Through the Interface

Getting your AutoCAD layer report into Excel

A philosophical question regarding the Layer Reporter tool came up in a recent discussion with Tony Tanzillo. Tony suggested that using XML and XSLT would have been a better way to implement the tool, and in many ways I agree with him (I’ve been an advocate of XML for many years… during my interview to join Autodesk back in 1995 I presented a session on “Electronic Publishing Formats”, which covered HTML generation from SGML – a pre-cursor to XML – and since then I’ve used XML regularly and on quite significant projects, such as during the redesign of the ADN website in 1999-2000, when I implemented an offline process to transform XML documents into HTML using XSLT and an early version of the MS XML component). Anyway, I love XML and think it’s absolutely a great way to go for many problems. Including this one.

That said, I stand by the decision (which admittedly was Terry Dotson’s, as he developed this tool) to use HTML directly. There are times when the overhead of implementing XML & XSLT isn’t worth the additional effort (and XSLT can be very complicated), and I see this as being one of those cases. One of the design tenets behind the “Plugin of the Month” initiative is simplicity: the applications clearly need to be functional but also simple enough for people to look at and say “I could have done that” or “I could extend that myself with a little effort”. Now that’s not to say that an XML implementation wouldn’t give people more flexibility to work with the data – it probably would – but that just wasn’t part of the original design.

As there’s obviously value in being able to work with the layer report data in other applications, especially Excel (and in a way where you have actual data inside cells rather than images, which is what happens if you import an MHT file), I did some experimenting and found a pretty workable solution. If we write an “alt” attribute to our <img> tags in the HTML output to provide alternative text, this text will then be used when importing the content to Excel using the right-click menu on the layer report.

The below C# code (from Report.vb) adds alternative text for all the images in the HTML output:

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors

Imports System.Text

Imports System.Drawing

 

Public Class Report

 

  Private _init As Boolean

  Private _bmps As New Dictionary(Of String, String)

  Private _tmpHtm As String = ""

 

  Private Const kApp = "ADNPlugin-LayerReporter"

  Private Const kSec = "GenerateReport"

  Private Const kFontName = "FontName"

  Private Const kFontSize = "FontSize"

  Private Const kRetainBmps = "RetainBitmaps"

  Private Const kFieldFlags = "FieldFlags"

 

  Private Sub AppReport_FormClosing( _

    ByVal sender As Object, _

    ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.FormClosingEventArgs) _

    Handles Me.FormClosing

 

    Dim flags As Int32 = 0

    If statusFld.Checked Then flags += 1

    If onFld.Checked Then flags += 2

    If freezeFld.Checked Then flags += 4

    If lockFld.Checked Then flags += 8

    If colorFld.Checked Then flags += 16

    If ltypeFld.Checked Then flags += 32

    If lweightFld.Checked Then flags += 64

    If pstyleFld.Checked Then flags += 128

    If plotFld.Checked Then flags += 256

    If descFld.Checked Then flags += 512

    If xrefsFld.Checked Then flags += 1024

 

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontName, fontName.Text)

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontSize, fontSize.Text)

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kRetainBmps, bmpsFld.Checked)

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kFieldFlags, flags)

 

    ' Clean up temporary bitmaps?

 

    If Not bmpsFld.Checked Then

      For Each kv As KeyValuePair(Of String, String) In _bmps

        If File.Exists(kv.Value) Then

          File.Delete(kv.Value)

        End If

      Next

    End If

 

    If _tmpHtm <> "" And File.Exists(_tmpHtm) Then

      File.Delete(_tmpHtm)

    End If

 

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub AppReport_Load( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles MyBase.Load

 

    _init = True

 

    ' Export bitmaps to Temp folder and store in dictionary.

    ' This lets us easily refer to the bitmap file by key name

    ' later and get the files when it's time to clean up.

 

    Dim tmpLoc As String = Path.GetTempPath

    Dim bmps() As String = _

      {"frz", "loc", "nop", "off", "onn", "plt", _

      "thw", "unl", "use", "unu"}

 

    For Each key As String In bmps

      Dim resname As String = "lay" & key

      Dim fname As String = tmpLoc & resname & ".bmp"

      _bmps.Add(key, fname)

      Using tmpBmp As Bitmap = _

        My.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject(resname)

        tmpBmp.Save(fname)

      End Using

    Next

    ' Put font names in popdown list

    For Each fntFam As FontFamily In FontFamily.Families

      fontName.Items.Add(fntFam.Name)

    Next

 

    fontName.Text = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontName, "Arial")

    fontSize.Text = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontSize, "medium")

    bmpsFld.Checked = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kRetainBmps, False)

    Dim flags As Int32 = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kFieldFlags, 1023)

 

    statusFld.Checked = flags And 1

    onFld.Checked = flags And 2

    freezeFld.Checked = flags And 4

    lockFld.Checked = flags And 8

    colorFld.Checked = flags And 16

    ltypeFld.Checked = flags And 32

    lweightFld.Checked = flags And 64

    pstyleFld.Checked = flags And 128

    plotFld.Checked = flags And 256

    descFld.Checked = flags And 512

    xrefsFld.Checked = flags And 1024

 

    Call GenerateReport()

    _init = False

 

  End Sub

 

  ' The SelectedIndexChanged event fires when the user changes

  ' a value in the related popdown menu at the top of the form.

  Private Sub fontName_SelectedIndexChanged( _

    ByVal sender As Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles fontName.SelectedIndexChanged

 

    If Not _init Then

      Call GenerateReport()

    End If

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub fontSize_SelectedIndexChanged( _

    ByVal sender As Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles fontSize.SelectedIndexChanged

 

    If Not _init Then

      Call GenerateReport()

    End If

  End Sub

 

  ' Shared Sub handles all Options toggles to regenerate

  ' the report, note that each click event is included and

  ' separated by commas.

 

  Private Sub MenuReact( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles statusFld.Click, onFld.Click, freezeFld.Click, _

            lockFld.Click, colorFld.Click, ltypeFld.Click, _

            lweightFld.Click, pstyleFld.Click, plotFld.Click, _

            descFld.Click, xrefsFld.Click

 

    Call GenerateReport()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub GenerateReport()

 

    ' Dimension some variables as placeholders for repeatedly

    ' used strings for smaller more readable code below.

 

    Dim dwg As String = _

      Application.GetSystemVariable("DWGPREFIX") & _

      Application.GetSystemVariable("DWGNAME")

    Dim stylePre As String = _

      "style='font-family: " & fontName.Text & _

      "; font-size: " & fontSize.Text

    Dim headPre As String = "<th>&nbsp;"

    Dim headSuf As String = "&nbsp;</th>"

    Dim imgPre As String = "<td align='center'>&nbsp;<img src='"

    Dim imgMid As String = "' alt='"

    Dim imgSuf As String = "'/>&nbsp;</td>"

    Dim txtPre As String = "<td>&nbsp;"

    Dim txtSuf As String = "&nbsp;</td>"

 

    ' Get an instance of the database and layer table and create

    ' a transaction by using 'Using' instead of 'Dim' the instance

    ' will be automatically disposed after execution is complete.

 

    Using db As Database = _

      Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database

      Using tr As Transaction = _

        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction

        Using lt As LayerTable = _

          db.LayerTableId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead)

 

          ' Loop through the layer table and build a list of

          ' qualifying layer names so we can sort it for output.

          ' The default order is likely the order created.

 

          Dim lays As New List(Of String)

          For Each layId As ObjectId In lt

            Dim ltr As LayerTableRecord = _

              tr.GetObject(layId, OpenMode.ForRead)

            If xrefsFld.Checked Then

              lays.Add(ltr.Name)

            Else

              If Not ltr.IsDependent Then

                lays.Add(ltr.Name)

              End If

            End If

          Next

          lays.Sort()

 

          ' The System.Text.StringBuilder is an extremely fast way

          ' of concatenating strings, see the .NET help for more

          ' details on this versatile object!

 

          Dim sb As New StringBuilder(100000)

          sb.Append("<html><head><title>")

          sb.Append(dwg)

          sb.Append("</title></head><body><center><div ")

          sb.Append(stylePre)

          sb.Append("'><b>Layer Report</b><br/><b>")

          sb.Append(dwg)

          sb.Append("</b><br/>")

          sb.Append(Format(Now, "Long Date"))

          sb.Append("  ")

          sb.Append(Format(Now, "Long Time"))

          sb.Append("<br/><table ")

          sb.Append(stylePre)

          sb.Append(";border-collapse: collapse; border='0' ")

          sb.Append("cellpadding='0'><tr>")

          If statusFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Status")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          sb.Append(headPre)

          sb.Append("Name")

          sb.Append(headSuf)

          If onFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("On")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If freezeFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Freeze")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If lockFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Lock")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If colorFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Color")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If ltypeFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Linetype")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If lweightFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Lineweight")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If pstyleFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Plotstyle")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If plotFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Plot")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If descFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Description")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          sb.Append("</tr><tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>")

 

          ' The title and header section is done, time to fill in

          ' the layer rows.

 

          For Each lay As String In lays

 

            ' Get the layer record by its key name string using the

            ' transactions.GetObject()

 

            Dim ltr As LayerTableRecord = _

              tr.GetObject(lt(lay), OpenMode.ForRead)

            sb.Append("<tr>")

            If statusFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(imgPre)

              If ltr.IsUsed Then

                sb.Append(_bmps("use"))

                sb.Append(imgMid)

                sb.Append("Used")

              Else

                sb.Append(_bmps("unu"))

                sb.Append(imgMid)

                sb.Append("Unused")

              End If

              sb.Append(imgSuf)

            End If

            sb.Append(txtPre)

            sb.Append(ltr.Name)

            sb.Append(txtSuf)

            If onFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(imgPre)

              If ltr.IsOff Then

                sb.Append(_bmps("off"))

                sb.Append(imgMid)

                sb.Append("Off")

              Else

                sb.Append(_bmps("onn"))

                sb.Append(imgMid)

                sb.Append("On")

              End If

              sb.Append(imgSuf)

            End If

            If freezeFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(imgPre)

              If ltr.IsFrozen Then

                sb.Append(_bmps("frz"))

                sb.Append(imgMid)

                sb.Append("Frozen")

              Else

                sb.Append(_bmps("thw"))

                sb.Append(imgMid)

                sb.Append("Thawed")

              End If

              sb.Append(imgSuf)

            End If

            If lockFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(imgPre)

              If ltr.IsLocked Then

                sb.Append(_bmps("loc"))

                sb.Append(imgMid)

                sb.Append("Locked")

              Else

                sb.Append(_bmps("unl"))

                sb.Append(imgMid)

                sb.Append("Unlocked")

              End If

              sb.Append(imgSuf)

            End If

            If colorFld.Checked Then

 

              ' Used so we can show the square bullet in the

              ' layers color

 

              sb.Append("<td>&nbsp;<span style='font-family: ")

              sb.Append("Wingdings; color: ")

              sb.Append(Col2Str(ltr.Color))

              sb.Append("'>n</span>&nbsp;")

              sb.Append(ltr.Color.ColorNameForDisplay)

              sb.Append("&nbsp;</td>")

            End If

            If ltypeFld.Checked Then

 

              ' The layer record stores the linetype as an ObjectId,

              ' not a string.  This means we need to look up the

              ' linetype in that table to get it's string name.

 

              Dim ltt As LinetypeTable = _

                db.LinetypeTableId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead)

              Dim lttr As LinetypeTableRecord = _

                tr.GetObject(ltr.LinetypeObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead)

              sb.Append(txtPre)

              sb.Append(lttr.Name)

              sb.Append(txtSuf)

            End If

            If lweightFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(txtPre)

              sb.Append(Wght2Str(ltr.LineWeight))

              sb.Append(txtSuf)

            End If

            If pstyleFld.Checked Then

 

              ' The plot style is stored as a string, we can simply

              ' include it

              sb.Append(txtPre)

              sb.Append(ltr.PlotStyleName)

              sb.Append(txtSuf)

            End If

            If plotFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(imgPre)

              If ltr.IsPlottable Then

                sb.Append(_bmps("plt"))

                sb.Append(imgMid)

                sb.Append("Plottable")

              Else

                sb.Append(_bmps("nop"))

                sb.Append(imgMid)

                sb.Append("Not plottable")

              End If

              sb.Append(imgSuf)

            End If

            If descFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(txtPre)

              sb.Append(ltr.Description)

              sb.Append(txtSuf)

            End If

            sb.Append("</tr>")

          Next

          sb.Append("</table></div></center></body></html>")

 

          ' Write the HTML content to a file and then load it

 

          If _tmpHtm = "" Then

            _tmpHtm = Path.GetTempFileName() + ".htm"

          End If

 

          Using file As StreamWriter = _

            New StreamWriter(_tmpHtm, False, Encoding.Default)

            file.Write(sb.ToString)

            file.Close()

          End Using

          webWin.SuspendLayout()

          webWin.Navigate(_tmpHtm)

 

          ' Wait for the control to finish

 

          While webWin.IsBusy

            System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents()

          End While

          webWin.ResumeLayout()

          statTxt.Text = _

            lays.Count.ToString & " layer" & _

            IIf(lays.Count = 1, "", "s") & " listed"

        End Using

      End Using

    End Using

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub printBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles printBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowPrintDialog()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub prevBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles prevBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowPrintPreviewDialog()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub saveBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles saveBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowSaveAsDialog()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub setupBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles setupBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowPageSetupDialog()

  End Sub

 

  ' Helper function for the square bullet displayed, takes an _

  ' AutoCAD color as input as returns a string like #00FF00.

 

  Private Function Col2Str( _

    ByVal c As Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors.Color) As String

 

    Dim col As Int32

    If c.ColorMethod = ColorMethod.ByAci Then

      Dim bytes() As Byte = _

        BitConverter.GetBytes( _

          EntityColor.LookUpRgb(c.ColorIndex))

      col = RGB(bytes(0), bytes(1), bytes(2))

    Else

      col = RGB(c.Blue, c.Green, c.Red)

    End If

    Return ColorTranslator.ToHtml( _

      System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(col))

  End Function

 

  ' Helper function for lineweights, takes the stored value

  ' and returns  a string similar to AutoCAD's layer dialog

  ' (in the current units).

 

  Private Function Wght2Str(ByVal weight As Single) _

    As String

 

    Select Case weight

      Case -3

        Return "Default"

      Case -2

        Return "ByBlock"

      Case -1

        Return "ByLayer"

      Case Else

        If Application.GetSystemVariable("LWUNITS") = 1 Then

          Return Format(weight / 100.0, "0.00") & "mm"

        Else

          Return Format(weight / 25.4 / 100.0, "0.000") & Chr(34)

        End If

    End Select

  End Function

 

End Class

When we right-click the layer report shown by AutoCAD we have the option to “Export to Microsoft Excel”:

We then get asked to provide import options (note that the behaviour appears to be different whether you right-clicked on the text preceding the table or the table itself: if on the table you don’t see the options, as you’re presumably just bringing across the table rather than the whole document).

Selecting the default values by pressing Import and OK to the following dialog, we then get our data inside Excel:

We see the “Color” values have an “n” in front, because we actually use the Wingdings letter ‘n’ (‘n’) for our colored square representing the color, but that should be simple enough to search & replace away.

My current plan is for this version to go live in the next few days, but I do need to check in with Scott Sheppard while in Vegas, to make sure he has the time to help get it posted.

Breaking news: ADN members can attend AU Virtual for free

For any Autodesk Developer Network members who have not already signed up for AUv, in the upcoming edition of our DevNews newsletter you’ll find a discount code allowing you to received a free Premier Pass for AU Virtual (normally worth $99). If you don’t know who in your organisation receives DevNews, please send us an email with your ADN number and we’ll get you the information.

And if you do manage to attend, please do join one of my F# sessions (here are some other AutoCAD-related AUv sessions, and I know Jeremy’s also delivering one on Revit families).

Quick tour of the AUv experience

If you’re curious about the AU Virtual experience (perhaps you’ve signed up and are wondering what it’s going to be like, perhaps you’re thinking about signing up but would like to know what you’re getting into, or perhaps you have no intention whatsoever of signing up but just want to know what 13,000+ other people are going to be doing next week :-) then check out this video:

And if you end up attending AUv, I’m sure there are plenty of virtual seats left in my F# class! :-)

Using Erlang-style message passing from F# to coordinate asynchronous tasks in AutoCAD

This is something I’ve been meaning to attempt for a while, and have finally been spurred to do it by next week’s AU Virtual session on F#. Not that I expect to have time to present this during the session (60 minutes is already feeling way too short for the material I want to cover), but I at least wanted to have this working so I could present with a touch more authority. :-)

In last year’s session we used Asynchronous Workflows to improve the performance of IO-bound operations, such as retrieving multiple RSS feeds and displaying the results in AutoCAD. Asynchronous Workflows works very well for coordinating such tasks, but the mechanism also has limitations when coordinating activities that require more complex networks of communication. This is where agent-based message passing – a technique that has gained a great deal of press lately thanks to Erlang, another functional programming language, and that Microsoft has also adopted in another of its object-oriented programming languages called Axum – comes into its own.

