Getting Started

drewj · ‎12-14-2014

is there an idiouts guide... 101 type of class? with Revit there is a nice zip file that has a template for the creation of a Revit addin and a great blog community controlled by Jeremy T. With Navisworks, there is a massive (lots of content of different types all in one place) example solution available, and some documentation that no where really states that I can find... this is how to start.

What are the basics I need to put into a Navisworks plugin? I tried the following and nothing loads in Navisworks, this type of basics is where I am not able to progress:

WPFDocuPaneAddin.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Plugins;
namespace WpfDockPane
{
[Plugin("WpfDockPane.WPFDockPaneAddin", "ADSK",
DisplayName = "WPFDockPaneAddin",
ToolTip = "Basic CSharp Dock Pane Plugin")]
public class WPFDockPaneAddin : AddInPlugin
{
public override int Execute(params string[] parameters)
{
if (Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Application.IsAutomated)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("Invalid when running using Automation");
}
//Find the plugin
PluginRecord pr =
Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Application.Plugins.FindPlugin("WpfDockPane.WPFDocPanePlugin.ADSK");
if (pr != null && pr is DockPanePluginRecord && pr.IsEnabled)
{
//check if it needs loading
if (pr.LoadedPlugin == null)
{
pr.LoadPlugin();
}
DockPanePlugin dpp = pr.LoadedPlugin as DockPanePlugin;
if (dpp != null)
{
//switch the Visible flag
dpp.Visible = !dpp.Visible;
}
}
return 0;
}
}
}

WPFDocPanePlugin.cs
using System.Windows.Forms.Integration;
using Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Plugins;
namespace WpfDockPane
{
#region WPFDocPanePlugin
[Plugin("WpfDockPane.WPFDocPanePlugin", "ADSK",
DisplayName = "WPFDocPanePlugin",
ToolTip = "Basic WPF Docking Pane Plugin")]
[DockPanePlugin(150, 200, FixedSize = false)]
class WPFDocPanePlugin : DockPanePlugin
{
public override System.Windows.Forms.Control CreateControlPane()
{
//create an ElementHost
ElementHost eh = new ElementHost();
//assign the control
eh.AutoSize = true;
eh.Child = new WPFHelloWorldControl();
eh.CreateControl();
//return the ElementHost
return eh;
}
public override void DestroyControlPane(System.Windows.Forms.Control pane)
{
pane.Dispose();
}
}
#endregion
}

WPFHelloWorldControl.xaml
<UserControl x:Class="WpfDockPane.WPFHelloWorldControl"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Height="200" Width="150">
<Grid>
<Label Canvas.Left="18" Canvas.Top="77" Height="28" Name="label1" VerticalAlignment="Top">Hello World in WPF!!!</Label>
</Grid>
</UserControl>

WPFHellowWorldControl.xaml.cs
using System.Windows.Controls;
namespace WpfDockPane
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for UserControl1.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class WPFHelloWorldControl : UserControl
{
public WPFHelloWorldControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
}

I added references to Autodesk.Navisworks.Api, Autodesk.Navisworks.Controls & WindowsFormsIntegration

I put the following post build event:

mkdir "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Navisworks Manage 2015\Plugins\$(TargetName)"
copy "$(TargetDir)" "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Navisworks Manage 2015\Plugins\$(TargetName)"

I pointed the Debug Start Action to Roamer.exe

It builds sucessfully, but there are no Ribbon tools within Manage which I think maybe is trying to be acoumplished with the [Plugin code, but again this is all just really a guess...

So does anyone have a good guide as to how to get started with this API?

Thanks so much for reading to here, and thanks if you have anything that can help.