ObjectARX Technical Newsletter - November 1999

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ObjectARX Technical Newsletter - November 1999  
This document is part of    ObjectARX Newsletter Archive     



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Dear ObjectARX developer,

Table of Contents
=================
(1) ObjectARX and MFC
(2) AutoCAD Extension classes (AdUi/AcUi classes)
(3) The ObjectARX Wizard Add-In
(4) New Solutions
(5) ObjectARX UI Training

(1) ObjectARX and MFC
=====================
Many ObjectARX developers use Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) in their ARX
and DBX applications. Using MFC in these applications has proved to be
somewhat problematic. The main reason for this is that using MFC in a
standalone EXE is very different from using MFC in a DLL. Developers are
usually not aware of the special issues that they have to face in such a
situation namely:

* Module State and
* Resource management

AutoCAD R14 and R2000 both use MFC and expose APIs that return MFC objects.
This introduces two additional problems:

* Lack of module state management in certain AutoCAD APIs
* Special APIs that assume a certain module state is current
(Please note that the above two problems seem to be identical, this
newsletter will discuss this point in more detail later in this article.)

This newsletter discusses these issues and provides the steps required
to avoid these problems.

With R2000, ObjectARX developers can develop two kinds of applications:
* ARX applications that extend AutoCAD. If these applications use MFC,
  they will need to be able to deal with AutoCAD's fiber architecture and
  AutoCAD's own usage of MFC.
* DBX applications that extend the drawing database via the ObjectDBX system.
  DBX developers will need to be able to cope with the fact that DBX apps
  can be loaded into host applications that may or may not be MFC hosts.

For more details and a complete description of the above problems and
solutions, please continue your reading with the following White Paper:
"MFC Module State Implementation, Resource Handling & AutoCAD"
located at the following URL:

http://adn.autodesk.com/techsupp/utilitiestechpapers.htm
  

(2) AutoCAD Extension classes (AdUi/AcUi classes)
=================================================
ObjectARX has a set of MFC User Interface (UI) related classes that easily
allow you to provide a consistent UI in your applications. This means your
UI can behave like and have the appearance of the AutoCAD UI. It is highly
recommended to make use of these classes, since they allow your application
to be more tightly integrated with the AutoCAD UI. The Autodesk MFC system
is divided into two libraries. The first is called AdUi and is not AutoCAD
specific. The second is called AcUi and is AutoCAD specific in it's
appearance and behavior.

AdUi is an MFC extension dynamic link library used to extend some of the UI
related classes of MFC. The library was developed for use with AutoCAD and
other Autodesk products and contains core functionality. The companion
library, AcUi, builds upon the AdUi's framework and provides AutoCAD
specific appearance and behavior. The AdUi and AcUi libraries provide
classes that extend those provided by MFC in ways that allow ARX developers
to use and leverage the same UI functionality found in AutoCAD. MFC developers
can seamlessly use these classes. Listed below are the main areas of added
functionality provided by AdUi and AcUi.

To use AdUi in an MFC based application, the project's C++ source files must
include adui.h and the project should link to adui15.lib (the adui15.dll's
import library).

To use AcUi in an MFC based AutoCAD application, the project's C++ source
files must include adui.h, then acui.h, and the project should link to the
acui15.lib and the adui15.lib. AutoCAD invokes the library's initialization
routine, InitAcUiDLL(), which also handles the AdUi initialization
(via an InitAdUiDLL() call); therefore your application need not
reinitialize AcUi or AdUi.

WARNING! Although adui15.dll may be called from MFC based applications other
than AutoCAD (or other Autodesk products), the library's intended use is by
Autodesk and third parties expressly for the creation of software to work
exclusively with AutoCAD, or other Autodesk products. Use of this DLL for
non-AutoCAD, standalone products is not permitted under the AutoCAD
license agreement.

