« January 2013 | Main | March 2013 »
by Fenton Webb
You can change the Infotainment links in your OEM installer via the setup.ini file…
DOCUMENT_LINK=DOCS\install.chm
DOCUMENT_FALLBACK_LINK=DOCS\install.chm
SUPPORT_LINK=Docs\readme.chm
SUPPORT_FALLBACK_LINK=Docs\readme.chm
SYSTEMREQUIRE_LINK=Docs\sysreq.chm
SYSTEMREQUIRE_FALLBACK_LINK=Docs\sysreq.chm
For a dynamic block we can create a Block Properties Table, which defines and controls values for parameters and properties. This is available when BEDIT’ing a dynamic block, as shown below.
From the API perspective, this data is stored under a DBDictionary called ACAD_ENHANCEDBLOCK. To access it, we need to use some ‘Internal’ APIs, which means that there is no documentation and it may change.
The following code sample show how to access it for a given selected BlockReference object. Minimal error check were done for simplicity.
[CommandMethod("readBlockTable")]
static public void CmdReadBlockTable()
{
Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.
MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
// select a block reference
PromptEntityOptions peo = new PromptEntityOptions(
"Select a dynamic block reference: ");
peo.SetRejectMessage("Only block reference");
peo.AddAllowedClass(typeof(BlockReference), false);
PromptEntityResult per = ed.GetEntity(peo);
if (per.Status != PromptStatus.OK) return;
ObjectId blockRefId = per.ObjectId;
// get the database and start a transaction
Database db = Application.DocumentManager.
MdiActiveDocument.Database;
using (Transaction trans = db.
TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
{
// open the dynamic block reference
BlockReference blockRef = trans.GetObject(
blockRefId, OpenMode.ForRead) as BlockReference;
if (!blockRef.IsDynamicBlock) return;
// get the dynamic block table definition
BlockTableRecord blockDef = trans.GetObject(
blockRef.DynamicBlockTableRecord,
OpenMode.ForRead) as BlockTableRecord;
// open the extension dictionary
if (blockDef.ExtensionDictionary.IsNull) return;
DBDictionary extDic = trans.GetObject(
blockDef.ExtensionDictionary, OpenMode.ForRead)
as DBDictionary;
// open the ENHANCEDBLOCK dictionary
Autodesk.AutoCAD.Internal.DatabaseServices.EvalGraph graph =
trans.GetObject(extDic.GetAt("ACAD_ENHANCEDBLOCK"),
OpenMode.ForRead) as EvalGraph;
int[] nodeIds = graph.GetAllNodes();
foreach (uint nodeId in nodeIds)
{
// open the node ID
DBObject node = graph.GetNode(nodeId,
OpenMode.ForRead, trans);
// check is if the correct type
if (!(node is BlockPropertiesTable)) continue;
// convert the object
BlockPropertiesTable table =
node as BlockPropertiesTable;
// ok, we have the data, let's show it...
// get the number of columns
int columns = table.Columns.Count;
int currentRow = 0;
foreach (
BlockPropertiesTableRow row
in table.Rows)
{
ed.WriteMessage("\n[{0}]:\t", currentRow);
for (
int currentColumn = 0;
currentColumn < columns;
currentColumn++)
{
// get the colum value for the
// current row. May be more multiple
TypedValue[] columnValue =
row[currentColumn].AsArray();
foreach (TypedValue tpVal in columnValue)
{
ed.WriteMessage("{0}; ", tpVal.Value);
}
ed.WriteMessage("|");
}
currentRow++;
}
}
}
}
Here is some handy code for those of you working with the .Net associative API. The C# sample below illustrates how to dump all dimensional constraints in the current space. It also shows how to dig from the constraint objects down to the dependent entities and the controlling associative parameter.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Use: Dumps to command line the dimensional constraints
// in current BlockTableRecord
// Lists constraint type, dependent entity and
// controlling parameter.
