Some more functions that are usefull for plugins.

addToGroupContextMenu is almost identical to addToLeafContextMenu.

getSelectedLeaf - returns selected pytables object, useful when used
with context menu action

long_action is a decorator that changes the cursor to the wait cursor
and also optionally displays message in the status bar, useful for
longer actions

PS: Just to let you know what direction I try to push atm. Basically I would like to implement through plugins the following features:

1. Apply expressions to data, say you enter expression that contains column names and it is evaluated for each row. Display stats for data.
2. Plot 1D and 2D using  PyQtGraph. This library has many advanced features and it seems alive compared to others.
3. Make thematic maps using mapnik and OSM maps.

On top there are a couple other plugins (not useful for others) that is why I try to push common stuff into upstream. Not sure how fast I can do this and for how long but I hope to see some versions of the above in the next 6-12 months.

Alexey