is there a way to access the command to set ng to paint mode without using the ui to toggle this mode?

[gera...@flyingbark.com.au]

I am trying to figure out a way to view teh weights on a mesh using code so as nott o have to go to the paint tab and select 'Paint' each time I need to see the weights. I often find its useful to watch the colour change when assigning or relaxing.

Likely my lack of understanding of plugins but I note this command that sets the paint context to show the weights on the mesh. I would like to be able to do this but the command needs to update the numerical portion of the procedure name. I haven't come across this before. I've looked into the API but nothing strikes me as being the right way to get into this mode. 

ngSkinToolsProc3060455047384paintCtxSetupProcedure('ngSkinToolsLayerPaintCtx')

I have tried:

from ngSkinTools.ui import tabPaint

tb = tabPaint.TabPaint()

tb.paintCtxSetupProcedure('paint')

but get the error:

# Error: Controls instance has no attribute 'inflDisplay'

# Traceback (most recent call last):

#   File "<maya console>", line 3, in <module>

#   File "M:\Users\gerard.v\gerard_v\public\ngSkinTools\Contents\scripts\ngSkinTools\ui\tabPaint.py", line 91, in paintCtxSetupProcedure

#     self.updateColorDisplaySettings()

#   File "M:\Users\gerard.v\gerard_v\public\ngSkinTools\Contents\scripts\ngSkinTools\ui\tabPaint.py", line 82, in updateColorDisplaySettings

#     influenceWeightsMode = self.controls.inflDisplay.getValue()

# AttributeError: Controls instance has no attribute 'inflDisplay' # 

 
is this because I am not envoking the UI with this instance first?

Thanks for any advice.