The idea is that you set up a number of agents (also known as actors) that perform different roles, and they sit there waiting for messages telling them when to perform the task(s) they’ve been designed for. If needed, these agents can send their own messages to other agents to get further tasks done. The results of these tasks can be reported back to whoever needs to know what has happened (or is happening). I’m sure this is a gross over-simplification of the technique, but there you go.

In the below code, which solves the same “problem” of turning AutoCAD into an RSS reader, defines a single agent which collects hyperlink information by downloading and parsing RSS feeds before sending a response with this data back to the caller. The collection is done asynchronously, but the code that fires off the “jobs” to collect the data is actually synchronous. In the next post we’ll look at a completely asynchronous version to see whether it’s worth the effort of making it so.

Here’s the F# code, defining our MRSS command:

// Declare a specific namespace and module name

 

module AgentSyncRssReader.Commands

 

// Import managed namespaces

 

open Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime

open Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices

open Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices

open Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry

open System.Xml

open System.IO

open System.Net

open Microsoft.FSharp.Control.WebExtensions

 

// The RSS feeds we wish to get. The first two values are

// only used if our code is not able to parse the feed's XML

 

let feeds =

  [ ("Through the Interface",

    "http://blogs.autodesk.com/through-the-interface",

    "http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/" +

      "through_the_interface/rss.xml");

 

    ("Don Syme's F# blog",

    "http://blogs.msdn.com/dsyme/",

    "http://blogs.msdn.com/dsyme/rss.xml");

 

    ("Shaan Hurley's Between the Lines",

    "http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines",

    "http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/rss.xml");

 

    ("Scott Sheppard's It's Alive in the Lab",

    "http://blogs.autodesk.com/labs",

    "http://labs.blogs.com/its_alive_in_the_lab/rss.xml");

 

    ("Volker Joseph's Beyond the Paper",

    "http://blogs.autodesk.com/beyond_the_paper",

    "http://dwf.blogs.com/beyond_the_paper/rss.xml") ]

 

// Fetch the contents of a web page, asynchronously

 

let httpAsync(url:string) =

  async { let req = WebRequest.Create(url)

          use! resp = req.AsyncGetResponse()

          use stream = resp.GetResponseStream()

          use reader = new StreamReader(stream)

          return reader.ReadToEnd() }

 

// Load an RSS feed's contents into an XML document object

// and use it to extract the titles and their links

// Hopefully these always match (this could be coded more

// defensively)

 

let titlesAndLinks (name, url, xml) =

  try

    let xdoc = new XmlDocument()

    xdoc.LoadXml(xml)

 

    let titles =

      [ for n in xdoc.SelectNodes("//*[name()='title']")

          -> n.InnerText ]

    let links =

      [ for n in xdoc.SelectNodes("//*[name()='link']") ->

          let inn = n.InnerText

          if  inn.Length > 0 then

            inn

          else

            let href = n.Attributes.GetNamedItem("href").Value

            let rel = n.Attributes.GetNamedItem("rel").Value

            if List.exists

                (fun x -> href.Contains(x))

                ["feedburner";"feedproxy";"hubbub"] then

              ""

            else

              href ]

 

    let descs =

      [ for n in xdoc.SelectNodes

          ("//*[name()='description' or name()='subtitle'" +

          " or name()='summary']")

            -> n.InnerText ]

 

    // A local function to filter out duplicate entries in

    // a list, maintaining their current order.

    // Another way would be to use:

    //    Set.of_list lst |> Set.to_list

    // but that results in a sorted (probably reordered) list.

 

    let rec nub lst =

      match lst with

      | a::[] -> [a]

      | a::b ->

        if a = List.head b then

          nub b

        else

          a::nub b

      | [] -> []

 

    // Filter the links to get (hopefully) the same number

    // and order as the titles and descriptions

 

    let real = List.filter (fun (x:string) -> x.Length > 0) 

    let lnks = real links |> nub

 

    // Return a link to the overall blog, if we don't have

    // the same numbers of titles, links and descriptions

 

    let lnum = List.length lnks

    let tnum = List.length titles

    let dnum = List.length descs

 

    if tnum = 0 || lnum = 0 || lnum <> tnum ||

      dnum <> tnum then

      [(name,url,url)]

    else

      List.zip3 titles lnks descs

  with _ -> []

 

// For a particular (name,url) pair,

// create an AutoCAD HyperLink object

 

let hyperlink (name,url,desc) =

  let hl = new HyperLink()

  hl.Name <- url

  hl.Description <- desc

  (name, hl)

 

// Use asynchronous workflows in F# to download

// an RSS feed and return AutoCAD HyperLinks

// corresponding to its posts

 

let hyperlinksAsync (name, url, feed) =

  async { let! xml = httpAsync feed

          let tl = titlesAndLinks (name, url, xml)

          return List.map hyperlink tl }

 

// Now we declare our command

 

[<CommandMethod("mrss")>]

let createHyperlinksFromRssAsyncViaMailbox() =

 

  let starttime = System.DateTime.Now

 

  // Let's get the usual helpful AutoCAD objects

 

  let doc =

    Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument

  let ed = doc.Editor

  let db = doc.Database

 

  // "use" has the same effect as "using" in C#

 

  use tr =

    db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction()

 

  // Get appropriately-typed BlockTable and BTRs

 

  let bt =

    tr.GetObject

      (db.BlockTableId,OpenMode.ForRead)

      :?> BlockTable

  let ms =

    tr.GetObject

      (bt.[BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace],

      OpenMode.ForWrite)

      :?> BlockTableRecord

 

  // Add text objects linking to the provided list of

  // HyperLinks, starting at the specified location

 

  // Note the valid use of tr and ms, as they are in scope

 

  let addTextObjects (pt : Point3d) lst =

    // Use a for loop, as we care about the index to

    // position the various text items

 

    let len = List.length lst

    for index = 0 to len - 1 do

      let txt = new DBText()

      let (name:string,hl:HyperLink) = List.nth lst index

      txt.TextString <- name

      let offset =

        if index = 0 then

          0.0

        else

          1.0

 

      // This is where you can adjust:

      //  the initial outdent (x value)

      //  and the line spacing (y value)

 

      let vec =

        new Vector3d

          (1.0 * offset,

          -0.5 * (float index),

          0.0)

      let pt2 = pt + vec

      txt.Position <- pt2

      ms.AppendEntity(txt) |> ignore

      tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(txt,true)

      txt.Hyperlinks.Add(hl) |> ignore

 

  // Define our agent to process messages regarding

  // hyperlinks to gather and process

 

  let agent =

    MailboxProcessor.Start(fun inbox ->

      let rec loop() = async {     

 

        // An asynchronous operation to receive the message

 

        let! (i, tup, reply :

          AsyncReplyChannel<(string * HyperLink) list>) =

            inbox.Receive()

 

        // And another to collect the hyperlinks for a feed

 

        let! res = hyperlinksAsync tup

 

        // And then we reply with the results

        // (the list of hyperlinks)

 

        reply.Reply(res)

 

        // Recurse to process more messages

 

        return! loop()

      }

 

      // Start the loop

 

      loop()

    )

 

  // Iterate through the list of feeds, firing off messages

  // to our agent for each one

 

  List.iteri

    (fun i item ->

      let res = agent.PostAndReply(fun rep -> (i, item, rep))

 

      // Once we have the response (synchronously), create

      // the corresponding AutoCAD text objects

 

      let pt =

        new Point3d

          (15.0 * (float i),

          30.0,

          0.0)

      addTextObjects pt res

    )

    feeds

 

  tr.Commit()

 

  let elapsed =

    System.DateTime.op_Subtraction

      (System.DateTime.Now, starttime)

 

  ed.WriteMessage("\nElapsed time: " + elapsed.ToString())

 

Here are the results of the MRSS command:

The code executes a little more slowly than the “pure” asynchronous workflows version (ARSS), but more quickly than the purely synchronous version (RSS). I think this can probably be explained by the additional effort needed under the covers to coordinate the various workers that are getting the data and processing it, before modifying the contents of the AutoCAD Database. The ARSS command did this by waiting to get the data on all the feeds before creating the text objects in one fell swoop, which – for this relatively simple example – is probably more efficient. I suspect the complexity of a message-passing architecture (at least I find it complex right now – I’m sure it grows on you) becomes worthwhile when you start tackling more complex tasks.

Minor update to the Layer Reporter Plugin of the Month

A comment on the code posted in the last post regarding the upcoming Plugin of the Month for the month of December, Layer Reporter, gave me some pause for thought. Tony Tanzillo suggested that making more complete use of the StringBuilder object – rather than direct string concatenation using “&” – would improve the performance of the plugin.

As I mentioned in my own comment, Terry’s original code did make heavier use of the StringBuilder, but while adjusting the HTML output to make it lighter-weight I introduced a number of string concatenation operations: looking back there were several that weren’t even needed, but I had left them in as I was adjusting the output.

Anyway, I decided to rework the code to be make it more consistent, as well as re-introducing the original capacity allocation of 100,000 characters (which should also help performance). It seems that memory allocation is the key to the decision of whether to use a StringBuilder or direct concatenation of String objects:

The performance of a concatenation operation for a String or StringBuilder object depends on how often a memory allocation occurs. A String concatenation operation always allocates memory, whereas a StringBuilder concatenation operation only allocates memory if the StringBuilder object buffer is too small to accommodate the new data. Consequently, the String class is preferable for a concatenation operation if a fixed number of String objects are concatenated. In that case, the individual concatenation operations might even be combined into a single operation by the compiler. A StringBuilder object is preferable for a concatenation operation if an arbitrary number of strings are concatenated; for example, if a loop concatenates a random number of strings of user input.

In case you’re wondering, I probably wouldn’t have bothered posting an update on this specific issue, but as I’m still wading through my final AU prep I’m on the lookout for cheap post topics. :-)

Here’s the updated VB.NET code for the Report.vb file, which will make it into the eventual distribution:

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors

Imports System.Text

Imports System.Drawing

 

Public Class Report

 

  Private _init As Boolean

  Private _bmps As New Dictionary(Of String, String)

  Private _tmpHtm As String = ""

 

  Private Const kApp = "ADNPlugin-LayerReporter"

  Private Const kSec = "GenerateReport"

  Private Const kFontName = "FontName"

  Private Const kFontSize = "FontSize"

  Private Const kRetainBmps = "RetainBitmaps"

  Private Const kFieldFlags = "FieldFlags"

 

  Private Sub AppReport_FormClosing( _

    ByVal sender As Object, _

    ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.FormClosingEventArgs) _

    Handles Me.FormClosing

 

    Dim flags As Int32 = 0

    If statusFld.Checked Then flags += 1

    If onFld.Checked Then flags += 2

    If freezeFld.Checked Then flags += 4

    If lockFld.Checked Then flags += 8

    If colorFld.Checked Then flags += 16

    If ltypeFld.Checked Then flags += 32

    If lweightFld.Checked Then flags += 64

    If pstyleFld.Checked Then flags += 128

    If plotFld.Checked Then flags += 256

    If descFld.Checked Then flags += 512

    If xrefsFld.Checked Then flags += 1024

 

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontName, fontName.Text)

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontSize, fontSize.Text)

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kRetainBmps, bmpsFld.Checked)

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kFieldFlags, flags)

 

    ' Clean up temporary bitmaps?

 

    If Not bmpsFld.Checked Then

      For Each kv As KeyValuePair(Of String, String) In _bmps

        If File.Exists(kv.Value) Then

          File.Delete(kv.Value)

        End If

      Next

    End If

 

    If _tmpHtm <> "" And File.Exists(_tmpHtm) Then

      File.Delete(_tmpHtm)

    End If

 

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub AppReport_Load( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles MyBase.Load

 

    _init = True

 

    ' Export bitmaps to Temp folder and store in dictionary.

    ' This lets us easily refer to the bitmap file by key name

    ' later and get the files when it's time to clean up.

 

    Dim tmpLoc As String = Path.GetTempPath

    Dim bmps() As String = _

      {"frz", "loc", "nop", "off", "onn", "plt", _

      "thw", "unl", "use", "unu"}

 

    For Each key As String In bmps

      Dim resname As String = "lay" & key

      Dim fname As String = tmpLoc & resname & ".bmp"

      _bmps.Add(key, fname)

      Using tmpBmp As Bitmap = _

        My.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject(resname)

        tmpBmp.Save(fname)

      End Using

    Next

    ' Put font names in popdown list

    For Each fntFam As FontFamily In FontFamily.Families

      fontName.Items.Add(fntFam.Name)

    Next

 

    fontName.Text = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontName, "Arial")

    fontSize.Text = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontSize, "medium")

    bmpsFld.Checked = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kRetainBmps, False)

    Dim flags As Int32 = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kFieldFlags, 1023)

 

    statusFld.Checked = flags And 1

    onFld.Checked = flags And 2

    freezeFld.Checked = flags And 4

    lockFld.Checked = flags And 8

    colorFld.Checked = flags And 16

    ltypeFld.Checked = flags And 32

    lweightFld.Checked = flags And 64

    pstyleFld.Checked = flags And 128

    plotFld.Checked = flags And 256

    descFld.Checked = flags And 512

    xrefsFld.Checked = flags And 1024

 

    Call GenerateReport()

    _init = False

 

  End Sub

 

  ' The SelectedIndexChanged event fires when the user changes

  ' a value in the related popdown menu at the top of the form.

  Private Sub fontName_SelectedIndexChanged( _

    ByVal sender As Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles fontName.SelectedIndexChanged

 

    If Not _init Then

      Call GenerateReport()

    End If

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub fontSize_SelectedIndexChanged( _

    ByVal sender As Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles fontSize.SelectedIndexChanged

 

    If Not _init Then

      Call GenerateReport()

    End If

  End Sub

 

  ' Shared Sub handles all Options toggles to regenerate

  ' the report, note that each click event is included and

  ' separated by commas.

 

  Private Sub MenuReact( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles statusFld.Click, onFld.Click, freezeFld.Click, _

            lockFld.Click, colorFld.Click, ltypeFld.Click, _

            lweightFld.Click, pstyleFld.Click, plotFld.Click, _

            descFld.Click, xrefsFld.Click

 

    Call GenerateReport()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub GenerateReport()

 

    ' Dimension some variables as placeholders for repeatedly

    ' used strings for smaller more readable code below.

 

    Dim dwg As String = _

      Application.GetSystemVariable("DWGPREFIX") & _

      Application.GetSystemVariable("DWGNAME")

    Dim stylePre As String = _

      "style='font-family: " & fontName.Text & _

      "; font-size: " & fontSize.Text

    Dim headPre As String = "<th>&nbsp;"

    Dim headSuf As String = "&nbsp;</th>"

    Dim imgPre As String = "<td align='center'>&nbsp;<img src='"

    Dim imgSuf As String = "'/>&nbsp;</td>"

    Dim txtPre As String = "<td>&nbsp;"

    Dim txtSuf As String = "&nbsp;</td>"

 

    ' Get an instance of the database and layer table and create

    ' a transaction by using 'Using' instead of 'Dim' the instance

    ' will be automatically disposed after execution is complete.

 

    Using db As Database = _

      Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database

      Using tr As Transaction = _

        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction

        Using lt As LayerTable = _

          db.LayerTableId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead)

 

          ' Loop through the layer table and build a list of

          ' qualifying layer names so we can sort it for output.

          ' The default order is likely the order created.

 

          Dim lays As New List(Of String)

          For Each layId As ObjectId In lt

            Dim ltr As LayerTableRecord = _

              tr.GetObject(layId, OpenMode.ForRead)

            If xrefsFld.Checked Then

              lays.Add(ltr.Name)

            Else

              If Not ltr.IsDependent Then

                lays.Add(ltr.Name)

              End If

            End If

          Next

          lays.Sort()

 

          ' The System.Text.StringBuilder is an extremely fast way

          ' of concatenating strings, see the .NET help for more

          ' details on this versatile object!

