In a plugin, since one is able to set context menu items, I believe it would be useful to also be able to set the state of the NSMenuItem. NSMenuItems can have three states: on, off, and mixed. On shows a checkmark like the one next to Export in the context menu. Mixed shows a minus sign. Off shows no image. At least by default.
It would simplify being able to toggle settings in a plugin without having to include a view in the context menu. In addition to name and action, you could also have state settings in the context menus lists for setUpMenuHelper() to process.
Hope that makes sense. Let me know if you want more details, Georg.