AutoCAD DevBlog

Creating associative dimension in paperspace associated to a modelspace entity

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Most of the code in this blog post is from a code snippet that my colleague Philippe Leefsma implemented. While his original code created an aligned dimension in paperspace, i have modified it slightly to create an ordinate dimension to cater to a recent developer request.

Here are the code snippets to create aligned and ordinate dimensions in paperspace while retaining their associativity with a reference point on an entity that is in modelspace.

 //For AcDbDimAssoc 

 #include  "dbdimassoc.h"  

 //For AcDbOsnapPointRef 

 #include  "dbdimptref.h" 

 static  void  paperRotatedDimAssoc(void )

 {

 	AcDbDatabase* pDb 

 		= acdbHostApplicationServices()->workingDatabase();

 	AcDbBlockTableRecordPointer ms(

 		ACDB_MODEL_SPACE, pDb, AcDb::kForWrite);

 	AcDbBlockTableRecordPointer ps(

 		ACDB_PAPER_SPACE, pDb, AcDb::kForWrite);

 	AcDbObjectId lineId, vpId, dimId;

 	AcGePoint3d pt1(AcGePoint3d::kOrigin);

 	AcGePoint3d	pt2(5,0,0);

 	{//creates a line 

 		AcDbObjectPointer<AcDbLine> line;

 		line.create();

 		line->setStartPoint(pt1);

 		line->setEndPoint(pt2);

 		ms->appendAcDbEntity(lineId, line);

 	}

 	{//creates a viewport 

 		AcDbObjectPointer<AcDbViewport> vp;

 		vp.create();

 		ps->appendAcDbEntity(vpId, vp);

 		vp->setWidth(10);

 		vp->setHeight(10);

 		vp->setCenterPoint(AcGePoint3d(5,5,0));

 		vp->setViewDirection(AcDb::kTopView);

 		vp->setViewTarget(AcGePoint3d(2.5,0,0));

 		vp->setViewCenter(AcGePoint2d(2.5,0));

 		vp->setUnlocked();

 		vp->setOn();

 		AcGeMatrix3d ms2ps(

 			AcDbPointRef::mswcsToPswcs(vp));

 		pt1 = pt1.transformBy(ms2ps);

 		pt2 = pt2.transformBy(ms2ps);

 	}

 	{//creates the dimension object 

 		AcDbObjectPointer<AcDbRotatedDimension> dim;

 		dim.create();

 		dim->setXLine1Point(pt1);

 		dim->setXLine2Point(pt2);

 		dim->setDimLinePoint(AcGePoint3d(2,2,0));

 		ps->appendAcDbEntity(dimId, dim);

 	}

 	AcDbObjectPointer<AcDbDimAssoc> assoc;

 	assoc.create();

 	AcDbObjectIdArray arr(2);

 	arr.append(vpId);

 	arr.append(lineId);

 	AcDbFullSubentPath path1(

 		arr, 

 		AcDbSubentId(AcDb::kVertexSubentType, 0));

 	AcDbFullSubentPath path2(

 		arr, 

 		AcDbSubentId(AcDb::kVertexSubentType, 1));

 	AcGePoint3d refPt1(pt1);

 	AcDbOsnapPointRef *ref1 = new  AcDbOsnapPointRef(

 		AcDbPointRef::kOsnapNear, &path1, &path1, &refPt1);

 	AcGePoint3d refPt2(pt2);

 	AcDbOsnapPointRef *ref2 = new  AcDbOsnapPointRef(

 		AcDbPointRef::kOsnapNear, &path2, &path2, &refPt2);

 	assoc->setDimObjId(dimId);

 	assoc->setTransSpatial(true );

 	assoc->setPointRef(AcDbDimAssoc::kXline1Point, ref1);

 	assoc->setPointRef(AcDbDimAssoc::kXline2Point, ref2);

 	assoc->setAssocFlag(static_cast <int >(

 		AcDbDimAssoc::kFirstPointRef

 		|AcDbDimAssoc::kSecondPointRef));

 	assoc->updateDimension();

 	AcDbObjectId dimAssocId;

 	Acad::ErrorStatus es = acdbPostDimAssoc(

 		dimId, assoc, dimAssocId);

 	acutPrintf(_T("\\npost dim: %s\\n" ), 

 		acadErrorStatusText(es));

 	if  (assoc.open(dimAssocId, AcDb::kForWrite)

 		==Acad::eOk)

 	{

 		assoc->startCmdWatcher();

 		assoc->addToPointRefReactor();

 		assoc->addToDimensionReactor();

 	}

 }

 static  void  paperOrdinateDimAssoc(void )