 

          Dim sb As New StringBuilder(100000)

          sb.Append("<html><head><title>")

          sb.Append(dwg)

          sb.Append("</title></head><body><center><div ")

          sb.Append(stylePre)

          sb.Append("'><b>Layer Report</b><br/><b>")

          sb.Append(dwg)

          sb.Append("</b><br/>")

          sb.Append(Format(Now, "Long Date"))

          sb.Append("  ")

          sb.Append(Format(Now, "Long Time"))

          sb.Append("<br/><table ")

          sb.Append(stylePre)

          sb.Append(";border-collapse: collapse; border='0' ")

          sb.Append("cellpadding='0'><tr>")

          If statusFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Status")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          sb.Append(headPre)

          sb.Append("Name")

          sb.Append(headSuf)

          If onFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("On")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If freezeFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Freeze")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If lockFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Lock")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If colorFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Color")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If ltypeFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Linetype")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If lweightFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Lineweight")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If pstyleFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Plotstyle")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If plotFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Plot")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          If descFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre)

            sb.Append("Description")

            sb.Append(headSuf)

          End If

          sb.Append("</tr><tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>")

 

          ' The title and header section is done, time to fill in

          ' the layer rows.

 

          For Each lay As String In lays

 

            ' Get the layer record by its key name string using the

            ' transactions.GetObject()

 

            Dim ltr As LayerTableRecord = _

              tr.GetObject(lt(lay), OpenMode.ForRead)

            sb.Append("<tr>")

            If statusFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(imgPre)

              sb.Append( _

                IIf(ltr.IsUsed, _bmps("use"), _bmps("unu")))

              sb.Append(imgSuf)

            End If

            sb.Append(txtPre)

            sb.Append(ltr.Name)

            sb.Append(txtSuf)

            If onFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(imgPre)

              sb.Append( _

                IIf(ltr.IsOff, _bmps("off"), _bmps("onn")))

              sb.Append(imgSuf)

            End If

            If freezeFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(imgPre)

              sb.Append( _

                IIf(ltr.IsFrozen, _bmps("frz"), _bmps("thw")))

              sb.Append(imgSuf)

            End If

            If lockFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(imgPre)

              sb.Append( _

                IIf(ltr.IsLocked, _bmps("loc"), _bmps("unl")))

              sb.Append(imgSuf)

            End If

            If colorFld.Checked Then

 

              ' Used so we can show the square bullet in the

              ' layers color

 

              sb.Append("<td>&nbsp;<span style='font-family: ")

              sb.Append("Wingdings; color: ")

              sb.Append(Col2Str(ltr.Color))

              sb.Append("'>n</span>&nbsp;")

              sb.Append(ltr.Color.ColorNameForDisplay)

              sb.Append("&nbsp;</td>")

            End If

            If ltypeFld.Checked Then

 

              ' The layer record stores the linetype as an ObjectId,

              ' not a string.  This means we need to look up the

              ' linetype in that table to get it's string name.

 

              Dim ltt As LinetypeTable = _

                db.LinetypeTableId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead)

              Dim lttr As LinetypeTableRecord = _

                tr.GetObject(ltr.LinetypeObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead)

              sb.Append(txtPre)

              sb.Append(lttr.Name)

              sb.Append(txtSuf)

            End If

            If lweightFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(txtPre)

              sb.Append(Wght2Str(ltr.LineWeight))

              sb.Append(txtSuf)

            End If

            If pstyleFld.Checked Then

 

              ' The plot style is stored as a string, we can simply

              ' include it

              sb.Append(txtPre)

              sb.Append(ltr.PlotStyleName)

              sb.Append(txtSuf)

            End If

            If plotFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(imgPre)

              sb.Append( _

                IIf(ltr.IsPlottable, _bmps("plt"), _bmps("nop")))

              sb.Append(imgSuf)

            End If

            If descFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(txtPre)

              sb.Append(ltr.Description)

              sb.Append(txtSuf)

            End If

            sb.Append("</tr>")

          Next

          sb.Append("</table></div></center></body></html>")

 

          ' Write the HTML content to a file and then load it

 

          If _tmpHtm = "" Then

            _tmpHtm = Path.GetTempFileName() + ".htm"

          End If

 

          Using file As StreamWriter = _

            New StreamWriter(_tmpHtm, False, Encoding.Default)

            file.Write(sb.ToString)

            file.Close()

          End Using

          webWin.SuspendLayout()

          webWin.Navigate(_tmpHtm)

 

          ' Wait for the control to finish

 

          While webWin.IsBusy

            System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents()

          End While

          webWin.ResumeLayout()

          statTxt.Text = _

            lays.Count.ToString & " layer" & _

            IIf(lays.Count = 1, "", "s") & " listed"

        End Using

      End Using

    End Using

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub printBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles printBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowPrintDialog()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub prevBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles prevBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowPrintPreviewDialog()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub saveBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles saveBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowSaveAsDialog()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub setupBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles setupBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowPageSetupDialog()

  End Sub

 

  ' Helper function for the square bullet displayed, takes an _

  ' AutoCAD color as input as returns a string like #00FF00.

 

  Private Function Col2Str( _

    ByVal c As Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors.Color) As String

 

    Dim col As Int32

    If c.ColorMethod = ColorMethod.ByAci Then

      Dim bytes() As Byte = _

        BitConverter.GetBytes( _

          EntityColor.LookUpRgb(c.ColorIndex))

      col = RGB(bytes(0), bytes(1), bytes(2))

    Else

      col = RGB(c.Blue, c.Green, c.Red)

    End If

    Return ColorTranslator.ToHtml( _

      System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(col))

  End Function

 

  ' Helper function for lineweights, takes the stored value

  ' and returns  a string similar to AutoCAD's layer dialog

  ' (in the current units).

 

  Private Function Wght2Str(ByVal weight As Single) _

    As String

 

    Select Case weight

      Case -3

        Return "Default"

      Case -2

        Return "ByBlock"

      Case -1

        Return "ByLayer"

      Case Else

        If Application.GetSystemVariable("LWUNITS") = 1 Then

          Return Format(weight / 100.0, "0.00") & "mm"

        Else

          Return Format(weight / 25.4 / 100.0, "0.000") & Chr(34)

        End If

    End Select

  End Function

 

End Class

Preview of December’s Plugin of the Month: Layer Reporter

I feel like I’m posting a lot about our Plugin of the Month initiative, at the moment, but then I suppose it’s to some degree a function of what I’m spending time on. It’s definitely eating into the time I would normally focus on blogging… after a number of AU-related posts coming out over the next few weeks (as I finish my AU prep next week and then blog from the event the week after) I’d hope to return to somewhat more typical posts in December (although as I’m going on to Japan, Korea and China from Las Vegas, this might be a bit optimistic).

Anyway, I thought it was a good time to unveil December’s plugin, a tool donated by our old friend Terry Dotson. Terry’s company, DotSoft, has been a member of the Autodesk Developer Network since 1992 (since before it was even called ADN, in fact :-). I’ve spent a little time changing variable names and reformatting the code to be consistent with this blog, but the techniques shown are very much Terry’s.

I really like this tool: it makes heavy use of the WinForms web browser control (System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser) to display a report generated from the contents of the active drawing’s layer table. The application generates HTML based on the layers in the drawing and then saves it to a temporary folder before loading it into the browser control. The original implementation just set the DocumentText of the browser, but we found this limited the formats the control could save to (more on this feature in a moment). Once the report is displayed the user can customize the font and font-size as well as the choice of which columns to include in the report. These settings get saved by the application, so if you wish to generate reports for multiple drawings there’s not need to make the changes each time. Once the report looks right you can save it to file – whether to a web archive (.MHT), complete or simple web pages (.HTM) or to a plain text file (.TXT) – or print it.

Here’s an example of the results of the REPORTLAYERS command on a blank drawing:

Now let’s run it on a more complex drawing with more layers, and adjust the settings to suit our particular needs:

We can save the report…

We can configure its page setup…

Preview the print session…

Or just go ahead and print it directly…

Now for the code. The application was written in VB.NET (which is great, as it gives us – so far – a monthly alternation between C# and VB). You can download a preview version of the tool with source code here.

Here’s the main “code behind” the Report class, which does the bulk of the work:

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors

Imports System.Text

Imports System.Drawing

 

Public Class Report

 

  Private _init As Boolean

  Private _bmps As New Dictionary(Of String, String)

  Private _tmpHtm As String = ""

 

  Private Const kApp = "ADNPlugin-LayerReporter"

  Private Const kSec = "GenerateReport"

  Private Const kFontName = "FontName"

  Private Const kFontSize = "FontSize"

  Private Const kRetainBmps = "RetainBitmaps"

  Private Const kFieldFlags = "FieldFlags"

 

  Private Sub AppReport_FormClosing( _

    ByVal sender As Object, _

    ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.FormClosingEventArgs) _

    Handles Me.FormClosing

 

    Dim flags As Int32 = 0

    If statusFld.Checked Then flags += 1

    If onFld.Checked Then flags += 2

    If freezeFld.Checked Then flags += 4

    If lockFld.Checked Then flags += 8

    If colorFld.Checked Then flags += 16

    If ltypeFld.Checked Then flags += 32

    If lweightFld.Checked Then flags += 64

    If pstyleFld.Checked Then flags += 128

    If plotFld.Checked Then flags += 256

    If descFld.Checked Then flags += 512

    If xrefsFld.Checked Then flags += 1024

 

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontName, fontName.Text)

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontSize, fontSize.Text)

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kRetainBmps, bmpsFld.Checked)

    SaveSetting(kApp, kSec, kFieldFlags, flags)

 

    ' Clean up temporary bitmaps?

 

    If Not bmpsFld.Checked Then

      For Each kv As KeyValuePair(Of String, String) In _bmps

        If File.Exists(kv.Value) Then

          File.Delete(kv.Value)

        End If

      Next

    End If

 

    If _tmpHtm <> "" And File.Exists(_tmpHtm) Then

      File.Delete(_tmpHtm)

    End If

 

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub AppReport_Load( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles MyBase.Load

 

    _init = True

 

    ' Export bitmaps to Temp folder and store in dictionary.

    ' This lets us easily refer to the bitmap file by key name

    ' later and get the files when it's time to clean up.

 

    Dim tmpLoc As String = Path.GetTempPath

    Dim bmps() As String = _

      {"frz", "loc", "nop", "off", "onn", "plt", _

      "thw", "unl", "use", "unu"}

 

    For Each key As String In bmps

      Dim resname As String = "lay" & key

      Dim fname As String = tmpLoc & resname & ".bmp"

      _bmps.Add(key, fname)

      Using tmpBmp As Bitmap = _

        My.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject(resname)

        tmpBmp.Save(fname)

      End Using

    Next

    ' Put font names in popdown list

    For Each fntFam As FontFamily In FontFamily.Families

      fontName.Items.Add(fntFam.Name)

    Next

 

    fontName.Text = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontName, "Arial")

    fontSize.Text = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kFontSize, "medium")

    bmpsFld.Checked = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kRetainBmps, False)

    Dim flags As Int32 = _

      GetSetting(kApp, kSec, kFieldFlags, 1023)

 

    statusFld.Checked = flags And 1

    onFld.Checked = flags And 2

    freezeFld.Checked = flags And 4

    lockFld.Checked = flags And 8

    colorFld.Checked = flags And 16

    ltypeFld.Checked = flags And 32

    lweightFld.Checked = flags And 64

    pstyleFld.Checked = flags And 128

    plotFld.Checked = flags And 256

    descFld.Checked = flags And 512

    xrefsFld.Checked = flags And 1024

 

    Call GenerateReport()

    _init = False

 

  End Sub

 

  ' The SelectedIndexChanged event fires when the user changes

  ' a value in the related popdown menu at the top of the form.

  Private Sub fontName_SelectedIndexChanged( _

    ByVal sender As Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles fontName.SelectedIndexChanged

 

    If Not _init Then

      Call GenerateReport()

    End If

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub fontSize_SelectedIndexChanged( _

    ByVal sender As Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles fontSize.SelectedIndexChanged

 

    If Not _init Then

      Call GenerateReport()

    End If

  End Sub

 

  ' Shared Sub handles all Options toggles to regenerate

  ' the report, note that each click event is included and

  ' separated by commas.

 

  Private Sub MenuReact( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _

    Handles statusFld.Click, onFld.Click, freezeFld.Click, _

            lockFld.Click, colorFld.Click, ltypeFld.Click, _

            lweightFld.Click, pstyleFld.Click, plotFld.Click, _

            descFld.Click, xrefsFld.Click

 

    Call GenerateReport()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub GenerateReport()

 

    ' Dimension some variables as placeholders for repeatedly

    ' used strings for smaller more readable code below.

 

    Dim dwg As String = _

      Application.GetSystemVariable("DWGPREFIX") & _

      Application.GetSystemVariable("DWGNAME")

    Dim stylePre As String = _

      "style='font-family: " & fontName.Text & "; font-size: " & _

      fontSize.Text

    Dim headPre As String = "<th>" & "&nbsp;"

    Dim headSuf As String = "&nbsp;" & "</th>"

    Dim imgPre As String = _

      "<td align='center'>&nbsp;<img src='"

    Dim imgSuf As String = "'/>&nbsp;</td>"

    Dim txtPre As String = "<td>" & "&nbsp;"

    Dim txtSuf As String = "&nbsp;" & "</td>"

 

    ' Get an instance of the database and layer table and create

    ' a transaction by using 'Using' instead of 'Dim' the instance

    ' will be automatically disposed after execution is complete.

 

    Using db As Database = _

      Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database

      Using tr As Transaction = _

        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction

        Using lt As LayerTable = _

          db.LayerTableId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead)

 

          ' Loop through the layer table and build a list of

          ' qualifying layer names so we can sort it for output.

          ' The default order is likely the order created.

 

          Dim lays As New List(Of String)

          For Each layId As ObjectId In lt

            Dim ltr As LayerTableRecord = _

              tr.GetObject(layId, OpenMode.ForRead)

            If xrefsFld.Checked Then

              lays.Add(ltr.Name)

            Else

              If Not ltr.IsDependent Then

                lays.Add(ltr.Name)

              End If

            End If

          Next

          lays.Sort()

 

          ' The System.Text.StringBuilder is an extremely fast way

          ' of concatenating strings, see the .NET help for more

          ' details on this versatile object!

 

          Dim sb As New StringBuilder()

          sb.Append( _

            "<html><head>" & _

            "<title>" & dwg & "</title>" & _

            "</head>" & _

            "<body>")

          sb.Append("<center><div " & stylePre & "'>")

          sb.Append( _

            "<b>" & "Layer Report" & _

            "</b>" & "<br/>")

          sb.Append( _

            "<b>" & dwg & "</b>" & "<br/>")

          sb.Append( _

            Format(Now, "Long Date") & "  " & _

            Format(Now, "Long Time") & "<br/>")

          sb.Append( _

            "<table " & stylePre & ";border-collapse: collapse; " & _

            "border='0' " & _

            "cellpadding='0'>")

          sb.Append("<tr>")

          If statusFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre & "Status" & headSuf)

          End If

          sb.Append(headPre & "Name" & headSuf)

          If onFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre & "On" & headSuf)

          End If

          If freezeFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre & "Freeze" & headSuf)

          End If

          If lockFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre & "Lock" & headSuf)

          End If

          If colorFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre & "Color" & headSuf)

          End If

          If ltypeFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre & "Linetype" & headSuf)

          End If

          If lweightFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre & "Lineweight" & headSuf)

          End If

          If pstyleFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre & "PlotStyle" & headSuf)

          End If

          If plotFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre & "Plot" & headSuf)

          End If

          If descFld.Checked Then

            sb.Append(headPre & "Description" & headSuf)

          End If

          sb.Append("</tr>")

          sb.Append("<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>")

 

          ' The title and header section is done, time to fill in

          ' the layer rows.