//
// Author: Philippe Leefsma.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[CommandMethod("DumpDimConstraints")]
public void DumpDimConstraints()
{
Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
Database db = doc.Database;
Editor ed = doc.Editor;
ObjectId networkId = AssocNetwork.GetInstanceFromObject(
db.CurrentSpaceId,
false,
true,
"ACAD_ASSOCNETWORK");
if (networkId == ObjectId.Null)
return;
using (Transaction Tx =
db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
{
using (AssocNetwork network =
Tx.GetObject(
networkId,
OpenMode.ForRead, false) as AssocNetwork)
{
foreach (ObjectId actionId in network.GetActions)
{
if (actionId == ObjectId.Null)
continue;
DBObject obj = Tx.GetObject(
actionId,
OpenMode.ForRead);
if (actionId.ObjectClass.IsDerivedFrom(
RXObject.GetClass(
typeof(Assoc2dConstraintGroup))))
{
Assoc2dConstraintGroup group = obj
as Assoc2dConstraintGroup;
foreach(GeometricalConstraint constraint
in group.Constraints)
{
if(constraint.GetRXClass().IsDerivedFrom(
RXObject.GetClass(
typeof(ExplicitConstraint))))
DumpDimConstraint(Tx, constraint
as ExplicitConstraint);
}
}
}
}
}
}
void DumpDimConstraint(
Transaction Tx,
ExplicitConstraint constraint)
{
Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
Editor ed = doc.Editor;
ed.WriteMessage("\n ---- Dimensional Constraint ---- ");
ed.WriteMessage("\n - Constraint type: " +
constraint.ToString().Remove(0, 34));
//1- Dump Constrained geometry
//-> Gives access to constrained Entity
DumpConstrainedGeometry(Tx, constraint.ConnectedGeometries);
//2- Dump AssocDependency
//-> Gives access to Dimension Entity
AssocDependency dep = Tx.GetObject(
constraint.DimDependencyId,
OpenMode.ForRead)
as AssocDependency;
Dimension depDim = Tx.GetObject(
dep.DependentOnObject,
OpenMode.ForRead)
as Dimension;
ed.WriteMessage("\n - Dependent dimension entity: " +
depDim.ToString().Remove(0, 34));
//3- Dump AssocValueDependency
//-> Gives access to AssocVariable
AssocValueDependency valueDep = Tx.GetObject(
constraint.ValueDependencyId,
OpenMode.ForRead)
as AssocValueDependency;
if (valueDep.DependentOnObject.ObjectClass.IsDerivedFrom(
RXObject.GetClass(typeof(AssocVariable))))
{
AssocVariable var = Tx.GetObject(
valueDep.DependentOnObject,
OpenMode.ForRead)
as AssocVariable;
ed.WriteMessage("\n - Dim Parameter "
+ var.Name + " = " + var.Expression);
}
}
void DumpConstrainedGeometry(
Transaction Tx,
ConstrainedGeometry[] geometries)
{
Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
Editor ed = doc.Editor;
foreach (ConstrainedGeometry goemetry in geometries)
{
ed.WriteMessage("\n - Constrained Geometry: " +
goemetry.ToString().Remove(0, 34));
if(goemetry.GeomDependencyId != ObjectId.Null)
{
AssocGeomDependency goemDep = Tx.GetObject(
goemetry.GeomDependencyId,
OpenMode.ForRead)
as AssocGeomDependency;
Entity entity = Tx.GetObject(
goemDep.DependentOnObject,
OpenMode.ForRead)
as Entity;
ed.WriteMessage(" with Constrained Entity: " +
entity.ToString().Remove(0, 34));
return;
}
DumpConstrainedGeometry(Tx, goemetry.ConnectedGeometries);
}
}
-
Here is the result of the command when run on a database where I created a radial dimension constraint on a Circle and an aligned dimension constraint on a Line:
-
In part 1 I learned the basics of RESTSharp using the Twitter search API. This was an easy starting point because that API doesn’t need authentication.
In part 2 I implemented ‘out of band’ OAuth authentication – opening the user’s default browser for them to authorize my app and then paste a PIN back into AutoCAD for me to use to request my access key from Twitter. (In my opinion, this is better than using an embedded web browser control, because the user is reassured that your app isn’t phishing them).
In this final installment, I’ll use the Status API to update my status on Twitter(otherwise known as tweeting) from the AutoCAD command line. This isn’t really doing anything new with RESTSharp – I’m just creating another RestRequest – the only change is that I’ll be making a POST request instead of a GET request. This is because I want to update something (my status) on the Twitter server.