 {

 	AcDbDatabase* pDb 

 		= acdbHostApplicationServices()->workingDatabase();

 	AcDbBlockTableRecordPointer ms(

 		ACDB_MODEL_SPACE, pDb, AcDb::kForWrite);

 	AcDbBlockTableRecordPointer ps(

 		ACDB_PAPER_SPACE, pDb, AcDb::kForWrite);

 	AcDbObjectId lineId, vpId, dimId;

 	AcGePoint3d pt1(AcGePoint3d::kOrigin);

 	AcGePoint3d	pt2(5,0,0);

 	{//creates a line 

 		AcDbObjectPointer<AcDbLine> line;

 		line.create();

 		line->setStartPoint(pt1);

 		line->setEndPoint(pt2);

 		ms->appendAcDbEntity(lineId, line);

 	}

 	{//creates a viewport 

 		AcDbObjectPointer<AcDbViewport> vp;

 		vp.create();

 		ps->appendAcDbEntity(vpId, vp);

 		vp->setWidth(10);

 		vp->setHeight(10);

 		vp->setCenterPoint(AcGePoint3d(5,5,0));

 		vp->setViewDirection(AcDb::kTopView);

 		vp->setViewTarget(AcGePoint3d(2.5,0,0));

 		vp->setViewCenter(AcGePoint2d(2.5,0));

 		vp->setUnlocked();

 		vp->setOn();

 		AcGeMatrix3d ms2ps(

 			AcDbPointRef::mswcsToPswcs(vp));

 		pt1 = pt1.transformBy(ms2ps);

 		pt2 = pt2.transformBy(ms2ps);

 	}

 	{//creates the dimension object 

 		AcDbObjectPointer<AcDbOrdinateDimension> dim;

 		dim.create();

 		dim->setUsingXAxis(true );

 		dim->setOrigin(pt1);

 		dim->setDefiningPoint(pt2);

 		dim->setLeaderEndPoint(pt2 

 			+ AcGeVector3d(1.0, 0.0, 0.0));

 		ps->appendAcDbEntity(dimId, dim);

 	}

 	AcDbObjectPointer<AcDbDimAssoc> assoc;

 	assoc.create();

 	AcDbObjectIdArray arr(2);

 	arr.append(vpId);

 	arr.append(lineId);

 	AcDbFullSubentPath path1(

 		arr, 

 		AcDbSubentId(AcDb::kVertexSubentType, 0));

 	AcDbFullSubentPath path2(

 		arr,

 		AcDbSubentId(AcDb::kVertexSubentType, 1));

 	AcGePoint3d refPt1(pt1);

 	AcDbOsnapPointRef *ref1 = new  AcDbOsnapPointRef(

 		AcDbPointRef::kOsnapNear, &path1, &path1, &refPt1);

 	AcGePoint3d refPt2(pt2);

 	AcDbOsnapPointRef *ref2 = new  AcDbOsnapPointRef(

 		AcDbPointRef::kOsnapNear, &path2, &path2, &refPt2);

 	assoc->setDimObjId(dimId);

 	assoc->setTransSpatial(true );

 	assoc->setPointRef(AcDbDimAssoc::kOriginPoint, ref1);

 	assoc->setPointRef(AcDbDimAssoc::kDefiningPoint, ref2);

 	assoc->setAssocFlag(static_cast <int >(

 		AcDbDimAssoc::kFirstPointRef|

 		AcDbDimAssoc::kSecondPointRef));

 	assoc->updateDimension();

 	AcDbObjectId dimAssocId;

 	Acad::ErrorStatus es = 

 		acdbPostDimAssoc

 		(dimId, assoc, dimAssocId);

 	acutPrintf(_T("\\npost dim: %s\\n" ), 

 		acadErrorStatusText(es));

 	if  (assoc.open(dimAssocId, AcDb::kForWrite)==Acad::eOk)

 	{

 		assoc->startCmdWatcher();

 		assoc->addToPointRefReactor();

 		assoc->addToDimensionReactor();

 	}

 }

Display Forms inside async AutoCAD commands

By Philippe Leefsma

You may have given a try already at the very cool async .Net 4.5 feature.

When displaying a form inside an async AutoCAD 2015 command, it happens that the synchronization context is not restored properly after closing the form, which provoke some undesirable behavior, for example the output of Editor.WriteMesage not being displayed in the command line.

A simple way to work around it is to save the current context prior to show the form and reset it once it closes.

