Select block reference by attribute value

[Anonymous]

I have a drawing with many block references on it and they have some attributes.

I know how to find the block reference witch the attribute value, and even change it but I don't know how to select it once I have the object ID of the block.

How can I do the selection without asking the user to select it?

thanks.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Once you have the ObjectId of an entity (block, line, circle...), use Editor.SetImpliedSelection() method to select this entity on the screen (the entity will be highlighted with grips) without asking the user to manually select it. The following code snippet will help:

Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor.SetImpliedSelection(new ObjectId[] { entity.ObjectId });

-Khoa

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your soon answer. I will try tomorrow.

One more question.

How can I punt this selected object in the clipboard?

What I really want to do is to copy it and then "paste" in my tool palette.

Thanks

Maitere

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi Maitere,

Here is the code to copy an entity (specified by ObjectId) to the clipboard. I don't know how to paste it to a given tool palette yet.

public static void CopyEntityToClipboard(ObjectId objectId)
{
    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
    Editor editor = doc.Editor;
    using (doc.LockDocument())
    {
        editor.SetImpliedSelection(new ObjectId[] { objectId });
        doc.SendStringToExecute("_copyclip ", true, false, true);
    }
}

// Testing method
[CommandMethod("CopyEntityToClipboard")]
public static void CopyEntityToClipboard()
{
    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
    Editor editor = doc.Editor;
    PromptEntityResult entityResult = editor.GetEntity("Select an entity:");
    if (entityResult.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
    {
        CopyEntityToClipboard(entityResult.ObjectId);
    }
}

We can also use ToolPaletteManager and CustomToolBase classes to create a new palette, then add custom commands to this palette. Lookup Kean's code to see how to do it. But adding a block to the palette using API requires lots of work.

-Khoa

[Anonymous]

We have get to put a block in a tool palette using the tips you have done.

The steps we have follow are:

1. Find the block and get de ObjectID

2. Select the block

3. Copy to clipboard

4. Find the tool palette by name

5. Paste the content of the clipboard.

We have had some problems using .NET  SendStringToExecute and copy and paste commands needed to be execute sincronously, that is way whe hace user COM SendCommand instead.

To do the PASTE we have done an ObjectARX function, perhaps there is a easier way to do this.

Here you are the code, beginins one we have the Block Object ID.

Thanks

Maitere

Public Shared Sub AddBlockReferenceToPalette2 _
( _
ByVal nombrePaleta As String, _
ByVal brefObjectId As ObjectId, ByRef docBloque As Document _
)

'Dim ed As Editor = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor
'Dim doc As Document = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument

Dim ed As Editor = docBloque.Editor
Dim doc As Document = docBloque

If Not brefObjectId.IsNull Then

' Se busca la paleta
Dim ps As System.IntPtr = AcTcUiGetToolPaletteWindow()
Dim pal As System.IntPtr = CAcTcUiToolPaletteSet_FindPalette(ps, nombrePaleta, System.IntPtr.Zero, False)
If pal <> System.IntPtr.Zero Then

ed.SetImpliedSelection(New ObjectId() {brefObjectId})

'Copiar bloque a portapapeles
'doc.SendStringToExecute("_copyclip ", True, False, True)
' MAITERE
' Se usa SendCommand de COM para que lo haga de forma inmediata, sino .NET lo hace de forma asincrona
Dim app As Autodesk.AutoCAD.Interop.AcadApplication = Application.AcadApplication
app.ActiveDocument.SendCommand("_copyclip ")

' Se copia el bloque a la paleta-> se llama a un comando de ARX
'doc.SendStringToExecute("PegarBloquePaleta " + nombrePaleta + Chr(13), True, False, False)
' MAITERE
' Se usa SendCommand de COM para que lo haga de forma inmediata, sino .NET lo hace de forma asincrona
app.ActiveDocument.SendCommand("PasteBloquePaleta " + nombrePaleta + Chr(13))

End If
End If
End Sub

' To paste de selection block we have put in the clipboard we have done a ObjectARX Function.

void PasteBloquePaleta()
{
TCHAR nombrePaleta[1000];
int res;

res = acedGetString (1, _T("\nPaleta de destino: "), nombrePaleta);

CAcTcUiToolPaletteSet* ps = AcTcUiGetToolPaletteWindow();
CAcTcUiToolPalette* pal = ps->FindPalette(nombrePaleta, NULL, FALSE);
if (pal == NULL)
return;

IDataObject* pdo;
if (SUCCEEDED(::OleGetClipboard(&pdo)))
{
if (pal->Paste(pdo, 0, NULL))
{
pal->S
// success
}

}

}

[Anonymous]

It's very interesting that you can make it work with the combination of .NET, COM and ObjectARX. I hope you may see the blog from Adam Nagy. He presents the code to add a block reference to a specified tool palette using either ObjectARX or .NET with imported P/Invoke methods from AcTcUi.dll

-Khoa

[Anonymous]

Yes, we have used the information of the article "Add block reference to a tool palette".