Here is the commented code for the manual tweeting command (TWEETTHIS), including a slightly refactored and renamed ‘OAuthTest’ method from the sample code from the previous installment:
using System;
using System.Net;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;
using RestSharp;
using RestSharp.Authenticators.OAuth;
using RestSharp.Contrib;
using RestSharp.Authenticators;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace AcadTwitterTest1
{
public class TwitterTestClass
{
private const string m_ConsumerKey = "YOUR KEY HERE";
private const string m_ConsumerSecret = "YOUR KEY HERE";
private static RestClient m_Client;
//The OAuthTest class in my previous blog post
// but with a slight refactoring
[CommandMethod("AUTHORIZE")]
public static void DoOAuth()
{
Editor ed =
Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
var baseUrl = "http://api.twitter.com";
m_Client = new RestClient(baseUrl);
//Request token using our consumer and secret keys
m_Client.Authenticator =
OAuth1Authenticator.ForRequestToken(m_ConsumerKey, m_ConsumerSecret);
var request = new RestRequest("oauth/request_token", Method.POST);
var response = m_Client.Execute(request);
if (response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
m_Client = null;
ed.WriteMessage("\nOops! Something went wrong - couldn't link to your Twitter account\n");
return;
}
var qs = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(response.Content);
var oauth_token = qs["oauth_token"];
var oauth_token_secret = qs["oauth_token_secret"];
//authorize using returned token
request = new RestRequest("oauth/authorize");
request.AddParameter("oauth_token", oauth_token);
var url = m_Client.BuildUri(request).ToString();
//Launch default browser with authorization URL
Process.Start(url);
//User logs into Twitter and clicks 'authorize' button
//Browser displays PIN
//Ask user to enter the PIN displayed in the browser
PromptStringOptions opts =
new PromptStringOptions("\nEnter Twitter authorization PIN:");
opts.AllowSpaces = true;
PromptResult res = ed.GetString(opts);
if (res.Status != PromptStatus.OK)
{
ed.WriteMessage("\nCommand cancelled.\n");
m_Client = null;
return;
}
string strPIN = res.StringResult.Trim();
if (strPIN == "")
{
ed.WriteMessage("\nCommand cancelled.\n");
m_Client = null;
return;
}
//Use PIN to request access token for users account
request = new RestRequest("oauth/access_token", Method.POST);
m_Client.Authenticator = OAuth1Authenticator.ForAccessToken(
m_ConsumerKey, m_ConsumerSecret, oauth_token, oauth_token_secret, strPIN
);
response = m_Client.Execute(request);
if (response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
m_Client = null;
ed.WriteMessage("\nOops! Something went wrong - couldn't link to your Twitter account\n");
return;
}
qs = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(response.Content);
oauth_token = qs["oauth_token"];
oauth_token_secret = qs["oauth_token_secret"];
//Test it worked by calling verify_credentials API
//Note - the code listed on
// https://github.com/restsharp/RestSharp/blob/master/RestSharp.IntegrationTests/oAuth1Tests.cs
// contains a bug (maybe the API changed). The next line in
// the original is
// request = new RestRequest("account/verify_credentials.xml");
// i.e. Its missing the 1.1.
request = new RestRequest("1.1/account/verify_credentials.json");
m_Client.Authenticator = OAuth1Authenticator.ForProtectedResource(
m_ConsumerKey, m_ConsumerSecret, oauth_token, oauth_token_secret
);
//Put a breakpoint on following line and check that
// response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK.
// And check the returned JSON string.
response = m_Client.Execute(request);
if (response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
m_Client = null;
ed.WriteMessage("\nOops! Something went wrong - couldn't link to your Twitter account\n");
}
}
//Prompts user for text to tweet.
[CommandMethod("TWEETTHIS")]
public static void tweet()
{
Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
//If m_Client is null, then we've not authenticated yet
if (m_Client == null)
{
DoOAuth();
}
//If m_Client is still null then there was a problem authenticating
if (m_Client == null)
{
return;
}
//Ask user to enter tweet text
PromptStringOptions opts =
new PromptStringOptions("\nTweet away (<= 140 chars):");
opts.AllowSpaces = true;
//Loop until string is the correct length
string strTweet;
do
{
PromptResult res = ed.GetString(opts);
if (res.Status != PromptStatus.OK)
{
ed.WriteMessage("\nCommand cancelled.\n");
return;
}
strTweet = res.StringResult.Trim();
if (strTweet == "")
{
ed.WriteMessage("\nCommand cancelled.\n");
return;
}
} while (strTweet.Length > 140);
//Update status on Twitter
var request =
new RestRequest("1.1/statuses/update.json", Method.POST);
request.AddParameter("status", strTweet);
var response = m_Client.Execute(request);
if (response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
m_Client = null;
ed.WriteMessage("\nOops! Something went wrong - couldn't send your tweet\n");
}
}
}
}
There’s nothing special in the command itself, so no screenshot. It just tweets whatever you type when prompted by the command (and asks for authorization if you’ve not already run the AUTHORIZE command).
