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optigon: >> case MyVersionNumber == ?WINGS_VERSION of ...

As of "Programming Erlang" page 99: "Macros are expanded by the Erlang preprocessor ..." meaning at compile time. So ggaliens could find out what version of Wings he is compiling his plugin(s) against.

But, as he also clearly stated, his intention is to behave differently, when his already compiled plugin(s) are run on some foreign users Wings installation. So, yes, I second his request to have a function (say in module wings_u) to get hands on the users version of Wings to help plugin developers. Should be easy to do:

-export([wings_version/O]).

wings_version() -> ?WINGS_VERSION.

or similar; maybe just export and enhace the existing function wings() a little bit (I would like to see the version number in the title bar too, because I work with different versions, would also help in screenshots)? Best regards

ggaliens: > the plugin ought to be able to create a nice ordering and make the proper assumptions about the PART of the version number ...

For some test plugin I also needed to check/compare the required Wings version number and came up with this code/function in my plugin:

%% This is the first function that wings will call when wings starts.
%% Returning false disables the plugin completely.
%%
%% In our case we have to check by version, if the 'table'
%% element in dialogs accepts the col_widths flag.
init() ->
    wings_version() >= [1, 1, 10].

%% Returns the Wings version as a (comparable) list of integers.
wings_version() ->
    IsCheckable = erlang:function_exported(wpa,version,0),
    VersionString =
        if  IsCheckable ->
                string:tokens(wpa:version(), ".");
            true ->
                ["0", "0", "0"]
        end,
    Fun =
        fun(A) ->
            try list_to_integer(A) of
                B -> B
            catch
                % ignore git hash elements, they ain't integers base 10;
                % and though one could use list_to_integer/2 (with a good
                % base) it wouldn't make any sense to do so (they are hashes
                % after all).
                _:_ -> 0
            end
        end,
    Version = lists:map(Fun, VersionString),
    io:format("Version: ~p~n", [Version]),
    Version.

note, that I'm an Erlang/Wings beginner, so this code might not be the best way to go (and obviously again very verbose, but then readable [?] and seems to work for me). If there is a better approach I would like to see it and learn.

ggaliens: > ... ALERT/DIALOG with a message about incompatibility ...

The your_plugin:wings_version/0 function above can be used anywhere, so, if you just return true from init (instead of my approach disabling the plugin completely) you can decide e.g. in the menu callback, to only show an INFO entry instead of a full blown menu and/or in the command callback to show that alert, when the user is using an outdated version of Wings.

Sorry, that I couldn't get around to test out your manifold lab yet (so busy with other things), probably you already have done that better.

Best regards