Customizing Autodesk Maya Script Editor Using Python and PySide2

The Script Editor that comes shipped with Autodesk Maya is a useful programming tool and I use it professionally at my office.

In the screenshot below you can see the default layout of the widgets

1. Menubar
2. Tool Icons
3. Output console
4. Tabbed text areas for writing MEL and Python code.

As you can clearly see, the layout of the widgets is vertical (the tabbed widget below the output console) and when I am writing lots of code in the Script Editor, I see myself scrolling a lot in the text area.

Clearly, a better UX is achieved by the tabbed text areas and the output console next to each other (in a horizontal alignment).

So, I decided to address this by making use of PySide2 Qt Python API that comes shipped with Maya.

Following is the code that I concocted to help me have a better UX with the Script Editor.

import pymel.core as pm

from PySide2 import QtCore
from PySide2 import QtWidgets

panel = pm.getPanel(wf=True)
qtpanel = panel.asQtObject()

menuBar, mainWidget = qtpanel.children()[1:]

seww = mainWidget.layout().itemAt(1).widget()
sewww = seww.children()[-1]

splitter = sewww.children()[1]
splitter.setOrientation(QtCore.Qt.Orientation.Horizontal)

script_console = splitter.widget(0)
script_editor = splitter.widget(1)

splitter.insertWidget(0, script_editor)

se_splitter = script_editor.children()[1]

editor = se_splitter.children()[1]
tabWidget = editor.children()[1]

tabWidget.setTabPosition(QtWidgets.QTabWidget.TabPosition.South)

After running the script above in the Maya Script Editor, the user-interface is modified as below.

• The script editor and the output console are aligned horizontally.
• The script editor tabs are aligned at the bottom.

I need to run the script every time I reopen the Script Editor, but I am okay with it. I do not think I can change this behavior without actually modifying the UI MEL scripts that come shipped with Maya (and I do not want to do that)

Now it is again time to continue scripting.

Satish Goda

satishgoda at live dot com