 

          For Each lay As String In lays

 

            ' Get the layer record by its key name string using the

            ' transactions.GetObject()

 

            Dim ltr As LayerTableRecord = _

              tr.GetObject(lt(lay), OpenMode.ForRead)

            sb.Append("<tr>")

            If statusFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append( _

                imgPre & _

                IIf(ltr.IsUsed, _bmps("use"), _bmps("unu")) & _

                imgSuf)

            End If

            sb.Append(txtPre & ltr.Name & txtSuf)

            If onFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append( _

                imgPre & _

                IIf(ltr.IsOff, _bmps("off"), _bmps("onn")) & _

                imgSuf)

            End If

            If freezeFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append( _

                imgPre & _

                IIf(ltr.IsFrozen, _bmps("frz"), _bmps("thw")) & _

                imgSuf)

            End If

            If lockFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append( _

                imgPre & _

                IIf(ltr.IsLocked, _bmps("loc"), _bmps("unl")) & _

                imgSuf)

            End If

            If colorFld.Checked Then

 

              ' Used so we can show the square bullet in the

              ' layers color

 

              sb.Append( _

                "<td>&nbsp;<span style='font-family: Wingdings; " & _

                "color: " & Col2Str(ltr.Color) & "'>n</span>")

              sb.Append( _

                "&nbsp;" & _

                ltr.Color.ColorNameForDisplay & _

                "&nbsp;" & "</td>")

            End If

            If ltypeFld.Checked Then

 

              ' The layer record stores the linetype as an ObjectId,

              ' not a string.  This means we need to look up the

              ' linetype in that table to get it's string name.

 

              Dim ltt As LinetypeTable = _

                db.LinetypeTableId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead)

              Dim lttr As LinetypeTableRecord = _

                tr.GetObject(ltr.LinetypeObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead)

              sb.Append(txtPre & lttr.Name & txtSuf)

            End If

            If lweightFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append( _

                txtPre & _

                Wght2Str(ltr.LineWeight) & _

                txtSuf)

            End If

            If pstyleFld.Checked Then

 

              ' The plot style is stored as a string, we can simply

              ' include it

              sb.Append(txtPre & ltr.PlotStyleName & txtSuf)

            End If

            If plotFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append( _

                imgPre & _

                IIf(ltr.IsPlottable, _bmps("plt"), _bmps("nop")) _

                & imgSuf)

            End If

            If descFld.Checked Then

              sb.Append(txtPre & ltr.Description & txtSuf)

            End If

            sb.Append("</tr>")

          Next

          sb.Append("</table></div></center></body></html>")

 

          ' Write the HTML content to a file and then load it

 

          If _tmpHtm = "" Then

            _tmpHtm = Path.GetTempFileName() + ".htm"

          End If

 

          Using file As StreamWriter = _

            New StreamWriter(_tmpHtm, False, Encoding.Default)

            file.Write(sb.ToString)

            file.Close()

          End Using

          webWin.SuspendLayout()

          webWin.Navigate(_tmpHtm)

 

          ' Wait for the control to finish

 

          While webWin.IsBusy

            System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents()

          End While

          webWin.ResumeLayout()

          statTxt.Text = _

            lays.Count.ToString & " layer" & _

            IIf(lays.Count = 1, "", "s") & " listed"

        End Using

      End Using

    End Using

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub printBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles printBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowPrintDialog()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub prevBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles prevBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowPrintPreviewDialog()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub saveBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles saveBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowSaveAsDialog()

  End Sub

 

  Private Sub setupBut_Click( _

    ByVal sender As System.Object, _

    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles setupBut.Click

 

    webWin.ShowPageSetupDialog()

  End Sub

 

  ' Helper function for the square bullet displayed, takes an _

  ' AutoCAD color as input as returns a string like #00FF00.

 

  Private Function Col2Str( _

    ByVal c As Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors.Color) As String

 

    Dim col As Int32

    If c.ColorMethod = ColorMethod.ByAci Then

      Dim bytes() As Byte = _

        BitConverter.GetBytes( _

          EntityColor.LookUpRgb(c.ColorIndex))

      col = RGB(bytes(0), bytes(1), bytes(2))

    Else

      col = RGB(c.Blue, c.Green, c.Red)

    End If

    Return ColorTranslator.ToHtml( _

      System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(col))

  End Function

 

  ' Helper function for lineweights, takes the stored value

  ' and returns  a string similar to AutoCAD's layer dialog

  ' (in the current units).

 

  Private Function Wght2Str(ByVal weight As Single) _

    As String

 

    Select Case weight

      Case -3

        Return "Default"

      Case -2

        Return "ByBlock"

      Case -1

        Return "ByLayer"

      Case Else

        If Application.GetSystemVariable("LWUNITS") = 1 Then

          Return Format(weight / 100.0, "0.00") & "mm"

        Else

          Return Format(weight / 25.4 / 100.0, "0.000") & Chr(34)

        End If

    End Select

  End Function

 

End Class

There’s an additional Commands.vb file:

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime

Imports LayerReporter.DemandLoading

 

Public Class Commands

 

  Implements IExtensionApplication

 

  ' AutoCAD fires the Initialize Sub when the assembly is loaded,

  ' so we check to see if the command is registered by looking for

  ' the existance of the Registry keys.  If not found, we attempt

  ' to add them so the command will automatically load in future

  ' sessions.  This means it only needs to be NETLOADed once.

 

  Public Sub Initialize() Implements IExtensionApplication.Initialize

    RegistryUpdate.RegisterForDemandLoading()

  End Sub

 

  Public Sub Terminate() Implements IExtensionApplication.Terminate

    ' Only fires when AutoCAD is shutting down

  End Sub

 

  <CommandMethod("ADNPLUGINS", "REMOVELR", CommandFlags.Modal)> _

  Public Shared Sub RemoveLayerReporter()

    RegistryUpdate.UnregisterForDemandLoading()

  End Sub

 

  ' Establish our command name to use to start the tool.  It

  ' dimensions an instance of the form and displays it with

  ' AutoCAD's ShowModalDialog.  Don't use Windows Form.Show!

 

  <CommandMethod("ADNPLUGINS", "REPORTLAYERS", CommandFlags.Modal)> _

  Public Shared Sub ReportLayers()

    Using dlg As New Report()

  Application.ShowModalDialog(dlg)

    End Using

  End Sub

 

End Class

And the Demand_Loading.vb file is the same as was used in the ClipboardManager tool.

If you have any feedback to share please post a comment or send us an email.

Updated version of Screenshot now available

We’ve had a few reports of issues with the Screenshot “Plugin of the Month”. They fall into two main categories:

Attempting to NETLOAD the application DLL from a network share

Within the ReadMe for each of the plugins we’ve documented that each application’s DLL module should be copied to the local file system – preferably inside the AutoCAD Program Files folder – before being loaded by NETLOAD. We recommend this because it essentially stops users from hitting a whole category of .NET Framework-related problems when loading and running the plugins.

If you didn’t heed this advice then you’d probably find that, as soon as the SCREENSHOT command was launched, you received a message such as “FATAL ERROR: Unsupported version of Windows Presentation Foundation.”

Now I don’t have an exhaustive list of reasons it’s best to place .NET DLLs in the AutoCAD root program folder, but my understanding/belief is that it’s down to two main ones:

1. Security

The .NET Framework implements security for different zones, and – up until the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 – the default security setting for the “Local Intranet” (which affects applications being loaded from network shares) was “Medium Trust”. This level of trust means:

Programs might not be able to access most protected resources such as the registry or security policy settings, or access your local file system without user interaction. Programs will not be able to connect back to their site of origin, resolve domain names, and use all windowing resources.

Our “Plugin of the Month” applications target lower versions of the .NET Framework (we want to avoid forcing people to use the latest version of the framework and want the applications to run – where possible – at least as far back as AutoCAD 2007), and so their default level of trust will make running from a network share a problem.

Now it’s possible to use the Control Panel to configure earlier versions of the .NET Framework to be more tolerant of network-resident DLLs (you can change the trust level for the local intranet zone to be higher), but it’s still not something I’d recommend: I’m pretty sure this is only one aspect of the situation, and it would be dangerous to assume it’s all that’s needed.

2. Assembly Loading

The other main reason for putting modules in AutoCAD’s root program folder is related to the loading of .NET assemblies into AutoCAD’s AppDomain (which is basically what the NETLOAD command does, and this choice of architecture is why there’s no NETUNLOAD command).

While NETLOAD uses Assembly.LoadFrom() to load in .NET assembly DLLs – which does allow you to specify a path other than the current folder – there does appear to be some fragility overall with the location of assemblies and how they reference each other. It’s safest to place assemblies at a location beneath the calling executable (i.e. AutoCAD).

Capturing images with the “force foreground to black” option results in a completely black image

This one is definitely down to me. A big thank you to Harry Kortekaas for very diligently helping me identify the problem.

It actually came down to some poor application logic on my side: I was forgetting to check the “use white background” flag at the right place, and had also inverted the test for being in modelspace vs. paperspace. By chance – in many situations – the white background was picked up correctly from the paperspace, and so the issue wasn’t easily reproducible.

Anyway, a fix has now been integrated into version 1.0.2 of the application, which is now downloadable via Autodesk Labs. I’ve also included an updated version of the code below.

 

A third type of issue has been reported, but I haven’t yet been able to determine the cause: on one system (meaning: one reported, so far) the file selection dialog and the dynamic input graphics are not being refreshed away in time for the capture to take place.

This is similar to something we’ve been aware of from early on - the fact that the call to Editor.GetFileNameForSave() returns control to the application before the Operating System has had the chance to refresh the screen – so I built a delay (a call to System.Threading.Thread.Sleep()) into the original application to wait for a second (we started at 0.1s and worked our way upwards) which seemed to address it for all the systems upon which the application was tested.

At first it seemed – during the diagnosis of this particular issue – that this delay needed increasing, and so I added it to the per-user application settings (with the default value of 1.0, i.e. a second). This is now configurable via a new command – CONFIGSS – the logic being to keep rarely-used configuration options apart from the common ones accessible via the SCREENSHOT command. In this particular situation, though, no amount of delay seemed to help.

The same person reported an issue with the input box and temporary dimensions displayed during dynamic input not being repainted away on this particular system when the image is placed on the clipboard, so I’ve also introduced a configurable delay there, too. This is also set using CONFIGSS – the default is currently 0 seconds, to replicate the previous behaviour.

I suspect that both issues are actually down to a configuration problem (we’ll hopefully see whether my suspicion is valid), but I’ve left the capability to configure them in the application, in any case. People may also choose to reduce the current delay using CONFIGSS, as one second was on the high end: 0.3 seconds should be enough for the majority of systems. Just think of all the time you can get back!   :-)

If anyone else out there has seen something similar to this with the Screenshot application, please do let us know.

The CONFIGSS command has a third setting exposed (although it’s the first one it prompts for), and this was also introduced after receiving feedback from the same source: it’s sometimes preferred to have a boundary zone or buffer around the extents chosen via the “Objects” option, so that the selection isn’t so tight-fitting around the objects. The application now has a default of 10% of the screen extents’ width or height (whichever is larger) that will get added automatically. To go back to the old behaviour you can configure this percentage to zero using CONFIGSS.

Here’s the updated C# code: the compiled version of which (again, version 1.0.2) is now available:

// (C) Copyright 2009 by Autodesk, Inc.

//

// Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software in

// object code form for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,

// provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies and

// that both that copyright notice and the limited warranty and

// restricted rights notice below appear in all supporting

// documentation.

//

// AUTODESK PROVIDES THIS PROGRAM "AS IS" AND WITH ALL FAULTS.

// AUTODESK SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF

// MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE.  AUTODESK, INC.

// DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE OPERATION OF THE PROGRAM WILL BE

// UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE.

//

// Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to

// restrictions set forth in FAR 52.227-19 (Commercial Computer

// Software - Restricted Rights) and DFAR 252.227-7013(c)(1)(ii)

// (Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software), as applicable.

//

 

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsInterface;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsSystem;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors;

 

using System.Drawing.Imaging;

using System.Drawing.Printing;

using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;

using System.Drawing;

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

using System.Collections;

using System.Configuration;

using System;

 

using DemandLoading;

 

namespace Screenshot

{

  public class ScreenshotApplication : IExtensionApplication

  {

    // Define a class for our custom data

 

    public class AppData : ApplicationSettingsBase

    {

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("true")]

      public bool Clipboard

      {

        get { return ((bool)this["Clipboard"]); }

        set { this["Clipboard"] = (bool)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("false")]

      public bool Print

      {

        get { return ((bool)this["Print"]); }

        set { this["Print"] = (bool)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("false")]

      public bool WhiteBackground

      {

        get { return ((bool)this["WhiteBackground"]); }

        set { this["WhiteBackground"] = (bool)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("false")]

      public bool BlackForeground

      {

        get { return ((bool)this["BlackForeground"]); }

        set { this["BlackForeground"] = (bool)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("false")]

      public bool Grayscale

      {

        get { return ((bool)this["Grayscale"]); }

        set { this["Grayscale"] = (bool)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("0.1")]

      public double ExtentsScale

      {

        get { return ((double)this["ExtentsScale"]); }

        set { this["ExtentsScale"] = (double)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("1.0")]

      public double FileCaptureDelay

      {

        get { return ((double)this["FileCaptureDelay"]); }

        set { this["FileCaptureDelay"] = (double)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("0.0")]

      public double ClipboardCaptureDelay

      {

        get { return ((double)this["ClipboardCaptureDelay"]); }

        set { this["ClipboardCaptureDelay"] = (double)value; }

      }

    }

 

    // A struct for communicating colours to/from AutoCAD

 

    public struct AcColorSettings

    {

      public UInt32 dwGfxModelBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwGfxLayoutBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwCmdLineBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwPlotPrevBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwSkyGradientZenithColor;

      public UInt32 dwSkyGradientHorizonColor;

      public UInt32 dwGroundGradientOriginColor;

      public UInt32 dwGroundGradientHorizonColor;

      public UInt32 dwEarthGradientAzimuthColor;

      public UInt32 dwEarthGradientHorizonColor;

      public UInt32 dwModelCrossHairColor;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutCrossHairColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelCrossHairColor;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveCrossHairColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditCrossHairColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelGridMajorLines;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveGridMajorLines;

      public UInt32 dwParallelGridMinorLines;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveGridMinorLines;

      public UInt32 dwParallelGridAxisLines;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveGridAxisLines;

      public UInt32 dwTextForeColor;

      public UInt32 dwTextBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwCmdLineForeColor;

      public UInt32 dwAutoTrackingVecColor;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutATrackVecColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelATrackVecColor;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveATrackVecColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditATrackVecColor;

      public UInt32 dwModelASnapMarkerColor;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutASnapMarkerColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelASnapMarkerColor;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveASnapMarkerColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditASnapMarkerColor;

      public UInt32 dwModelDftingTooltipColor;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutDftingTooltipColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelDftingTooltipColor;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveDftingTooltipColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditDftingTooltipColor;

      public UInt32 dwModelDftingTooltipBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutDftingTooltipBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelDftingTooltipBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveDftingTooltipBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditDftingTooltipBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwModelLightGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutLightGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwParallelLightGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveLightGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwBEditLightGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwModelLightHotspot;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutLightHotspot;

      public UInt32 dwParallelLightHotspot;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveLightHotspot;

      public UInt32 dwBEditLightHotspot;

      public UInt32 dwModelLightFalloff;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutLightFalloff;

      public UInt32 dwParallelLightFalloff;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveLightFalloff;

      public UInt32 dwBEditLightFalloff;

      public UInt32 dwModelLightStartLimit;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutLightStartLimit;

      public UInt32 dwParallelLightStartLimit;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveLightStartLimit;

      public UInt32 dwBEditLightStartLimit;

      public UInt32 dwModelLightEndLimit;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutLightEndLimit;

      public UInt32 dwParallelLightEndLimit;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveLightEndLimit;

      public UInt32 dwBEditLightEndLimit;

      public UInt32 dwModelCameraGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutCameraGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwParallelCameraGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveCameraGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwModelCameraFrustrum;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutCameraFrustrum;

      public UInt32 dwParallelCameraFrustrum;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveCameraFrustrum;

      public UInt32 dwModelCameraClipping;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutCameraClipping;

      public UInt32 dwParallelCameraClipping;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveCameraClipping;

      public int nModelCrosshairUseTintXYZ;

      public int nLayoutCrosshairUseTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelCrosshairUseTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveCrosshairUseTintXYZ;

      public int nBEditCrossHairUseTintXYZ;

      public int nModelATrackVecUseTintXYZ;

      public int nLayoutATrackVecUseTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelATrackVecUseTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveATrackVecUseTintXYZ;

      public int nBEditATrackVecUseTintXYZ;

      public int nModelDftingTooltipBkUseTintXYZ;

      public int nLayoutDftingTooltipBkUseTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelDftingTooltipBkUseTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveDftingTooltipBkUseTintXYZ;

      public int nBEditDftingTooltipBkUseTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelGridMajorLineTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveGridMajorLineTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelGridMinorLineTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveGridMinorLineTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelGridAxisLineTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveGridAxisLineTintXYZ;

    };

 

    // For the coordinate tranformation we need... 