Note that I’m not storing the authorization token anywhere, so the app has to be re-authorized every time it runs.
After writing this command, I started thinking of other things I could do with the Twitter Status API. The whole point of Twitter is to send frequent status updates to your followers – to spam them with completely inane comments (the more inane your comments, the more your followers will love you :-). That was when I thought of using AutoCAD events to trigger tweets. I considered tweeting every time I added an entity to a drawing, but I thought that might be going too far (and the Twitter API is throttled), so I decided that tweeting every time a new drawing is created or opened would probably be frequent enough to annoy someone’s followers, but infrequent enough to avoid being throttled.
To implement that, I added the following methods to my TwitterTestClass:
//Starts tweeting about every document you open or create
[CommandMethod("STARTAUTOTWEETING")]
public static void StartAutoTweeting()
{
Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
//Don't subscribe to event more than once.
if (m_AutoTweeting)
{
return;
}
//If m_Client is null, then we've not authenticated yet
if (m_Client == null)
{
DoOAuth();
}
//If m_Client is still null then there was a problem authenticating
if (m_Client == null)
{
return;
}
//Subscribe to DocumentCreated event
Application.DocumentManager.DocumentCreated +=
DocumentManager_DocumentCreated;
//Set AutoTweeting flag to true so only respond to event once.
m_AutoTweeting = true;
ed.WriteMessage("\nYou are now Auto-Tweeting\n");
}
//Gives your followers respite by cancelling the AutoTweeting
[CommandMethod("STOPAUTOTWEETING")]
public static void StopAutoTweeting()
{
Editor ed =
Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
//Unsubscribe to event if we were subscribed to it
if (m_AutoTweeting)
{
Application.DocumentManager.DocumentCreated -=
DocumentManager_DocumentCreated;
//REset AutoTweeting flag so we can resubsribe later.
m_AutoTweeting = false;
ed.WriteMessage("\nYou have stopped Auto-Tweeting\n");
}
}
//Our event handler
static void DocumentManager_DocumentCreated(
object sender,
DocumentCollectionEventArgs e)
{
//This function should only be called if
// we've already authorized Twitter account access
// so this check should be unecessary.
if (m_Client == null)
{
return;
}
//Grab document name
string strDocName = e.Document.Name;
//Strip out path to leave just filename
if (strDocName.Contains("\\"))
{
strDocName =
strDocName.Substring(strDocName.LastIndexOf("\\")+1);
}
//Construct tweet
string strTweet = "I just started work on a new AutoCAD DWG: "
+ strDocName;
//Trim tweet to 140 chars (if filename is very long)
if (strTweet.Length > 140)
{
strTweet = strTweet.Substring(0, 137) + "...";
}
//Post the tweet
var request =
new RestRequest("1.1/statuses/update.json", Method.POST);
request.AddParameter("status", strTweet);
var response = m_Client.Execute(request);
//Tell the user if something went wrong.
//Note: If we try to tweet the same text twice, then response.StatusCode
// will be Forbidden
if (response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
Editor ed =
Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
ed.WriteMessage("\nOops! Something went wrong - couldn't autotweet\n");
}
}
And also a class helper variable:
private static bool m_AutoTweeting = false;
Now we’ve got a handle on the RESTSharp API, the code is pretty straightforward (albeit not very tidy). The command names are self-documenting – STARTAUTOTWEETING and STOPAUTOTWEETING. And here is the result in my Twitterfeed after creating a few new drawings:
And that brings to an end my experiment with the Twitter API. (It turned out to be so simple to use with RESTSharp that I’m bored with it now :-). To summarize what I learned:
(The author of this post accepts no responsibility for you being ‘unfollowed’ by all your friends if you use this code :-D).
