AddIn - Dockable window.

[Jef_E]

Hello there,

I'm currently reviewing the tools I have created over the years, and I would like to do an improvement.

So I did a some testing and find that my tools work, but they are still a little bit complecated to use. So this improvement I like to make would refer to the user interface of the tools.

To improve my tools I would like to work with a dockable window. But.. I can't find a good sample of how to make one. Could one of you share sample code? Or a vb project that contains it? that would be great.

I found this code sample but it's not realy clear to me.

Sub DockableWindow()
    Dim oUserInterfaceMgr As UserInterfaceManager
    Set oUserInterfaceMgr = ThisApplication.UserInterfaceManager

    ' Create a new dockable window
    Dim oWindow As DockableWindow
    Set oWindow = oUserInterfaceMgr.DockableWindows.Add("SampleClientId", "TestWindowInternalName", "Test Window")

    ' Get the hwnd of the dialog to be added as a child
    ' CHANGE THIS VALUE!
    Dim hwnd As Long
    hwnd = 4851096

    ' Add the dialog as a child to the dockable window
    Call oWindow.AddChild(hwnd)

    ' Don't allow docking to top and bottom
    oWindow.DisabledDockingStates = kDockTop + kDockBottom

    ' Make the window visible
    oWindow.Visible = True
End Sub
 

[Jef_E]

I managed to get a visible dockable window and my windows form in it.

        Private Sub CreateDockableWindow()

            ' Set reference to the user interface manager
            Dim oUserInterfaceMgr As UserInterfaceManager
            oUserInterfaceMgr = m_inventorApplication.UserInterfaceManager

            ' Create a new dockable window
            Dim oWindow As DockableWindow
            oWindow = oUserInterfaceMgr.DockableWindows.Add("SampleClientId", "TestWindowInternalName", "Test Window")

            Dim oForm As New FileInfo
            oWindow.AddChild(oForm.Handle)

            ' Dock the window to the right
            oWindow.DockingState = DockingStateEnum.kDockRight
            oWindow.Visible = True

        End Sub

How can you the form to be displayed withour the border ( close form button )?

Okay, stupid question found it!

[Jef_E]

@Anonymous

So I added a dockable window that loads when Inventor is activated. I made in my visual studio solution a windowsform and added a textbox and button on it. But when I can't see any of it on my dockable window?

        Private Sub CreateDockableWindow()

            ' Set reference to the user interface manager
            Dim oUserInterfaceMgr As UserInterfaceManager
            oUserInterfaceMgr = m_inventorApplication.UserInterfaceManager

            ' Create a new dockable window
            Dim oWindow As DockableWindow
            oWindow = oUserInterfaceMgr.DockableWindows.Add("SampleClientId", "TestWindowInternalName", "Test Window")

            Dim oForm As New FileInfo
            oWindow.AddChild(oForm.Handle)

            ' Dock the window to the right
            oWindow.DockingState = DockingStateEnum.kDockRight
            oWindow.Width = 50
            oWindow.Visible = True

        End Sub

How can I make my controls visible?

Here are 2 screenshots to show whats going on.

This is what I see in Inventor

This is what i see in Visual Studio

[NachoShaw · Accepted solution]

Hi

In visual studio, why dont you create a usercontrol instead (as it has no borders), add all of your controls into that and add it into the dockable window?

This is how i have done it:

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports System
Imports System.Type
Imports System.Activator
Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic
Imports Inventor
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Collections
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Data

Module DockWindow
    
    Public oWindow As Inventor.DockableWindow
    Public IsBrowserVisible As Boolean = True
    Public DockHeight As Long = 500
    Public dockWidth As Long = 350
    Public DockShown As Boolean = False
    Private InitialDockHeight As Long = 0
    Private InitialDockWidth As Long = 0
    Public InAction As Boolean = False

    Private addInCLSIDString As String
    Private dc As Test01

    Public Sub SetDockableWindow(addInCLS As String)

        Dim oUserInterfaceMgr As Inventor.UserInterfaceManager = AddinGlobal.InventorApp.UserInterfaceManager
        Try
            oWindow = oUserInterfaceMgr.DockableWindows.Add(addInCLS, "AutoSheetDockWindow", "Auto Sheets")
            oWindow.AddChild(CreateChildDialog())
            oWindow.DisabledDockingStates = DockingStateEnum.kDockTop + DockingStateEnum.kDockBottom
            oWindow.Visible = False 'Dont show the window on loading. Set to True to show on startup
        Catch ex As Exception
        End Try
    End Sub