An example of what I’m talking about just below:

// simulates an async function

private static async Task<string> AsyncTask(string name)

{

    await Task.Delay(5000);

 

    return "Hello " + name;

}

 

[CommandMethod("ADN", "SyncContextCmd", CommandFlags.Transparent)]

async static public void SyncContextCmd()

{

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Database db = doc.Database;

    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

    // saves current synchronization context

    var syncContext = SynchronizationContext.Current;

 

    AdnForm form = new AdnForm();

 

    var dialogResult = Application.ShowModalDialog(form);

 

    // restores synchronization context

    SynchronizationContext.SetSynchronizationContext(

        syncContext);

 

    if (dialogResult != System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)

        return;

 

    // process form result asynchronously

    string result = await AsyncTask(form.UserName);

 

    // editor.WriteMessage works OK now

    ed.WriteMessage("\nResult: " + result + "\n");

}

 

Using CUIx resource dll with image transparency

By Philippe Leefsma

This post and associated code samples is a courtesy from one of our ADN member: Michael Csikos. Thanks Michael!

This illustrates how to use .ico files in a resource-only dll for your cuix files. By default the cuix file accepts resource dlls with .bmp files, however .bmp do not support transparency, which can make your button icons look much nicer in AutoCAD UI.

Unfortunately this approach isn’t documented anywhere in the AutoCAD programming help, so Michael was digging out this workaround: by manually editing the resource file (.rc) of your resource-only dll project, you can have the cuix support .ico files. Once you added a new ico resource through the Visual Studio editor, modify the “ICO” property of the resource to “RCDATA” as illustrated in the sample below:

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// Icon with lowest ID value placed first to ensure application

// icon remains consistent on all systems.

IDI_TRIANGLE16     RCDATA           ".\\resources\\icon1.ico"

IDI_TRIANGLE32     RCDATA           ".\\resources\\icon2.ico"

#endif    // English (Australia) resources

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

You can then compile your dll and place it in the same folder than the cuix file using the resource. The same approach doesn’t work for .png unfortunately.

On top of that Michael also provided a C# sample that illustrates how to programmatically generate a cuix file using those resources. Generating the cuix file from the code is a very efficient approach, as it allows to quickly and easily modify and re-generate the cuix files as needed.

The sample creates extension methods (see CustomizationExtensions.cs) which makes it a lot easier to add new tabs, panels, rows and buttons.

An extract of his code looks like below:

var debugFolder          =

    Path.GetDirectoryName(

        Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);

-

var cs                   = new CustomizationSection();

var menuGroup            = cs.MenuGroup;

var tab                  = cs.AddNewTab("CuiTestTab");

var panel                = tab.AddNewPanel("Panel");

var row                  = panel.AddNewRibbonRow();

 

menuGroup.Name           = "CuiTest";

 

row.AddNewButton(

    "BMP",

    "BMP",

    "SayBMP",

    "BMP loaded from the resource DLL",

    "IDB_CIRCLE16",

    "IDB_CIRCLE32",

    RibbonButtonStyle.LargeWithText);

 

row.AddNewButton(

    "ICO",

    "ICO",

    "SayICO",

    "ICO loaded from the resource DLL",

    "IDI_TRIANGLE16",

    "IDI_TRIANGLE32",

    RibbonButtonStyle.LargeWithText);

 

var fileName = Path.Combine(debugFolder, "CuiTest.cuix");

 

File.Delete(fileName);

 

cs.SaveAs(fileName);

-

-

And here is a picture of the stunning result!

 

See attachment for the whole project:

cui resonly ico.zip

How to find all fields in a drawing?

By Philippe Leefsma

The Named Object Dictionary (NOD) in a database contains an “ACAD_FIELDLIST” entry if your drawing contains any field. This entry holds a record of type “AcDbFieldList” which is unfortunately an object type that isn’t exposed to the ARX or .Net API.

Each AcDbField object is typically accessible from an entity Extension Dictionary, for example if I you create a MText that contains a field, you can access that specific MText and look for the AcDbField in the ExtensionDictionary.

In order to access all fields directly, one way to get the job done is to grab all TypedValue (DxfCode – Value pairs) of our AcDbFieldList, iterate through them and grab the one that have dxf code = 330 and are of type AcDbField.