 

    // A Win32 function:

 

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]

    static extern bool ClientToScreen(IntPtr hWnd, ref Point pt);

 

    // And to access the colours in AutoCAD, we need ObjectARX...

 

    [DllImport("acad.exe",

    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

    EntryPoint = "?acedGetCurrentColors@@YAHPAUAcColorSettings@@@Z"

    )]

    static extern bool acedGetCurrentColors32(

      out AcColorSettings colorSettings

    );

 

    [DllImport("acad.exe",

    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

    EntryPoint = "?acedSetCurrentColors@@YAHPAUAcColorSettings@@@Z"

    )]

    static extern bool acedSetCurrentColors32(

      ref AcColorSettings colorSettings

    );

 

    // 64-bit versions of these functions...

 

    [DllImport("acad.exe",

    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

    EntryPoint = "?acedGetCurrentColors@@YAHPEAUAcColorSettings@@@Z"

    )]

    static extern bool acedGetCurrentColors64(

      out AcColorSettings colorSettings

    );

 

    [DllImport("acad.exe",

    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

    EntryPoint = "?acedSetCurrentColors@@YAHPEAUAcColorSettings@@@Z"

    )]

    static extern bool acedSetCurrentColors64(

      ref AcColorSettings colorSettings

    );

 

    // Helper functions that call automatically to 32- or 64-bit

    // versions, as appropriate

 

    static bool acedGetCurrentColors(

      out AcColorSettings colorSettings

    )

    {

      if (IntPtr.Size > 4)

        return acedGetCurrentColors64(out colorSettings);

      else

        return acedGetCurrentColors32(out colorSettings);

    }

 

    static bool acedSetCurrentColors(

      ref AcColorSettings colorSettings

    )

    {

      if (IntPtr.Size > 4)

        return acedSetCurrentColors64(ref colorSettings);

      else

        return acedSetCurrentColors32(ref colorSettings);

    }

 

    // IExtensionApplication protocol

 

    public void Initialize()

    {

      try

      {

        RegistryUpdate.RegisterForDemandLoading();

      }

      catch

      { }

    }

 

    public void Terminate()

    {

    }

 

    [CommandMethod("ADNPLUGINS", "REMOVESS", CommandFlags.Modal)]

    static public void RemoveScreenshot()

    {

      RegistryUpdate.UnregisterForDemandLoading();

    }

 

    [CommandMethod("ADNPLUGINS", "CONFIGSS", CommandFlags.Modal)]

    static public void ConfigureScreenshot()

    {

      // An additional command for some "advanced" configuration

      // options

 

      Document doc =

        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

      Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

      // Retrieve our application settings (or create new ones)

 

      AppData ad = new AppData();

      ad.Reload();

 

      if (ad != null)

      {

        // Ask the user for the percentage increase to apply to

        // the extents determined by the Objects option

 

        PromptIntegerOptions pio =

          new PromptIntegerOptions(

            "\nPercentage increase when capturing " +

            "object extents: "

          );

        pio.DefaultValue = (int)(ad.ExtentsScale * 100);

        pio.LowerLimit = 0;

        pio.UpperLimit = 100;

        pio.UseDefaultValue = true;

 

        PromptIntegerResult pir = ed.GetInteger(pio);

        if (pir.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

          return;

 

        ad.ExtentsScale = pir.Value * 0.01;

 

        // Ask the use for the delay to apply after a file

        // has been selected, to allow the OS to redraw their

        // screen graphics

 

        PromptDoubleOptions pdo =

          new PromptDoubleOptions(

            "\nDelay in seconds to allow " +

            "repaint after file selection: "

          );

        pdo.DefaultValue = ad.FileCaptureDelay;

        pdo.AllowNegative = false;

        pdo.UseDefaultValue = true;

 

        PromptDoubleResult pdr = ed.GetDouble(pdo);

        if (pdr.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

          return;

 

        ad.FileCaptureDelay = pdr.Value;

 

        // Ask the user for the delay to apply before a

        // clipboard capture to allow any dynamic

        // input graphics to be undrawn

 

        pdo.Message =

          "\nDelay in seconds to allow " +

          "repaint before clipboard selection: ";

        pdo.DefaultValue = ad.ClipboardCaptureDelay;

 

        pdr = ed.GetDouble(pdo);

        if (pdr.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

          return;

 

        ad.ClipboardCaptureDelay = pdr.Value;

 

        ad.Save();

      }

    }

 

    // Command to capture the main and active drawing windows

    // or a user-selected portion of a drawing

 

    [CommandMethod("ADNPLUGINS", "SCREENSHOT", CommandFlags.Modal)]

    static public void CaptureScreenShot()

    {

      Document doc =

        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

      Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

      // Retrieve our application settings (or create new ones)

 

      AppData ad = new AppData();

      ad.Reload();

 

      if (ad != null)

      {

        string filename = "";

        bool settingschosen;

        PromptPointResult ppr;

 

        do

        {

          settingschosen = false;

 

          // Ask the user for the screen window to capture

 

          PrintSettings(ed, ad);

          PromptPointOptions ppo =

            new PromptPointOptions(

              "\nSelect first point of capture window or " +

              "[Document/Application/Objects/Settings]: ",

              "Document Application Objects Settings"

            );

 

          // Get the first point of the capture window,

          // or a keyword

 

          ppr = ed.GetPoint(ppo);

 

          if (ppr.Status == PromptStatus.Keyword)

          {

            if (ppr.StringResult == "Document")

            {

              // Capture the active document window

 

              filename = PauseOrFilename(ed, ad);

 

              ScreenShotToFile(

                Application.DocumentManager.

                  MdiActiveDocument.Window,

                30, 26, 10, 10,

                filename,

                ad

              );

            }

            else if (ppr.StringResult == "Application")

            {

              // Capture the entire application window

 

              filename = PauseOrFilename(ed, ad);

 

              ScreenShotToFile(

                Application.MainWindow,

                0, 0, 0, 0,

                filename,

                ad

              );

            }

            else if (ppr.StringResult == "Objects")

            {

              // Ask the user to select a number of entities

 

              PromptSelectionResult psr =

                ed.GetSelection();

 

              if (psr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

              {

                // Regenerate to clear any selection highlighting

 

                ed.WriteMessage("\n");

                ed.Regen();

 

                // Generate screen coordinate points based on the

                // drawing points selected

 

                // First we get the viewport number

 

                short vp =

                  (short)Application.GetSystemVariable("CVPORT");

 

                // Then the handle to the current drawing window

 

                IntPtr hWnd = doc.Window.Handle;

 

                // Get the screen extents of the selected entities

 

                Point pt1, pt2;

                GetExtentsOfSelection(

                  ed, doc, hWnd, vp, psr.Value, out pt1, out pt2

                );

 

                ApplyScaleToExtents(ad.ExtentsScale,ref pt1,ref pt2);

 

                // Now save this portion of our screen as a raster

                // image

 

                filename = PauseOrFilename(ed, ad);

 

                ScreenShotToFile(pt1, pt2, filename, ad);

              }

            }

            else if (ppr.StringResult == "Settings")

            {

              if (GetSettings(ed, ad))

                ad.Save();

              settingschosen = true;

            }

          }

        }

        while (settingschosen); // Loop if settings were modified

 

        if (ppr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

        {

          // Now we're ready to select the second point

 

          Point3d first = ppr.Value;

 

          ppr =

            ed.GetCorner(

              "\nSelect second point of capture window: ",

              first

            );

          if (ppr.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

            return;

 

          Point3d second = ppr.Value;

 

          // Generate screen coordinate points based on the

          // drawing points selected

 

          Point pt1, pt2;

 

          // First we get the viewport number

 

          short vp =

            (short)Application.GetSystemVariable("CVPORT");

 

          // Then the handle to the current drawing window

 

          IntPtr hWnd = doc.Window.Handle;

 

          // Now calculate the selected corners in screen coordinates

 

          pt1 = ScreenFromDrawingPoint(ed, hWnd, first, vp, true);

          pt2 = ScreenFromDrawingPoint(ed, hWnd, second, vp, true);

 

          // Now save this portion of our screen as a raster image

 

          filename = PauseOrFilename(ed, ad);

 

          ScreenShotToFile(pt1, pt2, filename, ad);

        }

      }

    }

 

    // If using the clipboard let's introduce a pause to allow

    // any dynamic input graphics to be refreshed away.

    // Otherwise get the filename (which will have its own delay)

 

    private static string PauseOrFilename(Editor ed, AppData ad)

    {

      if (ad.Clipboard)

      {

        ed.UpdateScreen();

        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(

          (int)(1000 * ad.ClipboardCaptureDelay)

        );

        return "";

      }

      else

        return GetFileName(ed, ad);

    }

 

    // Iterate through a selection-set and get the overall extents

    // of the various objects relative to the screen

    // (this is imperfect: our extents in WCS may not translate to

    // the extents on the screen. A more thorough approach would be

    // to get a number of points from an object and check each)

 

    private static void GetExtentsOfSelection(

      Editor ed,

      Document doc,

      IntPtr hWnd,

      short vp,

      SelectionSet ss,

      out Point min,

      out Point max

    )

    {

      // Create minimum and maximum points for the "on screen"

      // extents of our objects

 

      min = new Point();

      max = new Point();

 

      // Know which is the first pass through

 

      bool first = true;

 

      // Some variables to store transformation results

 

      Point pt1 = new Point(), pt2 = new Point();

 

      Transaction tr =

        doc.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();

      using (tr)

      {

        foreach (SelectedObject so in ss)

        {

          DBObject obj =

            tr.GetObject(so.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead);

          Entity ent = obj as Entity;

          if (ent != null)

          {

            // Get the WCS extents of each object

 

            Extents3d ext = ent.GeometricExtents;

 

            // Calculate the extent corners in screen coordinates

            // (this may not be the true screen extents, but we'll

            // hope it's good enough)

 

            pt1 =

              ScreenFromDrawingPoint(

                ed, hWnd, ext.MinPoint, vp, false

              );

            pt2 =

              ScreenFromDrawingPoint(

                ed, hWnd, ext.MaxPoint, vp, false

              );

 

            // The points may not be ordered, so get the min and max

            // values for both X and Y from both points

 

            int minX = Math.Min(pt1.X, pt2.X);

            int minY = Math.Min(pt1.Y, pt2.Y);

            int maxX = Math.Max(pt1.X, pt2.X);

            int maxY = Math.Max(pt1.Y, pt2.Y);

 

            // On the first run through, just get the points

 

            if (first)

            {

              min = new Point(minX, minY);

              max = new Point(maxX, maxY);

              first = false;

            }

            else

            {

              // On subsequent runs through, we need to compare

 

              if (minX < min.X) min.X = minX;

              if (minY < min.Y) min.Y = minY;

              if (maxX > max.X) max.X = maxX;

              if (maxY > max.Y) max.Y = maxY;

            }

          }

        }

        tr.Commit();

      }

    }

 

    // Apply a scale to the supplied extents

    // (provided as a potion of the extents, i.e. 10% == 0.1)

 

    private static void ApplyScaleToExtents(

      double factor,

      ref Point pt1,

      ref Point pt2

    )

    {

      // Get the width and height of the selected screen area

 

      int width = Math.Abs(pt2.X - pt1.X);

      int height = Math.Abs(pt2.Y - pt1.Y);

 

      // Decide what the (uniform) border should be: use

      // a portion of either the width or the height,

      // whichever's larger

 

      int border =

        (int)(factor * (width > height ? width : height));

 

      // Adjust the two screen points by this border amount

 

      if (pt1.X < pt2.X)

      {

        pt1.X -= border;

        pt2.X += border;

      }

      else

      {

        pt1.X += border;

        pt2.X -= border;

      }

 

      if (pt1.Y < pt2.Y)

      {

        pt1.Y -= border;

        pt2.Y += border;

      }

      else

      {

        pt1.Y += border;

        pt2.Y -= border;

      }

    }

 

    // Print the current application settings to the command-line

 

    private static void PrintSettings(Editor ed, AppData ad)

    {

      ed.WriteMessage(

        "\nCurrent settings: Output={0}, Print={1}, " +

        "Background={2}, Foreground={3}, Grayscale={4}",

        ad.Clipboard ? "Clipboard" : "File",

        ad.Print ? "Yes" : "No",

        ad.WhiteBackground ? "ForceToWhite" : "Normal",

        ad.BlackForeground ? "ForceToBlack" : "Normal",

        ad.Grayscale ? "On" : "Off"

      );

    }

 

    // Ask the user to modify the application settings

 

    private static bool GetSettings(Editor ed, AppData ad)

    {

      // At our top-level settings prompt, make the default

      // to exit back up

 

      PromptKeywordOptions pko =

        new PromptKeywordOptions(

          "\nSetting to change " +

          "[Output/Print/Background/Foreground/Grayscale/Exit]: ",

          "Output Print Background Foreground Grayscale Exit"

        );

      pko.Keywords.Default = "Exit";

 

      PromptResult pr;

      bool settingschanged = false;

      do

      {

        // Start by printing the current settings

 

        PrintSettings(ed, ad);

 

        pr = ed.GetKeywords(pko);

 

        if (pr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

        {

          if (pr.StringResult == "Output")

          {

            // If Output is selected, ask whether to put the

            // image on the clipboard or save to file

 

            PromptKeywordOptions pko2 =

              new PromptKeywordOptions(

                "\nSave to file or place on the clipboard " +

                "[File/Clipboard]: ",

                "File Clipboard"

              );

 

            // The default depends on our current settings

 

            pko2.Keywords.Default =

              (ad.Clipboard ? "Clipboard" : "File");

 

            PromptResult pr2 = ed.GetKeywords(pko2);

 

            if (pr2.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

            {

              // Change the settings, as needed

 

              bool clipboard =

                (pr2.StringResult == "Clipboard");

 

              if (ad.Clipboard != clipboard)

              {

                ad.Clipboard = clipboard;

                settingschanged = true;

              }

            }

          }

          else if (pr.StringResult == "Print")

          {

            // If Print is different, ask whether to

            // send the image to the printer

 

            bool different =

              GetYesOrNo(

                ed,

                "\nSend image to printer once captured",

                ad.Print

              );

            if (different)

            {

              ad.Print = !ad.Print;

              settingschanged = true;

            }

          }

          else if (pr.StringResult == "Background")

          {

            // If Background is different, ask whether to

            // force the background colour to white

            // (we could allow selection of a colour,

            // but that's out of scope, for now)

 

            bool different =

              GetYesOrNo(

                ed,

                "\nForce background color to white",

                ad.WhiteBackground

              );

            if (different)

            {

              ad.WhiteBackground = !ad.WhiteBackground;

              settingschanged = true;

            }

          }

          else if (pr.StringResult == "Foreground")

          {

            // If Foreground is different, ask whether to

            // force the foreground colour to black

            // (we could allow selection of a colour,

            // but that's out of scope, for now)

 

            bool different =

              GetYesOrNo(

                ed,

                "\nForce foreground color to black",

                ad.BlackForeground

              );

            if (different)

            {

              ad.BlackForeground = !ad.BlackForeground;

              settingschanged = true;

            }

          }

          else if (pr.StringResult == "Grayscale")

          {

            // If Grayscale is different, ask whether to

            // force the foreground pixels to be gray

 

            bool different =

              GetYesOrNo(

                ed,

                "\nConvert image to grayscale",

                ad.Grayscale

              );

            if (different)

            {

              ad.Grayscale = !ad.Grayscale;

              settingschanged = true;

            }

          }

        }

      }

      while (

        pr.Status == PromptStatus.OK &&

        pr.StringResult != "Exit"

      );  // Loop until Exit or cancel

 

      return settingschanged;

    }

 

    // Ask the user to enter yes or no to a particular question,

    // setting the default option appropriately

 

    private static bool GetYesOrNo(

      Editor ed,

      string prompt,

      bool defval

    )

    {

      bool changed = false;

 

      PromptKeywordOptions pko =

        new PromptKeywordOptions(prompt + " [Yes/No]: ", "Yes No");

 

      // The default depends on our current settings

 

      pko.Keywords.Default =

        (defval ? "Yes" : "No");

      PromptResult pr = ed.GetKeywords(pko);

 

      if (pr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

      {

        // Change the settings, as needed

 

        bool newval =

          (pr.StringResult == "Yes");

 

        if (defval != newval)

        {

          changed = true;

        }

      }

      return changed;

    }

 

    // Ask the user to select a location to save our file to

 

    private static string GetFileName(Editor ed, AppData ad)

    {

      string filename = "";

 

      // The entries here will drive the behaviour of the

      // GetFormatForFile() function

 

      PromptSaveFileOptions pofo =

        new PromptSaveFileOptions(

          "\nSelect image location: "

        );

      pofo.Filter =

        "Bitmap (*.bmp)|*.bmp|" +

        "GIF (*.gif)|*.gif|" +

        "JPEG (*.jpg)|*.jpg|" +

        "PNG (*.png)|*.png|" +

        "TIFF (*.tif)|*.tif";

 

      // Set the default save location to be the current drawing

 

      string fn = ed.Document.Database.Filename;

      if (fn.Contains("."))