AdUi and AcUi provide classes that implement the following features:

+ Dialog resizing
+ Dialog data persistency
+ Tabbed dialogs
+ Extensible tabbed dialogs
+ Context-sensitive help and F1 help
+ Dialog interaction with AutoCAD's drawing editor
+ Bitmap buttons that are easy to use
+ Static bitmap buttons
+ Bitmap buttons that are drag and drop sites
+ Toolbar-style bitmap buttons
+ Owner-draw buttons that are easy to use
+ Dialog and control support for standard ToolTips
+ Dialog and control support for TextTips (which display truncated text)
+ Dialog and control support for DrawTips (owner-draw TextTips)
+ Custom messaging, including data validation
+ Combo boxes that display and allow the selection of many AutoCAD specific
  items
+ Docking control bar windows for use with AutoCAD
+ AutoCAD-specific bitmap buttons (stock Pick and Select buttons)
+ Specialized edit controls that can perform AutoCAD-specific data
  validation
+ Custom messaging, including data validation

See the following solutions for more details:

HOW TO USE SOME OF THE ACUI FEATURES
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=41309

COMBOBOX/MOUSE OVER/DISAPPEAR AND TEXT SIZE IN DOCKBAR
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=44965

TOOLTIP FOR THE BITMAP BUTTON AND MORE
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=45283

Some other solutions are in process of being published and will appear very
soon on the ADN WEB site. Please monitor the AdUi/AcUi signposts in the near
future at:

http://adn.autodesk.com/techsupp/apikb/_acui_adui.htm

A sample using the above classes is also available at:

http://adn.autodesk.com/techsupp/utilitiessamples.htm
  

(3) The ObjectARX Wizard Add-In
===============================

Another important item is that the ObjectARX 2000 Wizard fully supports all
of the AdUi/AcUi classes. When you select the "MFC" button from the
ObjectARX 2000 Add-in toolbar, you will be presented with a dialog box from
which you can create a new derived class from one of the above AdUi/AcUi
classes. The Wizard implements all the necessary code in the .clw file to
allow you to manage the classes from the standard MFC class wizard later.
Also the MFC class wizard will include all of the AdUi/AcUi controls in it
to allow you to define AutoCAD controls into standard MFC dialogs.

The latest ObjectARX 2000 Wizard can be downloaded from:

http://adn.autodesk.com/techsupp/utilitieswizards.htm
  

(4) New Solutions
=================

HOW CAN A PERSISTANT REACTOR ERASE ITSELF?
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=45192

HOW TO CALL COMMANDS SYNCHRONOUSLY FROM THE APPLICATION CONTEXT
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=44783

DISPLAY ATTRIBUTE DIALOG AFTER REALTIME ZOOM OR PAN
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=45317

DERIVING A CUSTOM ENTITY FROM A BLOCK REFERENCE.
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=31523

REGISTERAPPNOTMDIAWARE PREVENTS TOOLBARS FROM SHOWING THEIR BUTTONS
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=39233

MAKING NON-DATABASE RESIDENT OBJECTS WORK WITH UNDO
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=45066

HOW TO CLIP XREFS PROGRAMMETICALLY
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=45413

DXF GROUP CODE 100 MEANING
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=45287

COPY OF ACDBREGION OR ACDB3DSOLID IS NULL DURING DRAGGING
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=45284

Plenty other new solutions are available at the following URLs:

7 days old solutions
/scripts/whatsnew.pl

90 days old solutions
http://adn.autodesk.com/techsupp/apikb/whatsnew2.htm

(5) The ObjectARX UI Training
=============================

Advanced Training User Interfaces
---------------------------------

Description:

This class is for developers who want to modernize the user interface of
their applications and integrate better into Windows. The course focuses
on using MFC and ObjectARX for AutoCAD 2000.

Target audience are Third party developers, OEM customers, major account
developers and prospective development partners.  This course is not suited
for developers who already make advanced use of MFC in their applications.
It is for those who want to begin using MFC in their applications.

  
Prerequisites:

Knowledge MSVC++ and ObjectARX, some MFC.
  

Objectives:

Use of MFC in ObjectARX applications
Customizing menus for AutoCAD 2000
Introduction to new ObjectARX MFC API and Classes

Contents:

Introducing to regular and Extension DLLs
Overriding resources
Create modal and modeless dialogue boxes in MFC/ObjectARX applications
Creating toolbars
Extended Tabbed Dialogs
Separate MDI window
Dockable Dialog Bar
Installing applications.
Introduction to VBA with AutoCAD 2000

Next Training Session:

ObjectARX UI Training:  Heusenstamm (Germany)   December 9 1999    UI-HE4

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没有讲清楚tooltips