    Public Function CreateChildDialog() As Long

        If Not dc Is Nothing Then
            dc.Dispose()
            dc = Nothing
        End If

        dc = New Test01()
        dc.Show(New WindowWrapper(AddinGlobal.InventorApp.MainFrameHWND))
        Return dc.Handle.ToInt64()
    End Function

    Public Sub DockVis(visible As Boolean)

        Dim oUserInterfaceMgr As Inventor.UserInterfaceManager = AddinGlobal.InventorApp.UserInterfaceManager

        Select Case visible
            Case True
                oUserInterfaceMgr.ShowBrowser = False
                oWindow.Visible = visible
                Select Case DockShown
                    Case False
                        oWindow.DockingState = DockingStateEnum.kDockLeft
                        oWindow.SetMinimumSize(DockHeight, dockWidth)
                        DockShown = True
                End Select
            Case False
                oWindow.Visible = visible
                oUserInterfaceMgr.ShowBrowser = IsBrowserVisible
        End Select
    End Sub
End Module

Note:

you can add a form in the exact same way, just declare dc as the form instead. Set your form to have no borders and turn off the buttons in the forms properties

This code shows the dock bar when a button is clicked and closes it when its i click a close button. Here is the button code in the ButtonActions Class

'Namespace autosheet
Public Class ButtonActions
    Public Shared Sub Button1_Execute()
        'TODO: add code below for the button click callback.

        Dim oUserInterfaceMgr As Inventor.UserInterfaceManager = AddinGlobal.InventorApp.UserInterfaceManager

        Select Case InAction
            Case True
                Exit Sub
            Case False
                DockWindow.IsBrowserVisible = oUserInterfaceMgr.ShowBrowser
                DockWindow.DockVis(True)
                oUserInterfaceMgr = Nothing
                DockWindow.InAction = True
        End Select
    End Sub
End Class

in my close button, i use this:

 DockWindow.InAction = False
        DockWindow.DockVis(False)

I turn off the main browser to only have mine there during usage. it is turned off here:

It also docks the window to the left. this can be changed in this line of code:

It is controlled by the 'Visible As Boolean' in the above sub

hope that helps

Nacho

[Crstiano]

Hi Nacho,

Just a few years late... 🙂
In your example do you use a button to controls if is visible or not.
But how to make the dock.window visible together the Browser Panel or when do you open a type file.. ?

Thanks in advance,

[NachoShaw]

when i load my app, i make the doc window visible and when i close the app, i make it false again. there is a section in the code posted that shows how i turn off the browser window to just have mine. you can comment it out and it wont turn the browser window off

hth

[christian_skare]

Hello,

I've been testing with snippets above, but I can't figure out how to make my controls show within my User Control form.

If I however try to add a different Form as the docked form it works.

Imports Inventor

Public Class DockWindow
    ' Private dc As DockWindow 'This doesn't work
    Private dc As New_part 'This works

    Public Sub New()
        ' This call is required by the designer.
        InitializeComponent()

        ' Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call.
        CreateDockableWindow()
    End Sub

    Public Sub CreateDockableWindow()
        ' Set reference to the user interface manager
        Dim oUserInterfaceMgr As UserInterfaceManager = g_inventorApplication.UserInterfaceManager

        ' Create a new dockable window
        Dim oWindow As Inventor.DockableWindow = oUserInterfaceMgr.DockableWindows.Add(g_inventorApplication.UserName, "TestWindowInternalName", "Kassist")

        Try
            oWindow.AddChild(CreateChildDialog())
        Catch ex As Exception
            MsgBox(ex.Message) 'Throws expection if I use dc = DockWindow
        End Try
    End Sub

    Public Function CreateChildDialog() As Long

        If Not dc Is Nothing Then
            dc.Dispose()
            dc = Nothing
        End If

        'dc = New DockWindow()'This doesn't work
        dc = New New_part 'This works
        dc.Show()
        Return dc.Handle.ToInt64()
    End Function
End Class

I call this in StandardAddInServer.vb

Private Sub invEvents_OnActivateDocument(DocumentObject As _Document, BeforeOrAfter As EventTimingEnum, Context As NameValueMap, ByRef HandlingCode As HandlingCodeEnum) Handles invEvents.OnActivateDocument
     If BeforeOrAfter = EventTimingEnum.kAfter Then
           Dim DockedWindow As New DockWindow
     End If
End Sub

Exception message if dc = DockWindow:

Anyone know how I can solve this?

