# Using local resources for plug-in

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/using-local-resources-for-plug-in/5955>\
**Category:** Dev/API Corner\
**Tags:** plugin-dev\
**Created:** [October 16, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/using-local-resources-for-plug-in/5955 "2010-10-16T17:57:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/using-local-resources-for-plug-in/5955/1 "2010-10-16T17:57:57Z")

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A little help please
For the plug-in I'm working on. The thumbnails for the items in the menu are stored locally but not in the plug-in bundle, eg. (/Applications/ExampleApp/ExampleSubFolder/example-thumb.png). I can't bundle them because they're sourced/used by an external program and the folder contents change over time.  
  
I'm having trouble getting the thumbs recognized. I set the thumb variable to the path (as above) and pass that to my mediaContainer, but all that shows in the client is the greyed-out Plex logo.  
  
Is there a specific way to pass local paths that I'm missing?  
  
EDIT: Apparently, the local thumbs are .jpg not .png. Is that a problem?

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**Author:** ![elan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/elan/32/5_2.png) [@elan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/elan)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 9:52am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/using-local-resources-for-plug-in/5955/2 "2010-10-17T09:52:54Z")

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The format shouldn’t be a problem, but IIRC, for security reasons plug-ins are usually allowed to access resources on the filesystem outside of their own bundle. However, there’s a couple of lines you can throw in the Info.plist to help.

```auto

<br />
        <key>PlexPluginCodePolicy</key><br />
        <string>Elevated</string><br />

```

  
  
Not that I'm not sure if this is the issue, but it might be part of the problem, at least :)  
  
The other thing to check for is the XML coming back from the plug-in. You can see what the thumb="" attribute is set to.

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**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/using-local-resources-for-plug-in/5955/3 "2010-10-17T14:41:52Z")

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Thanks Elan.  
  
  
  
After a chat rethinking how some users might want to use the plug-in, I decided not to use the local info. At first I thought that It would be better to avoid duplicating work that had already been done (finding/downloading thumbs), but it made the code a lot whole lot more complicated and less predictable.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/using-local-resources-for-plug-in/5955/4 "2019-12-20T20:49:29Z")

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