# How to access to a plugin properties panel?
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-access-to-a-plugin-properties-panel/2720
**Category:** Development
**Tags:** python
**Created:** [October 8, 2019, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-access-to-a-plugin-properties-panel/2720 "2019-10-08T11:49:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Loic](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Loic)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2019, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-access-to-a-plugin-properties-panel/2720/1 "2019-10-08T11:49:52Z")
Hi,
I would like to develop a plugin based on VTKPythonAlgorithmBase.
This plugin take as input a vtkDataset and 3 coordinates representing the position of a camera.
With the following code, I’ve managed to expose these 3 coordinates in Paraview’s properties panel:
```python
@smproperty.doublevector(name="Camera", default_values=[1, 1, 1], label="Camera")
@smdomain.doublerange()
def Set1_Camera(self, x, y, z):
value = np.r_[x, y, z]
if not np.allclose(self._camera, value) :
self._camera = value
self.Modified()
```
I also succeed in adding a button which prints the position of the camera in the output window:
```python
@smproperty.xml('''''')
def CameraButton(self, *args):
import paraview.simple
camera = paraview.simple.GetActiveCamera()
print('Camera position : ', camera.GetPosition())
```
Instead of printing the camera position in the output window, I would like to fill the properties panel with these values.
How can I access to theses properties from the CameraButton function ?
Thanks for your help,
Regards,
Loic
---
### Author:  [@utkarsh.ayachit](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/utkarsh.ayachit)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-access-to-a-plugin-properties-panel/2720/2 "2019-10-08T19:10:19Z")
> [@Loic](#):
>
> I also succeed in adding a button which prints the position of the camera in the output window:
This is incorrect! One should not access paraview.simple module in the algorithms like so. I won’t go into details, but this is a big no-no in client-server configurations.
There’s no way to support this the way you’re implementing. The only reasonable solution would be add a custom property widget for the SetCamera property that then uses a custom `pqPropertyWidget` subclass that can access the active view and camera from the client side and then set the value to it. That will require C++ code, however, and cannot be done simply in `VTKPythonAlgorithmBase` subclass.
---
### Author:  [@CsatiZoltan](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/CsatiZoltan)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2026, 8:42am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-access-to-a-plugin-properties-panel/2720/3 "2026-07-10T08:42:05Z")
> [@utkarsh.ayachit](#):
>
> One should not access paraview.simple module in the algorithms like so. I won’t go into details, but this is a big no-no in client-server configurations.
Could someone explain to me the reason? I develop Python algorithms (subclassing `VTKPythonAlgorithmBase`) that partially rely on `paraview.simple`. I faced one problem only (although I haven’t tested it in client-server mode yet): using `Show` in `RequestInformation` or `RequestData` leads to infinite recursion. On the other hand, I can use `Show` from a separate method, e.g. a method decorated with an XML property that creates a push button in the Properties panel. So which functions should we avoid using in a Python plugin? After a discussion with Kitware, I learnt that it is better that a Python algorithm only deals with the data management, not the GUI functionalities. But I would like to understand why this is the case.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2026, 8:43am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-access-to-a-plugin-properties-panel/2720/4 "2026-07-10T08:43:49Z")
> [@CsatiZoltan](#):
>
> I would like to understand why this is the case.
It is a core design principle of ParaView.
server side handle data. Programmable filter are run server side.
client side handle UI. Python scripts are run client side.
---
### Author:  [@CsatiZoltan](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/CsatiZoltan)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2026, 8:55am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-access-to-a-plugin-properties-panel/2720/5 "2026-07-10T08:55:51Z")
Thank you. So it means that I should separate the functionalities into two: one `VTKPythonAlgorithmBase`-based plugin that does not rely on the client and a Python script that does the automations in the ParaView GUI.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2026, 8:56am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-to-access-to-a-plugin-properties-panel/2720/6 "2026-07-10T08:56:24Z")
Yes