AutoCAD DevBlog

Separate Solid Complexes into Separate Solids

By Madhukar Moogala

You can try using Solid3d.SeparateBody Method

This method separates the solid into a list of solids representing the additional disjoint volumes.
This solid is reduced to a solid with one volume.
The calling application is responsible for the resulting entities (either appending them to a database or deleting them when they are no longer needed).
When the calling application closes this Solid3d, the resulting solid will be committed to the database.
So, if the other solids are not appended to the database, you will lose some data.

To separate solids interactively in UI, refer this knowledge article.

Please note, you need a Solid which is logical one, but visually it appears to be two or more, i.e, you can move or copy multiple disjoint solids as one.
I have attached one drawing.

public static void SepSolid()
{
Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
Database db = doc.Database;
Editor ed = doc.Editor;
PromptEntityOptions peo = new PromptEntityOptions("\nSelect solid:");
peo.SetRejectMessage("\nMust be a 3D solid.");
peo.AddAllowedClass(typeof(Solid3d), false);
PromptEntityResult per = ed.GetEntity(peo);
if (per.Status != PromptStatus.OK) return;
Transaction tr = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();
using (tr)
{
Solid3d sol = tr.GetObject(per.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead)
as Solid3d;
if (sol != null)
{
sol.UpgradeOpen();
//The solid must have multiple lumps
Solid3d[] disjointSolids = sol.SeparateBody();
foreach (Solid3d v in disjointSolids)
{
    Vector3d dispVector = Point3d.Origin.GetVectorTo(v.MassProperties.Centroid);
    v.TransformBy(Matrix3d.Displacement(dispVector));
    v.ColorIndex = 3;
    using (OpenCloseTransaction oct = new OpenCloseTransaction())
    {
        // Open the Block table for read
        BlockTable acBlkTbl;
        acBlkTbl = oct.GetObject(db.BlockTableId,
                                            OpenMode.ForRead) as BlockTable;
        // Open the Block table record Model space for write
        BlockTableRecord acBlkTblRec;
        acBlkTblRec = oct.GetObject(acBlkTbl[BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace],
                                                OpenMode.ForWrite) as BlockTableRecord;
        acBlkTblRec.AppendEntity(v);
        oct.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(v, true);
        // Save the new objects to the database
        oct.Commit();
    }
}
}
tr.Commit();

}
}

Demo

Redefining Help Shortcut Key with CUI API

By Madhukar Moogala

There is common need to change shortcut assigned for Help from F1 to some other key, if you look at keypad layout F1 and ESC keys are adjacent to each other, designers often use ESC to cancel running command, or deselect the objects from selection. As the F1 key is adjacent chances of pressing this key accidently is quite high, F1 pops up a Help window, which in said cases is counter productive.

To avoid this, we can assign F1 to a Cancel command and CTRL+ALT+F1 to Help.

 public static void RedefineHelpKey()
{
string mainCuiFile = (string)Application.GetSystemVariable("MENUNAME");
mainCuiFile += ".cuix";
var doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
var db = doc.Database;
var ed = doc.Editor;
CustomizationSection cs = new CustomizationSection(mainCuiFile);
AcceleratorCollection acCollection = cs.MenuGroup.Accelerators;

//This is to get Help menu macro.
var macros = from MacroGroup mg in cs.MenuGroup.MacroGroups
        from MenuMacro mm in mg.MenuMacros
        where mm.ElementID.Equals("ID_Help") || mm.ElementID.Equals("ID_Cancel")
        select mm;
foreach(MenuMacro menuMacro in macros)
{
if (menuMacro.ElementID.Equals("ID_Help"))
{

MenuAccelerator macHelp = new MenuAccelerator(menuMacro,
                            /*ShortCutKeyCombination*/"CTRL+ALT+H",
                                cs.MenuGroup);
if (acCollection.Contains(macHelp))
{
    ed.WriteMessage($"\n True MenuAccelerator Contains.");
}
else
{
    acCollection.Add(macHelp);
}
                    

}
if (menuMacro.ElementID.Equals("ID_Cancel"))
{
//Assigning Cancel to F1
MenuAccelerator macCancel = new MenuAccelerator(menuMacro,
                                        /*ShortCutKeyCombination*/"F1",
                                        cs.MenuGroup);
if (acCollection.Contains(macCancel))
{
    ed.WriteMessage($"\n True MenuAccelerator Contains.");
}
else
{
    acCollection.Add(macCancel);
}                 

}
}


//This will create backup CUIX!
cs.Save(true);
            

}            	

Note:

If the changes don't reflect immediately, a restart of AutoCAD is needed, this is because, we are attempting to change the main CUI.

A utility function to list shortcut keys we have redefined

[CommandMethod("LISTMAC")]
public static void ListMenuAccelerators()
{
var doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
var db = doc.Database;
var ed = doc.Editor;
string mainCuiFile = (string)Application.GetSystemVariable("MENUNAME");
mainCuiFile += ".cuix";
CustomizationSection cs = new CustomizationSection(mainCuiFile);
AcceleratorCollection acCollection = cs.MenuGroup.Accelerators;
var q = from MenuAccelerator menuAcltr in acCollection
        where menuAcltr.Name.Contains("Help") || 
	      menuAcltr.Name.Contains("Cancel")
        select menuAcltr;
if (q != null && q.ToList().Count > 0)
{


    foreach (var m in q.ToList())
    {
        ed.WriteMessage($"\n Name: {m.Name}\n\tAccerlerator ShortcutKey: {m.AcceleratorShortcutKey}");
    }

                
}
}

Demo

Editor.Snap Method to change the snap mode of point

By Deepak Nadig

In your workflow of using Editor.GetEntity you may sometimes want to retrieve
all the co-ordinates of pickpoint used to select the entity.

For example consider the following case by constructing a circle at point (0,0,5) and radius 5 on WCS XY-plane with top view.
On selecting a point on circle using Editor.GetEntity, PromptEntityResult.PickedPoint returns : (3.50064192661003 , 3.35618169844321 , 0)

To get all the co-ordinates,it may be useful to change the point to nearest snap mode using Editor.Snap that returns the Z co-ordinate as well. 

Code:

[CommandMethod("getEntityPickPoint")]
public static void getEntityPickPoint()
{
    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
    Database db = doc.Database;
    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

    PromptEntityOptions peo = new PromptEntityOptions("\nSelect Entity");
    PromptEntityResult per = ed.GetEntity(peo);
    if (per.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
    {
        Point3d pickedPoint = per.PickedPoint;
        Point3d pickedPtOsnap = ed.Snap("_near", pickedPoint);

        ed.WriteMessage("\n Selected pick point: {0}", pickedPoint.ToString());
        ed.WriteMessage("\n Selected Picked Point Osnap near: {0}", pickedPtOsnap);
    }
}

Result:

Command: GETENTITYPICKPOINT
Select Entity:
Selected pick point: (3.50064192661003,3.35618169844321,0)
Selected Picked Point Osnap near: (3.60921996485993,3.46027907043009,5)

 

More about object osnaps :
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/de/search-result/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/DEU/AutoCAD-AutoLISP/files/GUID-4EEE5488-01D8-454F-9386-79E493E55D6E-htm.html