halcon-developer

name	halcon-developer
description	The ultimate expert guidance for HALCON application development using HDevelop, procedures, and standard operators. Covers XML script standards, bilingual documentation, unit testing, and headless execution.

Ultimate HALCON Developer Skill

This skill provides comprehensive technical guidance for developing HALCON applications, procedures, and automated test suites. It focuses on the high-level logic, operator orchestration, and production-grade verification within the HALCON environment.

When to use this skill

• Use this when writing, debugging, or optimizing HDevelop scripts (.hdev) and procedures (.hdvp).
• Use this to design automated unit tests for HALCON operators or complex vision logic.
• Use this to ensure all HALCON code follows MVTec's professional standards for structure and documentation.
• Use this to find verified implementation patterns in HALCON examples and solution guides.

How to use it

1. Unified Search & Knowledge Retrieval

Always use the search_halcon_knowledge tool with domain="halcon_development" to leverage the indexed documentation and examples.

Multi-Version Troubleshooting:

• Active Version Priority: By default, search results prioritize the currently active HALCON version in your environment.
• Explicit Version Queries: When troubleshooting issues that occur in specific versions (e.g., a script works in 24.11 but fails in 23.05), use the halcon_version parameter to compare documentation, signatures, or examples across versions.
• Cross-Version Comparison: If an operator or procedure behavior changes, query both versions explicitly to identify deprecated parameters or changed return types.

Optimal Workflow:

1. Signature Verification: Search category="operator" to get official parameters and return values.
2. Implementation Discovery: Search source_type="example" and language="hdev" to see operators in real-world scripts.
3. Modularization: Search category="procedure" to find reusable .hdvp modules.
4. Version Analysis: Use halcon_version="X.Y" to pinpoint when a feature was introduced or modified.

2. Script & Procedure Standards

HDevelop Script (.hdev)

• Format: All .hdev files must be valid XML.
• Header: Ensure the <hdevelop> and <procedure name="main"> tags are correctly structured.
• Documentation: Every script must have a <docu> block for the main procedure.

HALCON Procedure (.hdvp)

• Bilingual Mandate: Every procedure MUST be documented in both English (en_US) and German (de_DE).
• Mandatory XML Tags:
  • <abstract>: Detailed description of functionality.
  • <short>: Concise one-sentence summary.
  • <parameters>: Detailed description for every parameter, including semantic type.
• Naming: Use descriptive snake_case.

3. Automated Unit Testing (hrun compatible)

All critical logic requires a unit test in extensions/container/test/.

• Test-First: Create the .hdev test script before implementation.
• Synthetic Data: Use gen_image_const, gen_region_runs, or gen_contour_polygon_xld. Avoid external file dependencies.
• Headless Compliance:
  • NEVER use stop() or interactive operators (e.g., dev_open_dialog).
  • Use open_window(..., 'buffer', ...) for background rendering.
  • Use try/catch to report errors gracefully to stdout.
• Portability: Use relative paths or environment variables ($HALCONROOT). NEVER use absolute paths.

4. German Localization

• Special Characters: ALWAYS use ä, ö, ü, ß. NEVER use ae, oe, etc. in documentation text.

MCP Tool Interface

search_halcon_knowledge

• domain: "halcon_development".
• category: "operator", "procedure", or "example".
• language: "hdev", "hdvp", or "html".
• fast_search: Set to true for exact name searches or simple keyword lookups to skip the reranker and get results faster.

Conventions

• Naming: Use snake_case for variables and procedure names.
• Error Handling: Use dev_error_handling and structured try/catch.