters_master_tab_menu.dylib'

File: module 'plugin_app_framework_masters_master_tab_menu' not found

and since I’m new to this, I really have no idea how to fix this :frowning:

I found this page:https://developer.coronalabs.com/downloads/coronas
I took the latest one, so that is what I mentioned. To be exact : Corona 2020.3582
To be even more exact, I have Macos, so I downloaded and installed the dmg version.
(the above is what I mentioned, but then for you in perhaps better understandable words.)

So, let’s assume that you know of a newer version at the latest that I found. How could I have known that it wasn’t up-to-date? Where could I have looked to find the very latest?
(I personally think, that the word latest can only mean one thing only, because it is precise.)

Well, I appreciate the attitude. :smiley:

The reason why I asked for specifics is because by “latest” you could have meant: the latest public build (2018.3326), the latest daily build (2020.3582), or the actually latest build (2020.3590), which is the first Solar2D offline build.

By my experience, most new users download the latest public build as it is the one that is pushed to them, however, that specific build could have compatibility issues with the plugin that you are trying to load due to its age.

Now, had you downloaded the latest build, which you were so adamant about having downloaded, then I could have told you that only “com.coronalabs” and self-hosted plugins are supported.

Personally I think that the word “latest” is not precise here because it can refer to three different builds. Case in point, you had downloaded the second latest build but you called it the latest. That’s alright, and that is precisely why I asked you clarification. In a few more days, the latest build will probably change again. If you want precision, then use the build numbers.


Finally, to the actual matter at hand. I also tried downloading and using the plugin and I run into issues as well. You could try downloading and running the author’s sample project from https://github.com/maciej-czekala/corona_business_app_base_template.

If that doesn’t help, then try contacting the author.

Ok, it’s clear about the latest. I saw the solar2d as well, but because of the issues in a short time, I hesitated to use that one. (but then again, perhaps those issues live in the coronalabs version as wel.)

The hint to take the same works so, from here I will try to understand more about the structure.
Thanks for your patience.