      {

        int extIdx = fn.LastIndexOf(".");

        if (fn.Substring(extIdx + 1) != "dwt" &&

            fn.Contains("\\"))

        {

          int sepIdx = fn.LastIndexOf("\\");

          pofo.InitialDirectory =

            fn.Substring(0, sepIdx);

        }

      }

 

      PromptFileNameResult pfnr =

        ed.GetFileNameForSave(pofo);

 

      if (pfnr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

      {

        filename = pfnr.StringResult;

 

        // If a file was selected, wait for some time to allow

        // the "file already exists" dialog to disappear.

        // The delay is now a configurable option (in seconds)

 

        ed.UpdateScreen();

 

        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(

          (int)(1000 * ad.FileCaptureDelay)

        );

      }

 

      return filename;

    }

 

    // Perform our tranformations to get from UCS

    // (or WCS) to screen coordinates

 

    private static Point ScreenFromDrawingPoint(

      Editor ed,

      IntPtr hWnd,

      Point3d pt,

      short vpNum,

      bool useUcs

    )

    {

      // Transform from UCS to WCS, if needed

 

      Point3d wcsPt =

        (useUcs ?

          pt.TransformBy(ed.CurrentUserCoordinateSystem)

          : pt

        );

 

      // Then get the screen coordinates within the client

      // and translate these for the overall screen

 

      Point res = ed.PointToScreen(wcsPt, vpNum);

      ClientToScreen(hWnd, ref res);

      return res;

    }

 

    // Save the display of an AutoCAD window as a raster file

    // and/or an image on the clipboard

 

    private static void ScreenShotToFile(

      Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows.Window wd,

      int top, int bottom, int left, int right,

      string filename,

      AppData ad

    )

    {

      Point pt = wd.Location;

      Size sz = wd.Size;

 

      pt.X += left;

      pt.Y += top;

      sz.Height -= top + bottom;

      sz.Width -= left + right;

 

      SaveScreenPortion(pt, sz, filename, ad);

    }

 

    // Save a screen window between two corners as a raster file

    // and/or an image on the clipboard

 

    private static void ScreenShotToFile(

      Point pt1,

      Point pt2,

      string filename,

      AppData ad

    )

    {

      // Create the top left corner from the two corners

      // provided (by taking the min of both X and Y values)

 

      Point pt =

        new Point(Math.Min(pt1.X, pt2.X), Math.Min(pt1.Y, pt2.Y));

 

      // Determine the size by subtracting X & Y values and

      // taking the absolute value of each

 

      Size sz =

        new Size(Math.Abs(pt1.X - pt2.X), Math.Abs(pt1.Y - pt2.Y));

 

      SaveScreenPortion(pt, sz, filename, ad);

    }

 

    // Save a portion of the screen display as a raster file

    // and/or an image on the clipboard

 

    private static void SaveScreenPortion(

      Point pt,

      Size sz,

      string filename,

      AppData ad

    )

    {

      Document doc =

        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

      Database db = doc.Database;

      Editor ed = doc.Editor;

      Manager gsm = doc.GraphicsManager;

 

      Transaction tr =

        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();

      using (tr)

      {

        AcColorSettings ocs = new AcColorSettings();

        bool gotSettings = false;

 

        ObjectId vtrId = ObjectId.Null,

                sbId = ObjectId.Null;

 

        bool in3DView = is3D(gsm);

        bool regened = false;

 

        if (ad.WhiteBackground)

        {

          if (in3DView)

          {

            Set3DBackground(

              ed,

              db,

              tr,

              new EntityColor(255, 255, 255),

              out vtrId,

              out sbId

            );

          }

          else

          {

            // Get the current system colours

 

            acedGetCurrentColors(out ocs);

            gotSettings = true;

 

            // Take a copy - we'll leave the original to reset

            // the values later on, once we've finished

 

            AcColorSettings cs = ocs;

 

            // Make both background colours white (the 3D

            // background isn't currently being picked up)

 

            cs.dwGfxModelBkColor = 16777215;

            cs.dwGfxLayoutBkColor = 16777215;

            //cs.dwParallelBkColor = 16777215;

 

            // Set the modified colours

 

            acedSetCurrentColors(ref cs);

 

            ed.WriteMessage("\n");

            ed.Regen();

            regened = true;

          }

          // Update the screen to reflect the changes

 

          ed.UpdateScreen();

        }

 

        // Set the bitmap object to the size of the window

 

        Bitmap bmp =

          new Bitmap(

            sz.Width,

            sz.Height,

            PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb

          );

        using (bmp)

        {

          // Create a graphics object from the bitmap

 

          using (Graphics gfx = Graphics.FromImage(bmp))

          {

            // Take a screenshot of our window

 

            gfx.CopyFromScreen(

              pt.X, pt.Y, 0, 0, sz,

              CopyPixelOperation.SourceCopy

            );

 

            Bitmap processed;

            if (ad.BlackForeground || ad.Grayscale)

            {

              // If we're needing to convert to a grayscale,

              // whether to create a black foreground or a

              // true grayscale image, we need to find the

              // background colour

 

              System.Drawing.Color col;

 

              // If we remapped it to white, it's easy

 

              if (ad.WhiteBackground)

              {

                col = System.Drawing.Color.White;

              }

              else

              {

                // If not, then it may be more complicated

 

                if (!gotSettings)

                {

                  acedGetCurrentColors(out ocs);

                  gotSettings = true;

                }

 

                // Get the 3D view background colour, if appropriate

 

                if (in3DView)

                {

                  uint bgcol = ocs.dwParallelBkColor;

                  col =

                    System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb((int)bgcol);

                }

                else

                {

                  // If a 2D view, we need to find out whether in

                  // modelspace or paperspace, and then get the

                  // appropriate colour for its background

 

                  bool inModelspace =

                    ((short)Application.GetSystemVariable(

                      "TILEMODE"

                    ) == 1);

                  uint bgcol =

                    (inModelspace

                      ? ocs.dwGfxModelBkColor

                      : ocs.dwGfxLayoutBkColor

                    );

                  col =

                    System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb((int)bgcol);

                }

              }

 

              // Run the conversion to a grayscale

 

              processed =

                ConvertToGrayscale(

                  bmp,

                  col,

                  ad.BlackForeground,

                  System.Drawing.Color.Black

                );

            }

            else

            {

              processed = bmp;

            }

 

            // Take a copy of the bitmap for printing

 

            using (Bitmap toPrint = processed)

            {

              // Save the screenshot to the specified location

 

              if (!regened)

                ed.WriteMessage("\n");

 

              if (filename != null && filename != "")

              {

                processed.Save(filename, GetFormatForFile(filename));

 

                ed.WriteMessage(

                  "Image captured and saved to \"{0}\".",

                  filename

                );

              }

 

              // Copy it to the clipboard

 

              if (ad.Clipboard)

              {

                System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard.SetImage(processed);

                ed.WriteMessage(

                  "Image captured to the clipboard."

                );

              }

 

              // Send it to a printer

 

              if (ad.Print)

              {

                PrintDocument pdoc = new PrintDocument();

                pdoc.PrintPage +=

                  delegate(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs e)

                  {

                    int wid = toPrint.Width,

                        hgt = toPrint.Height;

 

                    // Store the ratio between width and height

 

                    double ratio = (double)wid / (double)hgt;

 

                    // If the image's width isn't the

                    // same as the page...

 

                    if (wid != e.MarginBounds.Width)

                    {

                      // Change the width to fit the page

 

                      wid = e.MarginBounds.Width;

 

                      // Adjust the height to maintain scale

                      // (even if bigger than the page height)

 

                      hgt = (int)(wid / ratio);

                    }

 

                    // If the image's height is bigger than the

                    // page...

 

                    if (hgt > e.MarginBounds.Height)

                    {

                      // Change the height to fit the paper

 

                      hgt = e.MarginBounds.Height;

 

                      // Adjust the width to maintain scale

 

                      wid = (int)(ratio * hgt);

                    }

 

                    // Set the interpolation settings to high

                    // quality

 

                    e.Graphics.InterpolationMode =

                      InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic;

 

                    // And send the image out to the page

 

                    e.Graphics.DrawImage(

                      toPrint,

                      e.MarginBounds.X,

                      e.MarginBounds.Y,

                      wid,

                      hgt

                    );

                  };

 

                // Create and show the print dialog

 

                System.Windows.Forms.PrintDialog pdlg =

                  new System.Windows.Forms.PrintDialog();

                pdlg.Document = pdoc;

 

                if (pdlg.ShowDialog() ==

                    System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)

                  pdoc.Print(); // Print on OK

              }

            }

          }

        }

        if (ad.WhiteBackground)

        {

          if (vtrId != ObjectId.Null || sbId != ObjectId.Null)

          {

            Remove3DBackground(db, tr, vtrId, sbId);

          }

          else

          {

            if (gotSettings)

            {

              acedSetCurrentColors(ref ocs);

              ed.WriteMessage("\n");

              ed.Regen();

            }

          }

          ed.UpdateScreen();

        }

        tr.Commit();

      }

    }

 

    // Check whether the active viewport is 3D

 

    private static bool is3D(Manager gsm)

    {

      short vp =

        (short)Application.GetSystemVariable("CVPORT");

      View v = gsm.GetGsView(vp, false);

      using (v)

      {

        return (v != null);

      }

    }

 

    // Return the image format to use for a particular filename

 

    private static ImageFormat GetFormatForFile(string filename)

    {

      // If all else fails, let's create a PNG

      // (might also choose to throw an exception)

 

      ImageFormat imf = ImageFormat.Png;

      if (filename.Contains("."))

      {

        // Get the filename's extension (what follows the last ".")

 

        string ext =

          filename.Substring(filename.LastIndexOf(".") + 1);

 

        // Get the first three characters of the extension

 

        if (ext.Length > 3)

          ext = ext.Substring(0, 3);

 

        // Choose the format based on the extension (in lowercase)

 

        switch (ext.ToLower())

        {

          case "bmp":

            imf = ImageFormat.Bmp;

            break;

          case "gif":

            imf = ImageFormat.Gif;

            break;

          case "jpg":

            imf = ImageFormat.Jpeg;

            break;

          case "tif":

            imf = ImageFormat.Tiff;

            break;

          case "wmf":

            imf = ImageFormat.Wmf;

            break;

          default:

            imf = ImageFormat.Png;

            break;

        }

      }

      return imf;

    }

 

    // Set the background colour of a 3D view

 

    private static void Set3DBackground(

      Editor ed,

      Database db,

      Transaction tr,

      EntityColor ec,

      out ObjectId vtrId,

      out ObjectId sbId

    )

    {

      // We're be returning IDs of the Viewport Table Record

      // and of the background itself

 

      vtrId = ObjectId.Null;

      sbId = ObjectId.Null;

 

      ed.UpdateTiledViewportsInDatabase();

      ViewportTable vt =

        (ViewportTable)tr.GetObject(

          db.ViewportTableId,

          OpenMode.ForRead

        );

 

      if (vt.Has("*Active"))

      {

        // Let's get the Viewport Table Record

 

        vtrId = vt["*Active"];

        DBDictionary nod =

          (DBDictionary)tr.GetObject(

            db.NamedObjectsDictionaryId,

            OpenMode.ForRead

          );

 

        // And create the background dictionary, if none exists

 

        ObjectId bkdId = ObjectId.Null;

        DBDictionary bkDict = null;

 

        const string dictKey = "ACAD_BACKGROUND";

        const string bkKey = "ADNPlugin_Screenshot";

 

        if (nod.Contains(dictKey))

        {

          bkdId = nod.GetAt(dictKey);

          bkDict =

            (DBDictionary)tr.GetObject(bkdId, OpenMode.ForWrite);

        }

        else

        {

          bkDict = new DBDictionary();

          nod.UpgradeOpen();

          bkdId = nod.SetAt(dictKey, bkDict);

          tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(bkDict, true);

        }

 

        // Get or create our background object

 

        if (bkDict.Contains(bkKey))

        {

          sbId = bkDict.GetAt(bkKey);

        }

        else

        {

          SolidBackground sb = new SolidBackground();

          sb.Color = ec;

 

          sbId = bkDict.SetAt(bkKey, sb);

          tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(sb, true);

        }

 

        // And set it to the viewport

 

        ViewportTableRecord vtr =

          (ViewportTableRecord)tr.GetObject(

            vtrId,

            OpenMode.ForWrite

          );

        vtr.Background = sbId;

      }

    }

 

    // Remove the previously set 3D background colour

 

    private static void Remove3DBackground(

      Database db,

      Transaction tr,

      ObjectId vtrId,

      ObjectId sbId

    )

    {

      // First remove it from the viewport

 

      if (vtrId != ObjectId.Null)

      {

        ViewportTableRecord vtr =

          (ViewportTableRecord)tr.GetObject(

            vtrId,

            OpenMode.ForWrite

          );

        vtr.Background = ObjectId.Null;

      }

 

      // And then erase the object itself (although

      // I suspect this is redundant)

 

      if (sbId != ObjectId.Null)

      {

        SolidBackground sb =

          (SolidBackground)tr.GetObject(

            sbId,

            OpenMode.ForRead,

            true

          );

        if (!sb.IsErased)

        {

          sb.UpgradeOpen();

          sb.Erase();

        }

      }

    }

 

    // Return a grayscale version of a provided bitmap,

    // with the option of forcing non-background pixels to

    // be black

 

    public static Bitmap ConvertToGrayscale(

      Bitmap src,

      System.Drawing.Color bgcol,

      bool force,

      System.Drawing.Color fgcol

    )

    {

      // From http://www.bobpowell.net/grayscale.htm

 

      Document doc =

        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

      Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

      Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(src.Width, src.Height);

      for (int y = 0; y < bmp.Height; y++)

      {

        for (int x = 0; x < bmp.Width; x++)

        {

          System.Drawing.Color c = src.GetPixel(x, y);

          int lum =

            (force && !SameColors(c, bgcol) ?

              0 :

              (int)(c.R * 0.3 + c.G * 0.59 + c.B * 0.11)

            // 0.299R + 0.587G + 0.114B

            );

          bmp.SetPixel(

            x,

            y,

            (lum == 0 ?

              fgcol :

              System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(lum, lum, lum))

          );

        }

      }

      return bmp;

    }

 

    // Return whether two colour can be considered equivalent

    // in terms of RGB values

 

    private static bool SameColors(

      System.Drawing.Color a,

      System.Drawing.Color b

    )

    {

      // Ignore Alpha channel, just compare RGB

      return (a.R == b.R && a.G == b.G && a.B == b.B);

    }

  }

}

November’s Plugin of the Month: Screenshot

Given the previous posts on this topic, I’d hope it’s no great surprise to regular readers that this month’s “Plugin of the Month” consists of a tool to simplify the capturing of screenshots within AutoCAD.

This month’s tool allows you to capture the current document, the entire application and an area of the drawing specified by the user or the extents of a set of objects, sending the results to a file or to the clipboard. It has optional settings to remap the background colour (which is useful for people working with a non-white background colour but who want to capture images for print documents), the foreground colour – whether to black or to grayscale – as well as some additional capabilities such as sending the results directly to a printer.

Now that Scott Sheppard is back from his well-deserved sabbatical (I’m very jealous of his 6-weeks off, less jealous of the inevitable email backlog), he has posted this month’s plugin to the Autodesk Labs site and has announced it on his blog. The version of the code provided on Labs is very similar to the final design iteration (#3) with some minor bugfixes to make sure we handle dialog cancellation properly (if the Objects option is chosen) and to make sure we wait long enough for the file selection dialog to be unpainted before we capture the screenshot. It also uses the code we’ve seen in previous plugins to automatically create demand-loading Registry entries on first load.

