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Executing a script from a Kodi plugin add-on
In trying to present my collection of images with a custom slideshow from Koid, I have tried different approaches. The first was to define an external player, the second was to create a specific plugin that would launch an external program and finally I created a plugin that launches a Kodi add-on script.
The first two methods failed because it is not possible to run a graphics program while Kodi is running.
Executing something from a plugin add-on
As explained into the article How to write a Kodi Addon it is possible to create script add-ons or plugin add-ons using Python (starting with Kodi 19 Matrix it is possible tu use the embedded Python 3). A plugin add-on is simply a container of media elements generally organized as a directory, without specific playing capabilities. The play of a content is generally delegated to the native Kodi players (video, audio or pictures).
If you want, it is possibile to customize the action associated to a ListItem (a media element shown into the plugin directory), overriding the default player; to it is possible to launch a generic external Python program or run a Kodi script add-on.
Executing an external Python program
This statement executes a Python script (it must be Python) that resides on the filesystem. The special://home prefix actually refers to the home directory of the Kodi program. In my case it means the /home/kodi/.kodi/ directory.
xbmc.executescript('special://home/bin/my-script.py')
The following example adds a context menu item to a ListItem contained into a plugin directory. Selecting that menu item will will launch the script passing it an argument. Also in this case the script must be a Python script:
li = xbmcgui.ListItem(label='Item title') li.addContextMenuItems([('Run myScript', 'RunScript(special://home/bin/my-script.py,arg1)')])
Executing a Kodi script add-on
Because an external program cannot use the graphic display, I had to rely on a Kodi script add-on to execute the slideshow.
from urllib.parse import urlencode query = urlencode({'context': '/path/to/playlist.m3u'}) # TODO: Pass a sensible argument instead of 123! run_addon = 'RunAddon(script.picture.my-slideshow,%d,?%s)' % (123, query) xbmc.executebuiltin(run_addon)