Toolbar Enable/Disable via .net?

[Anonymous]

When AutoCAD is loading (using Autocad 2015), I see that my toolbars are disabled (grayed-out) until the loading has finished.  Our company does some additional data loading after AutoCAD has become idle.  But if the user clicks certain custom toolbar buttons while our additional data is loading, AutoCAD fatal errors.  Is there a way we can disable the toolbars (like AutoCAD does) until our loading is finished, and then enable them?  I haven't been able to locate an API that provides this capability.  Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Kind Regards,

Pete Elliott

[kean_walmsley]

Hi Pete,

Does this post help? I assumed you meant the ribbon, rather than toolbars, but let me know if that's not the case:

http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interface/2016/02/disabling-the-autocad-ribbon-...

Regards,

Kean

[Anonymous]

Yes, that helps a great deal and we will use it!  But I did mean the toolbars.  We have both available via our Enterprise menu plus through code. Thanks for your efforts, they are very much appreciated.

Best Regards,

Pete Elliott

[Alexander.Rivilis]

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elliottpd11 написано:

Yes, that helps a great deal and we will use it!  But I did mean the toolbars.  We have both available via our Enterprise menu plus through code. Thanks for your efforts, they are very much appreciated.

Best Regards,

Pete Elliott

---

If I understand you correctly, you can use ActiveX/COM API to do your's toolbar visible/invisible

[kean_walmsley]

Glad if it was of some use, at least. 🙂

Here's a follow-up attempt, which should cover both the ribbon and any visible toolbars:

http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interface/2016/02/disabling-autocads-toolbars-u...

Best,

Kean

[Alexander.Rivilis]

Hi, Kean!

It seems to me that there is no need to turn off all the visible toolbars. Maybe just enough to turn off own toolbars (e.g. create list of their names and off/on with this list)

[kean_walmsley]

Hi Alexander,

True - that's certainly an option, depending on your needs. I personally like this approach, but the basic technique could certainly be adapted to do what you've suggested.

Best,

Kean

[Alexander.Rivilis]

With help of ObjectARX and Win32/MFC it possible to temporary disable all UI elements:

static void DisableUI () 
{
    CMDIFrameWnd *frame = acedGetAcadFrame();
    // Disable AutoCAD Frame, Ribbon, Toolbars, etc.
    frame->EnableWindow(FALSE);
    // Invoke progressbar
    acedSetStatusBarProgressMeter(_T("Loading My Critical Data"), 0, 10);
    for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    {
     Sleep(1000); // Only for testing 
     acedSetStatusBarProgressMeterPos(i);
    }
    acedRestoreStatusBar();
    // Enable AutoCAD Frame, Ribbon, Toolbars, etc.
    frame->EnableWindow(TRUE);
}

Other possibility is using BlockInput function:

[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Auto, ExactSpelling=true)]
public static extern bool BlockInput([In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool fBlockIt);

To block keyboard and mouse input:

BlockInput(true);

To unblock keyboard and mouse input:

BlockInput(false);

[kean_walmsley]

Excellent suggestion, Alexander!

I took the first MFC snippet and used the same approach using P/Invoke from C#:

http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interface/2016/02/disabling-autocads-complete-u...

Kean