Do I need 1 class + 1 user control?

Bonus question: Using the code that @NachoShaw provided, I can't seem to figure out how he creates the children without it being inside DockVis. From his screenshot it looks like he referenced it 2 times, which I assume is for show & hide. How did he reference it, and how does that trigger the CreateChild Function?

[JelteDeJong]

I wrote a tutorial about creating an Inventor addin. You might want to check out the part "Creating a dockable window ". It's possible to create dockable windows from wpf forms. 

[christian_skare]

Thanks, I'll definitely take a look.

I did manage to solve my issue with the help from This post.  Important to note for future readers is to add a StatusStrip to the control (either by code or from the visual studio toolbox) otherwise the form will hide itself for some reason.

    Public Sub New(addInCLSIDString As String)
        ' This call is required by the designer.
        InitializeComponent()

        ' Get the UserInterfaceManager from the global Inventor Application object
        Dim oUserInterFaceManager As UserInterfaceManager = g_inventorApplication.UserInterfaceManager

        ' Get the DockableWindows collection from the UserInterfaceManager
        Dim _DockableWindows As DockableWindows = oUserInterFaceManager.DockableWindows

        ' Check if the window instance with title "Kassist" already exists
        Dim InstanceFound As Boolean = False
        For Each oWindows As Inventor.DockableWindow In _DockableWindows
            If oWindows.Title = "Kassist" Then
                ' If the window instance is found, add the current instance as a child of the window
                oWindows.AddChild(Me.Handle)
                oWindows.Visible = True
                InstanceFound = True
            End If
        Next

        ' If the window instance does not exist, create a new window and add the current instance as a child
        Dim oWindow As Inventor.DockableWindow
        If InstanceFound = False Then
            oWindow = oUserInterFaceManager.DockableWindows.Add(addInCLSIDString, g_inventorApplication.ActiveDocument.DisplayName, "Kassist")
            oWindow.AddChild(Me.Handle)
            oWindow.Visible = True
        End If
    End Sub

 This code above is a lot shorter than the codes given by other users in this thread, and could possibly to shortened even further.

I trigger this from StadardAddInServer.vb, which works but probably could be written more nicely.

Public Sub Activate(ByVal addInSiteObject As Inventor.ApplicationAddInSite, ByVal firstTime As Boolean) Implements Inventor.ApplicationAddInServer.Activate
   Dim addInCLS As GuidAttribute = CType(System.Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(GetType(StandardAddInServer), GetType(GuidAttribute)), GuidAttribute)
   addInCLSIDString = "{" & addInCLS.Value & "}"
End Sub

' add events
Private Sub invEvents_OnActivateDocument(DocumentObject As _Document, BeforeOrAfter As EventTimingEnum, Context As NameValueMap, ByRef HandlingCode As HandlingCodeEnum) Handles invEvents.OnActivateDocument
   If BeforeOrAfter = EventTimingEnum.kAfter Then
       Dim DockedWindow As New DockWindow(addInCLSIDString)
   End If
End Sub

Private Sub invEvents_OnCloseDocument(DocumentObject As _Document, FullDocumentName As String, BeforeOrAfter As EventTimingEnum, Context As NameValueMap, ByRef HandlingCode As HandlingCodeEnum) Handles invEvents.OnCloseDocument
   If BeforeOrAfter = EventTimingEnum.kBefore Then
      'If Documents.Count = 1 before closing the document, it will hide the form. 
      If g_inventorApplication.Documents.Count = 1 Then
         '' Set reference to the user interface manager
         Dim oUserInterFaceManager As UserInterfaceManager = g_inventorApplication.UserInterfaceManager
         Dim _DockableWindows As DockableWindows = oUserInterFaceManager.DockableWindows
         For Each WindowInstance As Inventor.DockableWindow In _DockableWindows

            If WindowInstance.Title = "Kassist" Then
               WindowInstance.Visible = False
            End If
         Next
      End If
   End If