For completeness, here’s the C# code from the plugin distribution (to build this I suggest getting the code from Labs, as it includes the full project including the required demand-loading.cs file):

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsInterface;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsSystem;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors;

 

using System.Drawing.Imaging;

using System.Drawing.Printing;

using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;

using System.Drawing;

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

using System.Collections;

using System.Configuration;

using System;

 

using DemandLoading;

 

namespace Screenshot

{

  public class ScreenshotApplication : IExtensionApplication

  {

    // Define a class for our custom data

 

    public class AppData : ApplicationSettingsBase

    {

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("true")]

      public bool Clipboard

      {

        get { return ((bool)this["Clipboard"]); }

        set { this["Clipboard"] = (bool)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("false")]

      public bool Print

      {

        get { return ((bool)this["Print"]); }

        set { this["Print"] = (bool)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("false")]

      public bool WhiteBackground

      {

        get { return ((bool)this["WhiteBackground"]); }

        set { this["WhiteBackground"] = (bool)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("false")]

      public bool BlackForeground

      {

        get { return ((bool)this["BlackForeground"]); }

        set { this["BlackForeground"] = (bool)value; }

      }

      [UserScopedSetting()]

      [DefaultSettingValue("false")]

      public bool Grayscale

      {

        get { return ((bool)this["Grayscale"]); }

        set { this["Grayscale"] = (bool)value; }

      }

    }

 

    // A struct for communicating colours to/from AutoCAD

 

    public struct AcColorSettings

    {

      public UInt32 dwGfxModelBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwGfxLayoutBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwCmdLineBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwPlotPrevBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwSkyGradientZenithColor;

      public UInt32 dwSkyGradientHorizonColor;

      public UInt32 dwGroundGradientOriginColor;

      public UInt32 dwGroundGradientHorizonColor;

      public UInt32 dwEarthGradientAzimuthColor;

      public UInt32 dwEarthGradientHorizonColor;

      public UInt32 dwModelCrossHairColor;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutCrossHairColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelCrossHairColor;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveCrossHairColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditCrossHairColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelGridMajorLines;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveGridMajorLines;

      public UInt32 dwParallelGridMinorLines;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveGridMinorLines;

      public UInt32 dwParallelGridAxisLines;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveGridAxisLines;

      public UInt32 dwTextForeColor;

      public UInt32 dwTextBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwCmdLineForeColor;

      public UInt32 dwAutoTrackingVecColor;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutATrackVecColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelATrackVecColor;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveATrackVecColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditATrackVecColor;

      public UInt32 dwModelASnapMarkerColor;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutASnapMarkerColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelASnapMarkerColor;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveASnapMarkerColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditASnapMarkerColor;

      public UInt32 dwModelDftingTooltipColor;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutDftingTooltipColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelDftingTooltipColor;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveDftingTooltipColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditDftingTooltipColor;

      public UInt32 dwModelDftingTooltipBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutDftingTooltipBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwParallelDftingTooltipBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveDftingTooltipBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwBEditDftingTooltipBkColor;

      public UInt32 dwModelLightGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutLightGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwParallelLightGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveLightGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwBEditLightGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwModelLightHotspot;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutLightHotspot;

      public UInt32 dwParallelLightHotspot;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveLightHotspot;

      public UInt32 dwBEditLightHotspot;

      public UInt32 dwModelLightFalloff;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutLightFalloff;

      public UInt32 dwParallelLightFalloff;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveLightFalloff;

      public UInt32 dwBEditLightFalloff;

      public UInt32 dwModelLightStartLimit;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutLightStartLimit;

      public UInt32 dwParallelLightStartLimit;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveLightStartLimit;

      public UInt32 dwBEditLightStartLimit;

      public UInt32 dwModelLightEndLimit;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutLightEndLimit;

      public UInt32 dwParallelLightEndLimit;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveLightEndLimit;

      public UInt32 dwBEditLightEndLimit;

      public UInt32 dwModelCameraGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutCameraGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwParallelCameraGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveCameraGlyphs;

      public UInt32 dwModelCameraFrustrum;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutCameraFrustrum;

      public UInt32 dwParallelCameraFrustrum;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveCameraFrustrum;

      public UInt32 dwModelCameraClipping;

      public UInt32 dwLayoutCameraClipping;

      public UInt32 dwParallelCameraClipping;

      public UInt32 dwPerspectiveCameraClipping;

      public int nModelCrosshairUseTintXYZ;

      public int nLayoutCrosshairUseTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelCrosshairUseTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveCrosshairUseTintXYZ;

      public int nBEditCrossHairUseTintXYZ;

      public int nModelATrackVecUseTintXYZ;

      public int nLayoutATrackVecUseTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelATrackVecUseTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveATrackVecUseTintXYZ;

      public int nBEditATrackVecUseTintXYZ;

      public int nModelDftingTooltipBkUseTintXYZ;

      public int nLayoutDftingTooltipBkUseTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelDftingTooltipBkUseTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveDftingTooltipBkUseTintXYZ;

      public int nBEditDftingTooltipBkUseTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelGridMajorLineTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveGridMajorLineTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelGridMinorLineTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveGridMinorLineTintXYZ;

      public int nParallelGridAxisLineTintXYZ;

      public int nPerspectiveGridAxisLineTintXYZ;

    };

 

    // For the coordinate tranformation we need... 

 

    // A Win32 function:

 

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]

    static extern bool ClientToScreen(IntPtr hWnd, ref Point pt);

 

    // And to access the colours in AutoCAD, we need ObjectARX...

 

    [DllImport("acad.exe",

    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

    EntryPoint = "?acedGetCurrentColors@@YAHPAUAcColorSettings@@@Z"

    )]

    static extern bool acedGetCurrentColors32(

      out AcColorSettings colorSettings

    );

 

    [DllImport("acad.exe",

    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

    EntryPoint = "?acedSetCurrentColors@@YAHPAUAcColorSettings@@@Z"

    )]

    static extern bool acedSetCurrentColors32(

      ref AcColorSettings colorSettings

    );

 

    // 64-bit versions of these functions...

 

    [DllImport("acad.exe",

    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

    EntryPoint = "?acedGetCurrentColors@@YAHPEAUAcColorSettings@@@Z"

    )]

    static extern bool acedGetCurrentColors64(

      out AcColorSettings colorSettings

    );

 

    [DllImport("acad.exe",

    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

    EntryPoint = "?acedSetCurrentColors@@YAHPEAUAcColorSettings@@@Z"

    )]

    static extern bool acedSetCurrentColors64(

      ref AcColorSettings colorSettings

    );

 

    // Helper functions that call automatically to 32- or 64-bit

    // versions, as appropriate

 

    static bool acedGetCurrentColors(

      out AcColorSettings colorSettings

    )

    {

      if (IntPtr.Size > 4)

        return acedGetCurrentColors64(out colorSettings);

      else

        return acedGetCurrentColors32(out colorSettings);

    }

 

    static bool acedSetCurrentColors(

      ref AcColorSettings colorSettings

    )

    {

      if (IntPtr.Size > 4)

        return acedSetCurrentColors64(ref colorSettings);

      else

        return acedSetCurrentColors32(ref colorSettings);

    }

 

    // IExtensionApplication protocol

 

    public void Initialize()

    {

      try

      {

        RegistryUpdate.RegisterForDemandLoading();

      }

      catch

      { }

    }

 

    public void Terminate()

    {

    }

 

    [CommandMethod("ADNPLUGINS", "REMOVESS", CommandFlags.Modal)]

    static public void RemoveScreenshot()

    {

      RegistryUpdate.UnregisterForDemandLoading();

    }

 

    // Command to capture the main and active drawing windows

    // or a user-selected portion of a drawing

 

    [CommandMethod("ADNPLUGINS", "SCREENSHOT", CommandFlags.Modal)]

    static public void CaptureScreenShot()

    {

      Document doc =

        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

      Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

      // Retrieve our application settings (or create new ones)

 

      AppData ad = new AppData();

      ad.Reload();

 

      if (ad != null)

      {

        string filename = "";

        bool settingschosen;

        PromptPointResult ppr;

 

        do

        {

          settingschosen = false;

 

          // Ask the user for the screen window to capture

 

          PrintSettings(ed, ad);

          PromptPointOptions ppo =

            new PromptPointOptions(

              "\nSelect first point of capture window or " +

              "[Document/Application/Objects/Settings]: ",

              "Document Application Objects Settings"

            );

 

          // Get the first point of the capture window,

          // or a keyword

 

          ppr = ed.GetPoint(ppo);

 

          if (ppr.Status == PromptStatus.Keyword)

          {

            if (ppr.StringResult == "Document")

            {

              // Capture the active document window

 

              if (!ad.Clipboard)

                filename = GetFileName(ed);

              ScreenShotToFile(

                Application.DocumentManager.

                  MdiActiveDocument.Window,

                30, 26, 10, 10,

                filename,

                ad

              );

            }

            else if (ppr.StringResult == "Application")

            {

              // Capture the entire application window

 

              if (!ad.Clipboard)

                filename = GetFileName(ed);

              ScreenShotToFile(

                Application.MainWindow,

                0, 0, 0, 0,

                filename,

                ad

              );

            }

            else if (ppr.StringResult == "Objects")

            {

              // Ask the user to select a number of entities

 

              PromptSelectionResult psr =

                ed.GetSelection();

 

              if (psr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

              {

                // Regenerate to clear any selection highlighting

 

                ed.Regen();

 

                // Generate screen coordinate points based on the

                // drawing points selected

 

                // First we get the viewport number

 

                short vp =

                  (short)Application.GetSystemVariable("CVPORT");

 

                // Then the handle to the current drawing window

 

                IntPtr hWnd = doc.Window.Handle;

 

                // Get the screen extents of the selected entities

 

                Point pt1, pt2;

                GetExtentsOfSelection(

                  ed, doc, hWnd, vp, psr.Value, out pt1, out pt2

                );

 

                // Now save this portion of our screen as a raster

                // image

 

                if (!ad.Clipboard)

                  filename = GetFileName(ed);

 

                ScreenShotToFile(pt1, pt2, filename, ad);

              }

            }

            else if (ppr.StringResult == "Settings")

            {

              if (GetSettings(ed, ad))

                ad.Save();

              settingschosen = true;

            }

          }

        }

        while (settingschosen); // Loop if settings were modified

 

        if (ppr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

        {

          // Now we're ready to select the second point

 

          Point3d first = ppr.Value;

 

          ppr =

            ed.GetCorner(

              "\nSelect second point of capture window: ",

              first

            );

          if (ppr.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

            return;

 

          Point3d second = ppr.Value;

 

          // Generate screen coordinate points based on the

          // drawing points selected

 

          Point pt1, pt2;

 

          // First we get the viewport number

 

          short vp =

            (short)Application.GetSystemVariable("CVPORT");

 

          // Then the handle to the current drawing window

 

          IntPtr hWnd = doc.Window.Handle;

 

          // Now calculate the selected corners in screen coordinates

 

          pt1 = ScreenFromDrawingPoint(ed, hWnd, first, vp, true);

          pt2 = ScreenFromDrawingPoint(ed, hWnd, second, vp, true);

 

          // Now save this portion of our screen as a raster image

 

          if (!ad.Clipboard)

            filename = GetFileName(ed);

 

          ScreenShotToFile(pt1, pt2, filename, ad);

        }

      }

    }

 

    // Iterate through a selection-set and get the overall extents

    // of the various objects relative to the screen

    // (this is imperfect: our extents in WCS may not translate to

    // the extents on the screen. A more thorough approach would be

    // to get a number of points from an object and check each)

 

    private static void GetExtentsOfSelection(

      Editor ed,

      Document doc,

      IntPtr hWnd,

      short vp,

      SelectionSet ss,

      out Point min,

      out Point max

    )

    {

      // Create minimum and maximum points for the "on screen"

      // extents of our objects

 

      min = new Point();

      max = new Point();

 

      // Know which is the first pass through

 

      bool first = true;

 

      // Some variables to store transformation results

 

      Point pt1 = new Point(), pt2 = new Point();

 

      Transaction tr =

        doc.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();

      using (tr)

      {

        foreach (SelectedObject so in ss)

        {

          DBObject obj =

            tr.GetObject(so.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead);

          Entity ent = obj as Entity;

          if (ent != null)

          {

            // Get the WCS extents of each object

 

            Extents3d ext = ent.GeometricExtents;

 

            // Calculate the extent corners in screen coordinates

            // (this may not be the true screen extents, but we'll

            // hope it's good enough)

 

            pt1 =

              ScreenFromDrawingPoint(

                ed, hWnd, ext.MinPoint, vp, false

              );

            pt2 =

              ScreenFromDrawingPoint(

                ed, hWnd, ext.MaxPoint, vp, false

              );

 

            // The points may not be ordered, so get the min and max

            // values for both X and Y from both points

 

            int minX = Math.Min(pt1.X, pt2.X);

            int minY = Math.Min(pt1.Y, pt2.Y);

            int maxX = Math.Max(pt1.X, pt2.X);

            int maxY = Math.Max(pt1.Y, pt2.Y);

 

            // On the first run through, just get the points

 

            if (first)

            {

              min = new Point(minX, minY);

              max = new Point(maxX, maxY);

              first = false;

            }

            else

            {

              // On subsequent runs through, we need to compare

 

              if (minX < min.X) min.X = minX;

              if (minY < min.Y) min.Y = minY;

              if (maxX > max.X) max.X = maxX;

              if (maxY > max.Y) max.Y = maxY;

            }

          }

        }

        tr.Commit();

      }

    }

 

    // Print the current application settings to the command-line

 

    private static void PrintSettings(Editor ed, AppData ad)

    {

      ed.WriteMessage(

        "\nCurrent settings: Output={0}, Print={1}, " +

        "Background={2}, Foreground={3}, Grayscale={4}",

        ad.Clipboard ? "Clipboard" : "File",

        ad.Print ? "Yes" : "No",

        ad.WhiteBackground ? "ForceToWhite" : "Normal",

        ad.BlackForeground ? "ForceToBlack" : "Normal",

        ad.Grayscale ? "On" : "Off"

      );

    }

 

    // Ask the user to modify the application settings

 

    private static bool GetSettings(Editor ed, AppData ad)

    {

      // At our top-level settings prompt, make the default

      // to exit back up

 

      PromptKeywordOptions pko =

        new PromptKeywordOptions(

          "\nSetting to change " +

          "[Output/Print/Background/Foreground/Grayscale/Exit]: ",

          "Output Print Background Foreground Grayscale Exit"

        );

      pko.Keywords.Default = "Exit";

 

      PromptResult pr;

      bool settingschanged = false;

      do

      {

        // Start by printing the current settings

 

        PrintSettings(ed, ad);

 

        pr = ed.GetKeywords(pko);

 

        if (pr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

        {

          if (pr.StringResult == "Output")

          {

            // If Output is selected, ask whether to put the

            // image on the clipboard or save to file

 

            PromptKeywordOptions pko2 =

              new PromptKeywordOptions(

                "\nSave to file or place on the clipboard " +

                "[File/Clipboard]: ",

                "File Clipboard"

              );

 

            // The default depends on our current settings

 

            pko2.Keywords.Default =

              (ad.Clipboard ? "Clipboard" : "File");

 

            PromptResult pr2 = ed.GetKeywords(pko2);

 

            if (pr2.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

            {

              // Change the settings, as needed

 

              bool clipboard =

                (pr2.StringResult == "Clipboard");

 

              if (ad.Clipboard != clipboard)

              {

                ad.Clipboard = clipboard;

                settingschanged = true;

              }

            }

          }

          else if (pr.StringResult == "Print")

          {

            // If Print is different, ask whether to

            // send the image to the printer

 

            bool different =

              GetYesOrNo(

                ed,

                "\nSend image to printer once captured",

                ad.Print

              );

            if (different)

            {

              ad.Print = !ad.Print;

              settingschanged = true;

            }

          }

          else if (pr.StringResult == "Background")

          {

            // If Background is different, ask whether to

            // force the background colour to white

            // (we could allow selection of a colour,

            // but that's out of scope, for now)

 

            bool different =

              GetYesOrNo(

                ed,

                "\nForce background color to white",

                ad.WhiteBackground

              );

            if (different)

            {

              ad.WhiteBackground = !ad.WhiteBackground;

              settingschanged = true;

            }

          }

          else if (pr.StringResult == "Foreground")

          {

            // If Foreground is different, ask whether to

            // force the foreground colour to black

            // (we could allow selection of a colour,

            // but that's out of scope, for now)

 

            bool different =

              GetYesOrNo(

                ed,

                "\nForce foreground color to black",

                ad.BlackForeground

              );

            if (different)

            {

              ad.BlackForeground = !ad.BlackForeground;

              settingschanged = true;

            }

          }

          else if (pr.StringResult == "Grayscale")

          {

            // If Grayscale is different, ask whether to

            // force the foreground pixels to be gray

 

            bool different =

              GetYesOrNo(

                ed,

                "\nConvert image to grayscale",

                ad.Grayscale

              );

            if (different)

            {

              ad.Grayscale = !ad.Grayscale;

              settingschanged = true;

            }

          }

        }

      }

      while (

        pr.Status == PromptStatus.OK &&

        pr.StringResult != "Exit"

      );  // Loop until Exit or cancel

 

      return settingschanged;

    }

 

    // Ask the user to enter yes or no to a particular question,

    // setting the default option appropriately

 

    private static bool GetYesOrNo(

      Editor ed,

      string prompt,

      bool defval

    )

    {

      bool changed = false;

 

      PromptKeywordOptions pko =

        new PromptKeywordOptions(prompt + " [Yes/No]: ", "Yes No");

 

      // The default depends on our current settings

 

      pko.Keywords.Default =

        (defval ? "Yes" : "No");

      PromptResult pr = ed.GetKeywords(pko);

 

      if (pr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

      {

        // Change the settings, as needed

 

        bool newval =

          (pr.StringResult == "Yes");

 

        if (defval != newval)

        {

          changed = true;

        }

      }

      return changed;

    }

 

    // Ask the user to select a location to save our file to

 

    private static string GetFileName(Editor ed)

    {

      string filename = "";

 

      // The entries here will drive the behaviour of the

      // GetFormatForFile() function

 

      PromptSaveFileOptions pofo =

        new PromptSaveFileOptions(

          "\nSelect image location: "

        );

      pofo.Filter =

        "Bitmap (*.bmp)|*.bmp|" +

        "GIF (*.gif)|*.gif|" +

        "JPEG (*.jpg)|*.jpg|" +

        "PNG (*.png)|*.png|" +

        "TIFF (*.tif)|*.tif";

 

      // Set the default save location to be the current drawing

 

      string fn = ed.Document.Database.Filename;

      if (fn.Contains("."))

