how to install plugin through the python console in QGIS

Question

I have been trying to load/install plugins via the python console in QGIS. After going through the documentation, I'm sure this is the way. I want to check if a plug-in is already installed, if not install it.

The lines:

from qgis import utils
try:
 utils.isPluginLoaded('zoomtocoordinates')
except ValueError:
 qgis.core.QgisInterface.addPluginToMenu('zoomtocoordinates')

The error returned:

Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'QgisInterface'

• Zoltan: addPluginToMenu will not load the plugin, it is usually used by the initgui method of a plugin.

Answer 1

You have to load and start the plugin. From the QGIS python console, you can do:

from qgis import utils
utils.loadPlugin('zoomtocoordinates')
utils.startPlugin('zoomtocoordinates')

Answer 2

QgisInterface is an abstract base class you cannot use this way. Call the addPluginToMenu method through the iface e.g. iface.addPluginToMenu(...) The addPluginToMenu has two arguments, the second one is an action.

• Sam Guerrero: What would be the action ? like trigger()
• Zoltan: An action is a QAction object with icon, text and call back function. But again addPluginToMenu will not load the plugin.