Add Custom Panel and Button to Built-in Tab of Navisworks Ribbon

By Xiaodong Liang

As we have known, Naivisworks Ribbon API allows developers to add custom Ribbon (Tab) . These are some articles:

http://adndevblog.typepad.com/aec/2012/07/custom-ribbon-of-navisworks-part-1.html

http://adndevblog.typepad.com/aec/2012/07/custom-ribbon-of-navisworks-part-2.html

http://adndevblog.typepad.com/aec/2012/07/custom-ribbon-of-navisworks-part-3.html

While sometimes, the requirement is to add button/panel to the built-in tabs. Actually, in  Navisworks the same library of Ribbon is used: AdWindows.dll which provides some underlying API to get access to that notification under the namespace Autodesk.Windows. We have had some articles for such as Inventor, Revit

http://adndevblog.typepad.com/manufacturing/2013/02/intercept-click-event-on-a-ribbon-tab.html

http://adndevblog.typepad.com/manufacturing/2014/01/modify-ribbon-and-menu-items.html

http://adndevblog.typepad.com/manufacturing/2013/02/intercept-click-event-on-a-ribbon-tab.html

Note: AdWindows APIs are not a section of the official APIs, though you can access it at your own risk.

Based on the ideas, I made some codes in a custom plugin as below. It will add a new panel to the built-in tab [Home], and a button named [ADN Test]. When the tab is activated, a message box will appear. The same when the button is clicked.

The resource codes is available at Download ADNTestBuiltInRibbon. It is tested in Navisworks 2016. The only issue I hit is sometimes the image does not appear. I will update this blog when I figured out.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Text;

//Add two new namespaces
using Autodesk.Navisworks.Api;
using Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Plugins;

using Autodesk.Windows;

namespace BasicPlugIn
{
   [PluginAttribute("BasicPlugIn.ABasicPlugin",                   //Plugin name
                    "ADSK",                                       //4 character Developer ID or GUID
                    ToolTip = "BasicPlugIn.ABasicPlugin tool tip",//The tooltip for the item in the ribbon
                    DisplayName = "Hello World Plugin")]          //Display name for the Plugin in the Ribbon

   public class ABasicPlugin : AddInPlugin                        //Derives from AddInPlugin
   {  
       // when the tab is activated
       void Tab_Activated(object sender, EventArgs e)
       {
           System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(
               "Tab " + ComponentManager.Ribbon.ActiveTab.Id + " Activated!");
       }

       //delegate the event when ribbon element is activated
       void ComponentManager_UIElementActivated(object sender,UIElementActivatedEventArgs e)
       {
           if (e != null
             && e.Item != null
             && e.Item.Id != null
             && e.Item.Id == "ID_ADNTestButton")
           {
               System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(e.Item.Id + " is clicked!");
           }
       }


      public override int Execute(params string[] parameters)
      { 

          foreach (Autodesk.Windows.RibbonTab Tab in Autodesk.Windows.ComponentManager.Ribbon.Tabs)
          {
              //get Home tab
              if (Tab.Id == "ID_TabHome")
              {
                  Tab.Activated += new EventHandler(Tab_Activated);

                  RibbonPanel ADNPanel = null;  
                  //check if the custom panel exsits
                  foreach (RibbonPanel panel in Tab.Panels)
                  {
                      if (panel.Source.Name == "ID_ADNTestPanel")
                      {
                          ADNPanel = panel;
                          break;
                      }
                  }

                  if (ADNPanel == null)
                  {                     
                      //create custom Panel
                      ADNPanel = new RibbonPanel();
                      //create ribbon panel source and bind it to the panel
                      RibbonPanelSource ADNSource = new RibbonPanelSource();
                      ADNSource.Id = "ID_ADNTestPanel";
                      ADNSource.Name = "ADN Test Panel";
                      ADNPanel.Source = ADNSource;

                      //create ribbon button
                      RibbonButton button  = new RibbonButton();
                      button.IsEnabled = true;
                      button.IsVisible = true;
                      button.Image = new System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage(new Uri(@"Images/ListAdd.png", UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute));
                      button.LargeImage = new System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage(new Uri(@"Images/open.png", UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute));
                      button.ShowImage = true;
                      button.Size = RibbonItemSize.Standard;
                      button.ShowText = true;
                      button.ResizeStyle = RibbonItemResizeStyles.HideText;
                      button.Id = "ID_ADNTestButton";
                      button.Name = "ADNTestButtonName";
                      button.Text = "ADN Test";
                      button.Orientation = System.Windows.Controls.Orientation.Vertical;

                      //add the button to the panel
                      ADNPanel.Source.Items.Add(button);
                      //delegate the event when ribbon element is activated
                      ComponentManager.UIElementActivated += new EventHandler(ComponentManager_UIElementActivated); 
                      //add the panel to the tab
                      Tab.Panels.Add(ADNPanel);
                  } 

               }
          } 
         return 0;
      }
   }
}
#endregion