      {

        int extIdx = fn.LastIndexOf(".");

        if (fn.Substring(extIdx + 1) != "dwt" &&

            fn.Contains("\\"))

        {

          int sepIdx = fn.LastIndexOf("\\");

          pofo.InitialDirectory =

            fn.Substring(0, sepIdx);

        }

      }

 

      PromptFileNameResult pfnr =

        ed.GetFileNameForSave(pofo);

 

      if (pfnr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

      {

        filename = pfnr.StringResult;

 

        // If a file was selected, wait for some time to allow

        // the "file already exists" dialog to disappear

        // (1000ms = one second - may need tweaking)

 

        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);

      }

 

      return filename;

    }

 

    // Perform our tranformations to get from UCS

    // (or WCS) to screen coordinates

 

    private static Point ScreenFromDrawingPoint(

      Editor ed,

      IntPtr hWnd,

      Point3d pt,

      short vpNum,

      bool useUcs

    )

    {

      // Transform from UCS to WCS, if needed

 

      Point3d wcsPt =

        (useUcs ?

          pt.TransformBy(ed.CurrentUserCoordinateSystem)

          : pt

        );

 

      // Then get the screen coordinates within the client

      // and translate these for the overall screen

 

      Point res = ed.PointToScreen(wcsPt, vpNum);

      ClientToScreen(hWnd, ref res);

      return res;

    }

 

    // Save the display of an AutoCAD window as a raster file

    // and/or an image on the clipboard

 

    private static void ScreenShotToFile(

      Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows.Window wd,

      int top, int bottom, int left, int right,

      string filename,

      AppData ad

    )

    {

      Point pt = wd.Location;

      Size sz = wd.Size;

 

      pt.X += left;

      pt.Y += top;

      sz.Height -= top + bottom;

      sz.Width -= left + right;

 

      SaveScreenPortion(pt, sz, filename, ad);

    }

 

    // Save a screen window between two corners as a raster file

    // and/or an image on the clipboard

 

    private static void ScreenShotToFile(

      Point pt1,

      Point pt2,

      string filename,

      AppData ad

    )

    {

      // Create the top left corner from the two corners

      // provided (by taking the min of both X and Y values)

 

      Point pt =

        new Point(Math.Min(pt1.X, pt2.X), Math.Min(pt1.Y, pt2.Y));

 

      // Determine the size by subtracting X & Y values and

      // taking the absolute value of each

 

      Size sz =

        new Size(Math.Abs(pt1.X - pt2.X), Math.Abs(pt1.Y - pt2.Y));

 

      SaveScreenPortion(pt, sz, filename, ad);

    }

 

    // Save a portion of the screen display as a raster file

    // and/or an image on the clipboard

 

    private static void SaveScreenPortion(

      Point pt,

      Size sz,

      string filename,

      AppData ad

    )

    {

      Document doc =

        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

      Database db = doc.Database;

      Editor ed = doc.Editor;

      Manager gsm = doc.GraphicsManager;

 

      Transaction tr =

        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();

      using (tr)

      {

        AcColorSettings ocs = new AcColorSettings();

        ObjectId vtrId = ObjectId.Null,

                sbId = ObjectId.Null;

 

        bool in3DView = is3D(gsm);

 

        if (ad.WhiteBackground)

        {

          if (in3DView)

          {

            Set3DBackground(

              ed,

              db,

              tr,

              new EntityColor(255, 255, 255),

              out vtrId,

              out sbId

            );

          }

          else

          {

            // Get the current system colours

 

            acedGetCurrentColors(out ocs);

 

            // Take a copy - we'll leave the original to reset

            // the values later on, once we've finished

 

            AcColorSettings cs = ocs;

 

            // Make both background colours white (the 3D

            // background isn't currently being picked up)

 

            cs.dwGfxModelBkColor = 16777215;

            cs.dwGfxLayoutBkColor = 16777215;

            //cs.dwParallelBkColor = 16777215;

 

            // Set the modified colours

 

            acedSetCurrentColors(ref cs);

 

            ed.Regen();

          }

          // Update the screen to reflect the changes

 

          ed.UpdateScreen();

        }

 

        // Set the bitmap object to the size of the window

 

        Bitmap bmp =

          new Bitmap(

            sz.Width,

            sz.Height,

            PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb

          );

        using (bmp)

        {

          // Create a graphics object from the bitmap

 

          using (Graphics gfx = Graphics.FromImage(bmp))

          {

            // Take a screenshot of our window

 

            gfx.CopyFromScreen(

              pt.X, pt.Y, 0, 0, sz,

              CopyPixelOperation.SourceCopy

            );

 

            Bitmap processed;

            if (ad.BlackForeground || ad.Grayscale)

            {

              System.Drawing.Color col;

 

              if (in3DView)

              {

                if (ad.WhiteBackground)

                {

                  col = System.Drawing.Color.White;

                }

                else

                {

                  acedGetCurrentColors(out ocs);

                  uint bgcol = ocs.dwParallelBkColor;

                  col =

                    System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb((int)bgcol);

                }

              }

              else

              {

                bool inModelspace =

                  ((short)Application.GetSystemVariable(

                    "TILEMODE"

                  ) == 0);

                uint bgcol =

                  (inModelspace

                    ? ocs.dwGfxModelBkColor

                    : ocs.dwGfxLayoutBkColor

                  );

                col =

                  System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb((int)bgcol);

              }

              processed =

                ConvertToGrayscale(

                  bmp,

                  col,

                  ad.BlackForeground,

                  System.Drawing.Color.Black

                );

            }

            else

            {

              processed = bmp;

            }

 

            // Take a copy of the bitmap for printing

 

            using (Bitmap toPrint = processed)

            {

              // Save the screenshot to the specified location

 

              if (filename != null && filename != "")

              {

                processed.Save(filename, GetFormatForFile(filename));

                ed.WriteMessage(

                  "\nImage captured and saved to \"{0}\".",

                  filename

                );

              }

 

              // Copy it to the clipboard

 

              if (ad.Clipboard)

              {

                System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard.SetImage(processed);

                ed.WriteMessage(

                  "\nImage captured to the clipboard."

                );

              }

 

              // Send it to a printer

 

              if (ad.Print)

              {

                PrintDocument pdoc = new PrintDocument();

                pdoc.PrintPage +=

                  delegate(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs e)

                  {

                    int wid = toPrint.Width,

                        hgt = toPrint.Height;

 

                    // Store the ratio between width and height

 

                    double ratio = (double)wid / (double)hgt;

 

                    // If the image's width isn't the

                    // same as the page...

 

                    if (wid != e.MarginBounds.Width)

                    {

                      // Change the width to fit the page

 

                      wid = e.MarginBounds.Width;

 

                      // Adjust the height to maintain scale

                      // (even if bigger than the page height)

 

                      hgt = (int)(wid / ratio);

                    }

 

                    // If the image's height is bigger than the

                    // page...

 

                    if (hgt > e.MarginBounds.Height)

                    {

                      // Change the height to fit the paper

 

                      hgt = e.MarginBounds.Height;

 

                      // Adjust the width to maintain scale

 

                      wid = (int)(ratio * hgt);

                    }

 

                    // Set the interpolation settings to high

                    // quality

 

                    e.Graphics.InterpolationMode =

                      InterpolationMode.HighQualityBicubic;

 

                    // And send the image out to the page

 

                    e.Graphics.DrawImage(

                      toPrint,

                      e.MarginBounds.X,

                      e.MarginBounds.Y,

                      wid,

                      hgt

                    );

                  };

 

                // Create and show the print dialog

 

                System.Windows.Forms.PrintDialog pdlg =

                  new System.Windows.Forms.PrintDialog();

                pdlg.Document = pdoc;

 

                if (pdlg.ShowDialog() ==

                    System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)

                  pdoc.Print(); // Print on OK

              }

            }

          }

        }

        if (ad.WhiteBackground)

        {

          if (vtrId != ObjectId.Null || sbId != ObjectId.Null)

          {

            Remove3DBackground(db, tr, vtrId, sbId);

          }

          else

          {

            acedSetCurrentColors(ref ocs);

            ed.Regen();

          }

          ed.UpdateScreen();

        }

        tr.Commit();

      }

    }

 

    // Check whether the active viewport is 3D

 

    private static bool is3D(Manager gsm)

    {

      short vp =

        (short)Application.GetSystemVariable("CVPORT");

      View v = gsm.GetGsView(vp, false);

      using (v)

      {

        return (v != null);

      }

    }

 

    // Return the image format to use for a particular filename

 

    private static ImageFormat GetFormatForFile(string filename)

    {

      // If all else fails, let's create a PNG

      // (might also choose to throw an exception)

 

      ImageFormat imf = ImageFormat.Png;

      if (filename.Contains("."))

      {

        // Get the filename's extension (what follows the last ".")

 

        string ext =

          filename.Substring(filename.LastIndexOf(".") + 1);

 

        // Get the first three characters of the extension

 

        if (ext.Length > 3)

          ext = ext.Substring(0, 3);

 

        // Choose the format based on the extension (in lowercase)

 

        switch (ext.ToLower())

        {

          case "bmp":

            imf = ImageFormat.Bmp;

            break;

          case "gif":

            imf = ImageFormat.Gif;

            break;

          case "jpg":

            imf = ImageFormat.Jpeg;

            break;

          case "tif":

            imf = ImageFormat.Tiff;

            break;

          case "wmf":

            imf = ImageFormat.Wmf;

            break;

          default:

            imf = ImageFormat.Png;

            break;

        }

      }

      return imf;

    }

 

    // Set the background colour of a 3D view

 

    private static void Set3DBackground(

      Editor ed,

      Database db,

      Transaction tr,

      EntityColor ec,

      out ObjectId vtrId,

      out ObjectId sbId

    )

    {

      // We're be returning IDs of the Viewport Table Record

      // and of the background itself

 

      vtrId = ObjectId.Null;

      sbId = ObjectId.Null;

 

      ed.UpdateTiledViewportsInDatabase();

      ViewportTable vt =

        (ViewportTable)tr.GetObject(

          db.ViewportTableId,

          OpenMode.ForRead

        );

 

      if (vt.Has("*Active"))

      {

        // Let's get the Viewport Table Record

 

        vtrId = vt["*Active"];

        DBDictionary nod =

          (DBDictionary)tr.GetObject(

            db.NamedObjectsDictionaryId,

            OpenMode.ForRead

          );

 

        // And create the background dictionary, if none exists

 

        ObjectId bkdId = ObjectId.Null;

        DBDictionary bkDict = null;

 

        const string dictKey = "ACAD_BACKGROUND";

        const string bkKey = "ADNPlugin_Screenshot";

 

        if (nod.Contains(dictKey))

        {

          bkdId = nod.GetAt(dictKey);

          bkDict =

            (DBDictionary)tr.GetObject(bkdId, OpenMode.ForWrite);

        }

        else

        {

          bkDict = new DBDictionary();

          nod.UpgradeOpen();

          bkdId = nod.SetAt(dictKey, bkDict);

          tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(bkDict, true);

        }

 

        // Get or create our background object

 

        if (bkDict.Contains(bkKey))

        {

          sbId = bkDict.GetAt(bkKey);

        }

        else

        {

          SolidBackground sb = new SolidBackground();

          sb.Color = ec;

 

          sbId = bkDict.SetAt(bkKey, sb);

          tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(sb, true);

        }

 

        // And set it to the viewport

 

        ViewportTableRecord vtr =

          (ViewportTableRecord)tr.GetObject(

            vtrId,

            OpenMode.ForWrite

          );

        vtr.Background = sbId;

      }

    }

 

    // Remove the previously set 3D background colour

 

    private static void Remove3DBackground(

      Database db,

      Transaction tr,

      ObjectId vtrId,

      ObjectId sbId

    )

    {

      // First remove it from the viewport

 

      if (vtrId != ObjectId.Null)

      {

        ViewportTableRecord vtr =

          (ViewportTableRecord)tr.GetObject(

            vtrId,

            OpenMode.ForWrite

          );

        vtr.Background = ObjectId.Null;

      }

 

      // And then erase the object itself (although

      // I suspect this is redundant)

 

      if (sbId != ObjectId.Null)

      {

        SolidBackground sb =

          (SolidBackground)tr.GetObject(

            sbId,

            OpenMode.ForRead,

            true

          );

        if (!sb.IsErased)

        {

          sb.UpgradeOpen();

          sb.Erase();

        }

      }

    }

 

    // Return a grayscale version of a provided bitmap,

    // with the option of forcing non-background pixels to

    // be black

 

    public static Bitmap ConvertToGrayscale(

      Bitmap src,

      System.Drawing.Color bgcol,

      bool force,

      System.Drawing.Color fgcol

    )

    {

      // From http://www.bobpowell.net/grayscale.htm

 

      Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(src.Width, src.Height);

      for (int y = 0; y < bmp.Height; y++)

      {

        for (int x = 0; x < bmp.Width; x++)

        {

          System.Drawing.Color c = src.GetPixel(x, y);

          int lum =

            (force && !SameColors(c, bgcol) ?

              0 :

              (int)(c.R * 0.3 + c.G * 0.59 + c.B * 0.11)

            // 0.299R + 0.587G + 0.114B

            );

          bmp.SetPixel(

            x,

            y,

            (lum == 0 ?

              fgcol :

              System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(lum, lum, lum))

          );

        }

      }

      return bmp;

    }

 

    // Return whether two colour can be considered equivalent

    // in terms of RGB values

 

    private static bool SameColors(

      System.Drawing.Color a,

      System.Drawing.Color b

    )

    {

      // Ignore Alpha channel, just compare RGB

 

      return (a.R == b.R && a.G == b.G && a.B == b.B);

    }

  }

}

Now I’m going to spend some time repackaging next month’s plugin, Layer Reporter, which has kindly been provided by Terry Dotson, a long-time member of the Autodesk Developer Network.

Detecting the use of the shift and control keys during an AutoCAD jig using .NET

Another interesting little problem, that of how to detect the use of modifier keys during a jig operation (to indicate different jig behaviour). In this case the specific task was to detect the use of the Control and Shift keys, which – if held down during the jig – should cause our object to display differently.

I started with the code from this previous post which uses a DrawJig to place text in the plane of the screen during the jig operation. I initially thought I’d have to use a message filter (as shown in this previous post), but I eventually realised it wasn’t needed: it’s simply a matter of querying the state of System.Windows.Forms.Control.ModifierKeys at the appropriate moment during our WorldDraw().

Here’s the C# code I used:

using Autod