We need to rely on some good old P/Invoked arx methods, hence that code is version dependent, here is an example for R19:

class ImportsR19

{

    public struct ads_name

    {

        public IntPtr a;

        public IntPtr b;

    };

 

    [DllImport("acdb19.dll",

        CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

        EntryPoint = "[email protected]@[email protected]@@[email protected]@@Z")]

    public static extern int acdbGetAdsName32(

        ref ads_name name,

        ObjectId objId);

 

    [DllImport("acdb19.dll",

        CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

        EntryPoint = "[email protected]@[email protected]@@[email protected]@@Z")]

    public static extern int acdbGetAdsName64(

        ref ads_name name,

        ObjectId objId);

 

    public static int acdbGetAdsName(

        ref ads_name name,

        ObjectId objId)

    {

        if (Marshal.SizeOf(IntPtr.Zero) > 4)

            return acdbGetAdsName64(ref name, objId);

 

        return acdbGetAdsName32(ref name, objId);

    }

 

    [DllImport("accore.dll",

        CharSet = CharSet.Unicode,

        CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

        EntryPoint = "acdbEntGet")]

    public static extern System.IntPtr acdbEntGet(

        ref ads_name ename);

 

    public static System.Collections.Generic.List<TypedValue>

        acdbEntGetTypedValues(ObjectId id)

    {

        System.Collections.Generic.List<TypedValue> result =

            new System.Collections.Generic.List<TypedValue>();

 

        ads_name name = new ads_name();

 

        int res = acdbGetAdsName(ref name, id);

 

        ResultBuffer rb = new ResultBuffer();

        Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime.Interop.AttachUnmanagedObject(

            rb,

            acdbEntGet(ref name),

            true);

 

        ResultBufferEnumerator iter = rb.GetEnumerator();

 

        while (iter.MoveNext())

        {

            result.Add((TypedValue)iter.Current);

        }

 

        return result;

    }

}

       

[CommandMethod("FieldList")]

public void FieldList()

{

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Database db = doc.Database;

    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

    using (var tx = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

    {

        var nod = tx.GetObject(

            db.NamedObjectsDictionaryId,

            OpenMode.ForRead) as DBDictionary;

 

        if (!nod.Contains("ACAD_FIELDLIST"))

        {

            ed.WriteMessage("\nDrawing has no field...");

            return;

        }

 

        var id = nod.GetAt("ACAD_FIELDLIST");

 

        List<TypedValue> dxf = ImportsR19.acdbEntGetTypedValues(id);

 

        foreach (var entry in dxf)

        {

            if (entry.TypeCode == 330)

            {

                ObjectId objId = (ObjectId)entry.Value;

 

                if (objId.ObjectClass.Name == "AcDbField")

                {

                    Field field = tx.GetObject(

                        objId,

                        OpenMode.ForWrite) as Field;

 

                    field.Evaluate();

 

                    ed.WriteMessage(

                     "\n - Format: " + field.Format +

                     " Value: " +

                     field.GetStringValue());                        

                }

            }

        }

    }

}

Detecting entities under cursor while selection is running

By Philippe Leefsma

The PointMonitor callback in .Net lets you access the entities that are under the cursor aperture as the user is hovering the mouse, however this feature gets disabled while running an Editor.GetEntity.

There is a workaround for that behavior that involves P/Invoking a bunch of ObjectARX methods, as we like to do. Below is a C# sample for that.

Nested entities can also be detected as exposed in this previous post:

Retrieving nested entities under cursor aperture using .Net API

 

class ArxImports

{

    public struct ads_name

    {

        public IntPtr a;

        public IntPtr b;

    };

 

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Size = 32)]

    public struct resbuf { }

 

    [DllImport("accore.dll",

        CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

        CharSet = CharSet.Unicode,

        ExactSpelling = true)]

    public static extern PromptStatus acedSSGet(

        string str, IntPtr pt1, IntPtr pt2,

        IntPtr filter, out ads_name ss);

 

    [DllImport("accore.dll",

        CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

        CharSet = CharSet.Unicode,

        ExactSpelling = true)]

    public static extern PromptStatus acedSSFree(

        ref ads_name ss);

 

    [DllImport("accore.dll",

        CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

        CharSet = CharSet.Unicode,

        ExactSpelling = true)]

    public static extern PromptStatus acedSSLength(

        ref ads_name ss, out int len);

 

    [DllImport("accore.dll",

        CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

        CharSet = CharSet.Unicode,

        ExactSpelling = true)]

    public static extern PromptStatus acedSSName(

        ref ads_name ss, int i, out ads_name name);

 

    [DllImport("acdb19.dll",

        CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

        CharSet = CharSet.Unicode,

        ExactSpelling = true)]

    public static extern ErrorStatus acdbGetObjectId(

        out ObjectId id, ref ads_name name);

}

 

static System.Collections.Generic.List<ObjectId>

    FindAtPoint(Point3d worldPoint, bool selectAll = true)

{

    System.Collections.Generic.List<ObjectId> ids =

        new System.Collections.Generic.List<ObjectId>();

 

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

 

    Matrix3d wcs2ucs =

        doc.Editor.CurrentUserCoordinateSystem.Inverse();

 

    Point3d ucsPoint = worldPoint.TransformBy(wcs2ucs);

          

    string arg = selectAll ? ":E" : string.Empty;

