columns

object:Map 

If the ScriptColumn.multicol value is set to True when the column is added, then this property provides a Map that lets you return the values of one or more columns at once.

You may want to use this method if your script returns multiple columns that all share common calculations (e.g. reading the contents of a folder). That way, you can avoid repeating potentially time consuming operations when you're called for the second and subsequent columns.

The Map contains one member element for each of your columns. Each member element has group, group_type, sort, type, userdata, markup and value properties which are equivalent to the ones described below.

For example, you might set the value of a column called MyColumn like this:

scriptColData.columns("MyColumn").value = "My Column Value";

You should check if a column exists in the map before populating data for it. In some situations, Opus will only request a some of the columns your add-in supports, not all of them.

If you do not fill in data for a column which Opus still needs, Opus will call your method again to request it, with its name in the col property (but still in multi-column mode). You can take advantage of this if calculating one piece of data yields values for some of your columns but not all of them. You do not need to populate every column if the data is not available, but you should at least populate the col column.

As a consequence of the above, when using multi-column mode you should always set some kind of value for any column you have spent time calculating, even if the result of the calculation is that nothing should be shown in the column. If nothing should be shown, set the value to an empty string (this is fine even if the column normally displays numbers or another type of data). If you don't set any value at all, Opus will assume you haven't calculated that column yet and may call your script again to ask for it, which could cause you to waste time re-calculating it when you already know it is blank.

group_type

string

If the group is set via the group property, group_type lets you control the formatting of the group title using the same keywords as the type field (e.g. you can supply a number and have the group title formatted as a file size by setting group_type="size").

Note that if the ScriptColumn.multicol value is set to True when the column is added then this property will be found inside the columns Map.

markup

string

Lets you provide text for a column containing simple HTML markup, which will be shown instead of value in contexts that support it (e.g. in a tooltip). You should still provide value as well, as this is what will be shown in the file display columns.

tab

object:Tab

Returns a Tab object representing the tab that contains the item.

value

variant

This field is how your method returns the actual value for your column - that is, the information that is displayed to the user in this column for each file and folder.

If the type for this column has been set (either by ScriptColumnData.type or ScriptColumn.type) then Opus will try to convert the provided value to the specified type. If the type is not set then Opus will treat the value as a plain text string.

If you don't provide a sort key via the sort field then Opus will also use this value to order the list when the list is sorted by this column.

Note that if the ScriptColumn.multicol value is set to True when the column is added then this property will be found inside the columns Map.