Issue
I can set image’s clip by AcadRasterImage.ClipBoundary, but how do I get the AcadRasterImage's clip boundary coordinates? I know if it is rectangular, I can get its bounding box, width and height. But, if the clip boundary is of a irregular shape, I can't find any exposed methods to get such data.
Solution
The ObjectARX AcDbRasterImage::clipBoundary() equivalent functionality is not exposed in the current ActiveX Automation Model.
We can work around this limitation by exposing an interface that does exactly that. The whole project is attached: Download ImgClipBoundary
STDMETHODIMP CClipBoundaryObj::GetImageClipBoundary(
VARIANT* pVarDblArray,
VARIANT acadImage)
{
// TODO: Add your implementation code here
try
{
CComQIPtr<IAcadRasterImage>
pAcadImage(acadImage.punkVal);
if(!pAcadImage)
throw E_POINTER;
CComQIPtr<IAcadBaseObject>
pBaseObj(pAcadImage);
if(!pBaseObj)
throw E_POINTER;
AcDbObjectId id;
pBaseObj->GetObjectId(&id);
AcDbObjectPointer<AcDbRasterImage>
pImage(id, AcDb::kForRead);
if(pImage.openStatus() != Acad::eOk)
throw E_UNEXPECTED;
AcGePoint2dArray array =
pImage->clipBoundary();
int len = array.length();
if(len == 0)
throw E_FAIL;
AcGeMatrix3d mat;
pImage->getPixelToModelTransform(mat);
mat.inverse();
AcAxPoint2dArray pts;
for(int i=0; i<len; i++)
{
AcGePoint3d pt(array[i].x, array[i].y, 0);
pt.transformBy(mat);
pts.append(AcGePoint2d(pt.x, pt.y));
}
pts.setVariant(pVarDblArray);
}
catch(const HRESULT h)
{
// for now
acutPrintf(_T("\nSomething is wrong."));
return h;
}
return S_OK;
}
To use the ability above,
1. build the attached project, load it in AutoCAD
2. open VBA IDE
3. Tools >> Reference: select ARX. now you can see one library is available in the list.
4. Run the VBA code below. It creates an image and set its clip, and gets its clip boundary by the method provided in asdkImgClipBoundary.
Sub Example_ClipBoundary()
' This example adds a raster image in model space.
' It then clips the image based on a clip boundary.
' This example uses the "downtown.jpg" found in the sample
' directory. If you do not have the image, or it is located
' in a different directory, insert a valid path and name for the
' imageName variable below.
Dim insertionPoint(0 To 2) As Double
Dim scalefactor As Double
Dim rotationAngle As Double
Dim imageName As String
Dim rasterObj As AcadRasterImage
imageName = "C:\01_SDK\ObjectARX 2012\samples\graphics\AsdkTransientGraphicsSampFolder\Airport-Image.jpg"
insertionPoint(0) = 5#: insertionPoint(1) = 5#: insertionPoint(2) = 0#
scalefactor = 2#
rotationAngle = 0
On Error Resume Next
' Creates a raster image in model space
Set rasterObj = ThisDrawing.ModelSpace.AddRaster(imageName, insertionPoint, scalefactor, rotationAngle)
If Err.Description = "Filer error" Then
MsgBox imageName & " could not be found."
Exit Sub
End If
ZoomAll
MsgBox "Clip the image?", , "ClipBoundary Example"
' Establish the clip boundary with an array of points
Dim clipPoints(0 To 9) As Double
clipPoints(0) = 6: clipPoints(1) = 6.75
clipPoints(2) = 7: clipPoints(3) = 6
clipPoints(4) = 6: clipPoints(5) = 5
clipPoints(6) = 5: clipPoints(7) = 6
clipPoints(8) = 6: clipPoints(9) = 6.75
' Clip the image
rasterObj.ClipBoundary clipPoints
' Enable the display of the clip
rasterObj.ClippingEnabled = True
ThisDrawing.Regen acActiveViewport
'MsgBox "The image has been clipped.", , "ClipBoundary Example"
On Error GoTo 0
Dim xObj As asdkImgClipBoundaryLib.ClipBoundaryObj
Set xObj = ThisDrawing.Application.GetInterfaceObject("ImgClipBoundary.ClipBoundaryObj.1")
Dim boundary As Variant
xObj.GetImageClipBoundary boundary, rasterObj
End Sub
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