          

    IntPtr ptrPoint = Marshal.UnsafeAddrOfPinnedArrayElement(

        worldPoint.ToArray(), 0);

 

    ArxImports.ads_name sset;

 

    PromptStatus prGetResult = ArxImports.acedSSGet(

        arg, ptrPoint, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero, out sset);

 

    int len;

    ArxImports.acedSSLength(ref sset, out len);

 

    if (len <= 0)

        return ids;

          

    for (int i = 0; i < len; ++i)

    {

        ArxImports.ads_name name;

 

        if (ArxImports.acedSSName(

            ref sset, i, out name) != PromptStatus.OK)

            continue;

               

        ObjectId id;

 

        if (ArxImports.acdbGetObjectId(

            out id, ref name) != ErrorStatus.OK)

            continue;

 

        ids.Add(id);

    }

 

    ArxImports.acedSSFree(ref sset);

 

    return ids;

}

 

Editor AdnEditor;

 

[CommandMethod("PointMonitorSelection")]

public void PointMonitorSelection()

{

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Database db = doc.Database;

    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

    try

    {

        AdnEditor = doc.Editor;

 

        AdnEditor.PointMonitor +=

            FindUsingPointMonitor;

       

        PromptEntityOptions peo = new PromptEntityOptions(

            "Select an entity...");

 

        PromptEntityResult per = ed.GetEntity(peo);

 

        if (per.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

            return;

 

        ObjectId id = per.ObjectId;

 

        ed.WriteMessage("\n - Selected " +

            " Entity: " + id.ObjectClass.Name +

            " Id: " + id.ToString());

    }

    catch(System.Exception ex)

    {

        ed.WriteMessage("\nException: " + ex.Message);

    }

    finally

    {

        AdnEditor.PointMonitor -=

            FindUsingPointMonitor;

    }

}

 

void FindUsingPointMonitor(object sender, PointMonitorEventArgs e)

{

    Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

 

    // Not working when running editor selection

    //foreach (var subId in e.Context.GetPickedEntities())

    //{

    //    foreach (var id in subId.GetObjectIds())

    //    {

    //        ed.WriteMessage("\n - " +

    //            " Entity: " + id.ObjectClass.Name +

    //            " Id: " + id.ToString());

    //    }

    //}

 

    var ids = FindAtPoint(e.Context.RawPoint);

 

    foreach (var id in ids)

    {

        ed.WriteMessage("\n + " +

            " Entity: " + id.ObjectClass.Name +

            " Id: " + id.ToString());

    }

}

Detecting .Net command duplicates programmatically

By Philippe Leefsma

Here is an annoying thing about CommandMethod attributes in AutoCAD .Net dlls: you can have two different commands that have the same name but refer to different .Net methods, for example consider the following code:

[CommandMethod("Test")]

public void SomeMethod()

{

    // Implementation ...

}

 

[CommandMethod("Test")]

public void SomeOtherMethod()

{

    // Implementation ...

}

 

What is going on if you try to netload a dll containing that code in AutoCAD? It will compile fine as there is no syntax error in the code, but you will get a frustrating error message in the command line:

 

Cannot load assembly. Error details: Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime.Exception: eDuplicateKey at Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime.CommandClass.AddCommand(ICommandLineCallable ca, MethodInfo mi) at Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.AutoCADApplicationHolder.Initialize(Assembly assembly) at Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.ExtensionLoader.ProcessAssembly(Assembly assembly)

 

There is no way to know which command name has caused that exception. Rather straightforward to fix it in that scenario, but in my case I work with a .Net dll that contains hundreds of commands split across dozen of files, so when I quickly cut and paste some code to test it, I can end up with duplicate commands which are hard to find.

 

A solution to that can be to use .Net reflection capabilities to find out the duplicates. This is what is doing the following piece of code: you need to run it from a separate .Net dll and load the dll that contains the duplicates using FindCmdDuplicates (path):

 

[CommandMethod("FindCmdDuplicates")]

public void FindCmdDuplicatesCmd()

{

    string asmPath = SelectAssembly();

 

    if (asmPath == null)

        return;

 

    FindCmdDuplicates(asmPath);

}

 

private string SelectAssembly()

{

    System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog dlg =

        new System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog();

 

    dlg.Title = "Load Assembly File";

 

    dlg.InitialDirectory = Environment.GetFolderPath(

        Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop);

 

    dlg.Filter = ".Net Assembly (*.dll)|*.dll";

    dlg.FilterIndex = 1;

    dlg.RestoreDirectory = true;

 

    while (dlg.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)

    {

        try

        {

            AssemblyName asmName =

                AssemblyName.GetAssemblyName(dlg.FileName);

