Ginga is written so that most of the functionality of the program is achieved through the use of plugins. This modular approach allows a large degree of flexibility and customization, as well as making overall design and maintenance of the program simpler.
Plugins are divided into two types: global and local. A global plugin has a single instance shared by all channels, while a local plugin creates a unique instance for each channel. If you switch channels, a global plugin will respond to the change by updating itself, while a local plugin will remain unchanged if the channel is switched, because its operation is specific to a given channel. (Ginga's concept of channels is discussed in :ref:`concepts-channels`.)
This chapter describes the set of plugins that come with Ginga. Those interested in writing their own custom plugins should refer to :ref:`sec-writing-global-plugins` or :ref:`sec-writing-local-plugins`.
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 plugins_global/toolbar plugins_global/pan plugins_global/info plugins_global/header plugins_global/zoom plugins_global/thumbs plugins_global/contents plugins_global/colorbar plugins_global/cursor plugins_global/operations plugins_global/fbrowser plugins_global/colormappicker plugins_global/errors plugins_global/rc plugins_global/wcsmatch plugins_global/changehistory plugins_global/samp plugins_global/log plugins_global/command plugins_global/saveimage plugins_global/downloads plugins_global/loaderconfig plugins_global/pluginconfig
An operation is the activation of a local plugin to perform some function. The plugin manager toolbar at the bottom of the center pane is the graphical way to start an operation.
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 plugins_local/pick plugins_local/ruler plugins_local/multidim plugins_local/cuts plugins_local/histogram plugins_local/crosshair plugins_local/overlays plugins_local/wcsaxes plugins_local/tvmark plugins_local/tvmask plugins_local/blink plugins_local/lineprofile plugins_local/pixtable plugins_local/preferences plugins_local/catalogs plugins_local/mosaic plugins_local/collage plugins_local/drawing plugins_local/fbrowser plugins_local/colormappicker plugins_local/compose plugins_local/plottable plugins_local/pipeline plugins_local/screenshot plugins_local/autoload