Associating hyperlink with BlockTableRecord

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

In ObjectARX, BlockTableRecord provides access to its hyperlink collection using the AcDbEntityHyperlinkPE. In AutoCAD 2015, the Hyperlinks collection is now also accessible using the AutoCAD .Net API.  

Here is a C++ and .Net code snippets to create a new block with hyperlink to AutoCAD Devblog :

ObjectARX C++ API :

 AcApDocument *pActiveDoc = acDocManager->mdiActiveDocument();

 AcDbDatabase *pDB = pActiveDoc->database();

 AcDbBlockTable *pBlockTable = NULL;

 Acad::ErrorStatus es = pDB->getBlockTable(

 						pBlockTable, kForWrite);

 if (! pBlockTable->has(ACRX_T("Test" )))

 {

 	// Create the BlockTableRecord with hyperlink 

 	AcDbBlockTableRecord *pBTR = new  AcDbBlockTableRecord();

 	pBTR->setName(ACRX_T("Test" ));

 	AcDbObjectId btrId = AcDbObjectId::kNull;

 	pBlockTable->add(btrId, pBTR);

 	AcDbCircle *pCircle = new  AcDbCircle(

 		AcGePoint3d::kOrigin, 

 		AcGeVector3d::kZAxis, 10.0);

 	pBTR->appendAcDbEntity(pCircle);

 	pCircle->close();

 	AcDbHyperlinkCollection * pcHCL = NULL;

 	ACRX_X_CALL(pBTR, AcDbEntityHyperlinkPE)

 		->getHyperlinkCollection(pBTR, pcHCL, false , true );

 	pcHCL->addTail(

 		ACRX_T("http://adndevblog.typepad.com/autocad/" ), 

 		ACRX_T("AutoCAD DevBlog" ));

 	ACRX_X_CALL(pBTR, AcDbEntityHyperlinkPE)

 	->setHyperlinkCollection(pBTR, pcHCL);

 	delete  pcHCL;

 	pBTR->close();

 }

 pBlockTable->close();

AutoCAD .Net API (should work in AutoCAD 2015+) :

 Database db = 

 	Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;

 using  (Transaction tr = 

 	db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

 {

     BlockTable bt = tr.GetObject(

                                     db.BlockTableId,

                                     OpenMode.ForRead

                                 ) as BlockTable;

     if  (bt.Has("MyBlock" ) == false )

     {

         bt.UpgradeOpen();

         BlockTableRecord btr = new  BlockTableRecord();

         btr.Name = "MyBlock" ;

         btr.Origin = Point3d.Origin;

         bt.Add(btr);

         tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(btr, true );

         Circle c = new  Circle(

 			Point3d.Origin, 

 			Vector3d.ZAxis, 10.0);

         btr.AppendEntity(c);

         tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(c, true );

         //Get the hyperlink collection from the entity 

         HyperLinkCollection linkCollection = btr.Hyperlinks;

         //Create a new hyperlink 

         HyperLink hyperLink = new  HyperLink();

         hyperLink.Description = "AutoCAD DevBlog" ;

         hyperLink.Name 

 			= "http://adndevblog.typepad.com/autocad/" ;

         hyperLink.SubLocation = "" ;

         linkCollection.Add(hyperLink);

     }

     tr.Commit();

 }