 

            return dlg.FileName;

        }

        catch (BadImageFormatException ex)

        {

            System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(

                "Sorry the file is not a valid .Net assembly...",

                "Invalid Assembly",

                System.Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons.OK,

                System.Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon.Error);

        }

    }

 

    return null;

}

 

public void FindCmdDuplicates(string asmPath)

{

    Dictionary<string, List<MethodInfo>> map =

        new Dictionary<string, List<MethodInfo>>();

 

    Assembly asm = Assembly.LoadFile(asmPath);

 

    Type[] expTypes = asm.GetTypes();

 

    foreach (Type type in expTypes)

    {

        MethodInfo[] methods = type.GetMethods();

 

        foreach (MethodInfo method in methods)

        {

            CommandMethodAttribute attribute =

                GetCommandMethodAttribute(method);

 

            if (attribute == null)

                continue;

 

            if (!map.ContainsKey(attribute.GlobalName))

            {

                var methodInfo = new List<MethodInfo>();

                       

                map.Add(attribute.GlobalName, methodInfo);

            }

 

            map[attribute.GlobalName].Add(method);

        }

    }

 

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

    foreach (var keyValuePair in map)

    {

        if (keyValuePair.Value.Count > 1)

        {

            ed.WriteMessage(

                "\nDuplicate Attribute: " + keyValuePair.Key);

 

            foreach (var method in keyValuePair.Value)

            {

                ed.WriteMessage(

                    "\n – Method: " + method.Name);               

            }

        }

    }

}

 

public CommandMethodAttribute GetCommandMethodAttribute(

        MethodInfo method)

{

    object[] attributes = method.GetCustomAttributes(true);

 

    foreach (object attribute in attributes)

    {

        if (attribute is CommandMethodAttribute)

        {

            return attribute as CommandMethodAttribute;

        }

    }

 

    return null;

}

 

 

How to ensure your Ribbon runtime items remain visible ?

By Philippe Leefsma

The AutoCAD ribbon runtime API is pretty handy to customize the user interface. However changes made through this API are not persistent. That means there are situations where you need some extra code to make sure your Ribbon items will still be there: that’s typically the case after a workspace switch or when changes occur due to CUI or QUICKCUI commands.

Here is a suggestion on how to handle those scenario and ensure your Ribbons remain visible:

[CommandMethod("SimpleButton")]

public void SimpleButton()

{

    Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.

        SystemVariableChanged +=

        new Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.

            SystemVariableChangedEventHandler(

            Application_SystemVariableChanged);

 

    Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.

        DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.CommandEnded +=

        new CommandEventHandler(MdiActiveDocument_CommandEnded);

 

    CreateSimpleButton();

}

 

void MdiActiveDocument_CommandEnded(

    object sender, CommandEventArgs e)

{

    if (e.GlobalCommandName == "QUICKCUI" ||

        e.GlobalCommandName == "CUI")

    {

        Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.Idle +=

            new EventHandler(Application_Idle);

    }

}

 

void Application_Idle(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

    if (Autodesk.Windows.ComponentManager.Ribbon != null)

    {

        Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.Idle -=

            new EventHandler(Application_Idle);

 

        CreateSimpleButton();

    }

}

 

void Application_SystemVariableChanged(

    object sender,

    Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.

    SystemVariableChangedEventArgs e)

{

    if (e.Name == "WSCURRENT")

    {

        string cmdNames =

            (string)Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.

                GetSystemVariable(

                    "CMDNAMES");

               

        // if the QUICKCUI or CUI command is active, returns

        if (cmdNames.ToUpper().IndexOf("QUICKCUI") >= 0 ||

            cmdNames.ToUpper().IndexOf("CUI") >= 0)

            return;

               

        CreateSimpleButton();

    }

}

 

public void CreateSimpleButton()

{

    Autodesk.Windows.RibbonControl ribbonControl =

        Autodesk.Windows.ComponentManager.Ribbon;

 

    RibbonTab Tab = new RibbonTab();

    Tab.Title = "Test Ribbon";

    Tab.Id = "TESTRIBBON_TAB_ID";

 

    ribbonControl.Tabs.Add(Tab);

 

    Autodesk.Windows.RibbonPanelSource srcPanel =

        new RibbonPanelSource();

    srcPanel.Title = "Panel1";

 

    RibbonPanel Panel = new RibbonPanel();

    Panel.Source = srcPanel;

    Tab.Panels.Add(Panel);

 

