Softimage SDK Programmer's Guide > Customizing with the SDK > Custom Shaders >

# Shader Parameter Definitions

Parameter definitions are stored in a special container represented as a ShaderParamDefContainer or ShaderParamDefContainer. On the ShaderDef or ShaderDef there is one ShaderParamDefContainer for input parameter definitions and another for outputs. In addition, when you create a parameter definition of type structure, its members are also stored in a ShaderParamDefContainer.

To get the ShaderParamDefContainer for ... | ... use this access member
--- | ---
input parameters | ShaderDef.InputParamDefs or ShaderDef::GetInputParamDefs
output parameters | ShaderDef.OutputParamDefs or ShaderDef::GetOutputParamDefs
structure parameter members | StructParamDef.SubParamDefs or StructParamDef::GetSubParamDefs

From the ShaderParamDefContainer on an instantiated shader, you can access its collection of parameter definitions via the ShaderParamDefContainer.Definitions or ShaderParamDefContainer::GetDefinitions member, or to a specific member via the ShaderParamDefContainer.GetParamDefByName or ShaderParamDefContainer::GetParamDefByName method:

    # Iterating over all input parameter definitions to find a struct containing a
    # member parameter definition called "mute"
    oInputParamsContainer = oShaderDef.InputParamDefs
    for oParamDef in oInputParamsContainer.Definitions :
    	if (oParamDef.IsStructure) :
    		oStructSubParamDefs = oParamDef.SubParamDefs
    		oMuteParamDef = oStructSubParamDefs.GetParamDefByName("mute")
    		Application.LogMessage("Found struct member paramdef called %s" % oMuteParamDef.DisplayName)

Important

Because plug-in based shader definitions are only populated when instantiated, you must instantiate a shader (for example, via scripting using the CreateShaderFromProgID command) before any ShaderParamDefContainers or ShaderParamDefContainers can return a list of parameter definitions.

#### Topics in this section

- Parameter Data Types
- Adding Parameter Definitions
- Refining UI Controls for Parameter Definitions