    Autodesk.Windows.RibbonButton button1 = new RibbonButton();

    button1.Text = "Button";

    button1.Size = RibbonItemSize.Large;

    button1.Image =

        getBitmap(Properties.Resources.Apps, 16, 16);

    button1.LargeImage =

        getBitmap(Properties.Resources.Apps, 32, 32);

    button1.ShowText = true;

    button1.CommandParameter = "._LINE ";

    button1.CommandHandler = new SimpleButtonCmdHandler();

 

    srcPanel.Items.Add(button1);

           

    Tab.IsActive = true;

}

 

//Use: getBitmap(Properties.Resources.a_large);

BitmapImage getBitmap(Bitmap bitmap, int height, int width)

{

    MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();

    bitmap.Save(stream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);

 

    BitmapImage bmp = new BitmapImage();

    bmp.BeginInit();

    bmp.StreamSource = new MemoryStream(stream.ToArray());

    bmp.DecodePixelHeight = height;

    bmp.DecodePixelWidth = width;

    bmp.EndInit();

 

    return bmp;

}

 

public class SimpleButtonCmdHandler :

    System.Windows.Input.ICommand

{

    public bool CanExecute(object parameter)

    {

        return true;

    }

 

    public event EventHandler CanExecuteChanged;

 

    public void Execute(object parameter)

    {

        if (parameter is RibbonButton)

        {

            // builds escape sequence to cancel active commands

            string esc = "";

 

            string cmds =

            (string)Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.

                GetSystemVariable("CMDNAMES");

 

            if (cmds.Length > 0)

            {

                int cmdNum = cmds.Split(new char[] { '\'' }).Length;

 

                for (int i = 0; i < cmdNum; i++)

                    esc += '\x03';

            }

 

            RibbonButton button = parameter as RibbonButton;

 

            Document doc =

                Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.

                    DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

 

            doc.SendStringToExecute(esc + button.CommandParameter,

                true, false, false);

        }

    }

}

Connecting an AutoCAD plug-in to an external application using WCF

By Philippe Leefsma

We have many references on how to connect an AutoCAD plug-in to an external executable using COM, but as it becomes an antique technology as years are passing I though it would be useful to illustrate how to achieve the same (and potentially much more) using WCF.

The idea is to have a WCF server that is hosted by an AutoCAD .Net plug-in. One or several client executables running on the same machine will be able to connect to that server and exchange data. Eventually the server can also dispatch data send by one client to the other.

To make the thing more fun I created a little chat application where clients can send messages between each other. You will find the complete code attached with the download at the bottom of that blog post. For more details about the implementation, take a look at the initial post I created on our Cloud & Mobile blog:

Inter-process communication using WCF

The AcadServer plug-in is net-loaded in AutoCAD and can start processing requests from the clients:

ADN Pipe Demo.zip

Accessing COM applications from the Running Object Table

By Philippe Leefsma

Here is a topic that comes up every now and then: how do you access a specific instance of a COM application if several instances are running with a similar ProgId? The GetActiveObject(progId) approach can only return a single object, so there is no way to differentiate or select any specific instance.

The workaround for that goal is to use the ROT (Running Object Table), which can provide you access to every COM instance running on the machine.

Here is a C# sample that illustrates how to achieve that:

[DllImport("ole32.dll")]

static extern int CreateBindCtx(

    uint reserved,

    out IBindCtx ppbc);

 

[DllImport("ole32.dll")]

public static extern void GetRunningObjectTable(

    int reserved,

    out IRunningObjectTable prot);

 

// Requires Using System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes

// Get all running instance by querying ROT

private List<object> GetRunningInstances(string[] progIds)

{

    List<string> clsIds = new List<string>();

 

    // get the app clsid

    foreach (string progId in progIds)

    {

        Type type = Type.GetTypeFromProgID(progId);

 

        if(type != null)

            clsIds.Add(type.GUID.ToString().ToUpper());

    }

 

    // get Running Object Table ...

    IRunningObjectTable Rot = null;

    GetRunningObjectTable(0, out Rot);

    if (Rot == null)

        return null;

 

    // get enumerator for ROT entries

    IEnumMoniker monikerEnumerator = null;

    Rot.EnumRunning(out monikerEnumerator);

 

    if (monikerEnumerator == null)

        return null;

 

    monikerEnumerator.Reset();

 

    List<object> instances = new List<object>();

 

    IntPtr pNumFetched = new IntPtr();

    IMoniker[] monikers = new IMoniker[1];

 

    // go through all entries and identifies app instances

    while (monikerEnumerator.Next(1, monikers, pNumFetched) == 0)

    {

        IBindCtx bindCtx;

        CreateBindCtx(0, out bindCtx);

        if (bindCtx == null)

            continue;

 

        string displayName;

        monikers[0].GetDisplayName(bindCtx, null, out displayName);

               

        foreach (string clsId in clsIds)

        {

            if (displayName.ToUpper().IndexOf(clsId) > 0)

            {

                object ComObject;

                Rot.GetObject(monikers[0], out ComObject);

 

                if (ComObject == null)

                    continue;

 

                instances.Add(ComObject);

                break;

            }

        }

    }

 

    return instances;

}

 

void TestROT()

{

    // Look for acad 2009 & 2010 & 2014

    string[] progIds =

    {

        "AutoCAD.Application.17.2",

        "AutoCAD.Application.18",

        "AutoCAD.Application.19.1"

    };

 

    List<object> instances = GetRunningInstances(progIds);

 

    foreach (object acadObj in instances)

    {

        try

        {

            // do some stuff ...  

        }

        catch

        {

           

        }

    }

}

AutoCAD Ribbon runtime API with C++/CLI

By Philippe Leefsma

We already have several examples on our blog illustrating how to use the runtime Ribbon API from .Net, but none using C++/CLI, so I though it would be useful to place one. Plus this has already been asked by ADN developers in the past, so here it is.

There are several reasons why you would like to invoke that API from mix-managed code, here are the main ones I can think of:

- You just like the syntax (seriously?!)

- You want to directly invoke C++ code from your project

- You have existing MFC dialogs and don’t have the time or resources to migrate them to .Net

- You hate .Net and never want to give it a try, but you need to do some Ribbon customization in AutoCAD

For any of those reasons or even different ones, here is how to invoke the API from managed C++, note that the attached project contains more samples than what I just placed below:

[CommandMethod("AddButtonMixMng")]

void AddButtonMixMng()

{

          Autodesk::Windows::RibbonControl^ ribbonControl =

                   Autodesk::Windows::ComponentManager::Ribbon;

 

          RibbonTab^ Tab = gcnew RibbonTab();

          Tab->Title = "Test Ribbon";

          Tab->Id = gcnew String("TESTRIBBON_TAB_ID");

 

          ribbonControl->Tabs->Add(Tab);

 

          RibbonPanelSource^ srcPanel = gcnew RibbonPanelSource();

          srcPanel->Title = "Panel1";

 

          RibbonPanel^ panel = gcnew RibbonPanel();

          panel->Source = srcPanel;

          Tab->Panels->Add(panel);

 

          RibbonButton^ button = gcnew RibbonButton();

          button->Text = "Button Test";

          button->ShowText = true;

          button->ShowImage = true;

          button->Orientation =

              System::Windows::Controls::Orientation::Horizontal;

          button->Size = RibbonItemSize::Large;

          button->Image =

              getBitmapEmbedded(L"Icon16x16.png", 16, 16);

          button->LargeImage =

              getBitmapEmbedded(L"Icon32x32.png", 32, 32);

          button->CommandParameter = "._HelloCmdMng ";

          button->CommandHandler = gcnew ButtonCmdHandler();

 

          srcPanel->Items->Add(button);

 

          Tab->IsActive = true;

}

 

BitmapImage^ getBitmapEmbedded(LPCTSTR pName, int height, int width)

{

          String^ str=

           System::Runtime::InteropServices::Marshal::PtrToStringUni(

              (IntPtr)(void*)pName);

          Bitmap^ image =

              gcnew Bitmap(Assembly::GetExecutingAssembly()->

                  GetManifestResourceStream(str));

 

          MemoryStream^ stream = gcnew MemoryStream();

          image->Save(stream,

              System::Drawing::Imaging::ImageFormat::Png);

          BitmapImage^ bmp = gcnew BitmapImage();

 

          bmp->BeginInit();

          bmp->StreamSource = stream;

          bmp->DecodePixelHeight = height;

          bmp->DecodePixelWidth = width;

          bmp->EndInit();

 

          return bmp;

}

 

ref class ButtonCmdHandler : public System::Windows::Input::ICommand

{

    template < class T, class Cls > bool isInstance(Cls c)

    {

        return dynamic_cast< T >(c) != nullptr;

    }

 

public:

                            

     virtual bool __clrcall CanExecute(

              System::Object^ parameter) sealed

    {

        return true;

    }

 

    virtual event EventHandler^ CanExecuteChanged;

 

    virtual void __clrcall Execute(System::Object^ parameter) sealed

    {

        if (isInstance<RibbonButton^>(parameter))

        {

            RibbonButton^ button =

                dynamic_cast<RibbonButton^>(parameter);

 

            Document^ doc =

                Application::DocumentManager->MdiActiveDocument;

            doc->SendStringToExecute(

                dynamic_cast<String^>(button->CommandParameter),

                    true, false, false);

        }

    }

};

ArxMngRibbon.zip