Update to the AutoCAD .NET entity jig framework

In the last post I introduced a simple framework to make the definition of multi-input entity jigs more straightforward. A big thanks to Chuck Wilbur, who provided some feedback that has resulted in a nicer base implementation, which we'll take for a spin in today's post.

Here's the updated C# framework code that makes use of a simple class hierarchy for our phase definitions:

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System;
 
namespace JigFrameworks
{
  // Two abstract base classes: one for all phases...
 
  public abstract class Phase
  {
    // Our member data (could add real properties, as needed)
 
    public string Message;
    public object Value;
 
    public Phase(string msg)
    {
      Message = msg;
    }
  }
 
  // And another for geometric classes...
 
  public abstract class GeometryPhase : Phase
  {
    // Geometric classes can also have an offset for the basepoint
 
    public Func<List<Phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> Offset;
 
    public GeometryPhase(
      string msg,
      Func<List<Phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> offset = null
    ) : base(msg)
    {
      Offset = offset;
    }
  }
 
  // A phase for distance input
 
  public class DistancePhase : GeometryPhase
  {


0;   public DistancePhase(
      string msg,
      object defval = null,
      Func<List<Phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> offset = null
    ) : base(msg, offset)
    {
      Value = (defval == null ? 0 : defval);
    }
  }
 
  // A phase for distance input related to Autodesk Shape Manager
  // (whose internal tolerance if 1e-06, so we need a larger
  // default value to allow Solid3d creation to succeed)
 
  public class SolidDistancePhase : DistancePhase
  {
    public SolidDistancePhase(
      string msg,
      object defval = null,
      Func<List<Phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> offset = null
    ) : base(msg, defval, offset)
    {
      Value = (defval == null ? 1e-05 : defval);
    }
  }
 
  // A phase for point input
 
  public class PointPhase : GeometryPhase
  {
    public PointPhase(
      string msg,
      object defval = null,
      Func<List<Phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> offset = null
    ) : base(msg, offset)
    {
      Value =
        (defval == null ? Point3d.Origin : defval);
    }
  }
 
  // A phase for angle input
 
  public class AnglePhase : GeometryPhase
  {
    public AnglePhase(
      string msg,
      object defval = null,
      Func<List<Phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> offset = null
    ) : base(msg, offset)
    {
      Value = (defval == null ? 0 : defval);
    }
  }
 
  // And a non-geometric phase for string input
 
  public class StringPhase : Phase
  {
    public StringPhase(
      string msg,
      string defval = null
    ) : base(msg)
    {
      Value = (defval == null ? "" : defval);
    }
  }
 
  // Our jig framework class
 
  public class EntityJigFramework : EntityJig
  {
    // Member data
 
    Matrix3d _ucs;
    Point3d _pt;
    Entity _ent;
    List<Phase> _phases;
    int _phase;
    Func<Entity, List<Phase>, Point3d, Matrix3d, bool> _update;
 
    // Constructor
 
    public EntityJigFramework(
      Matrix3d ucs, Entity ent, Point3d pt, List<Phase> phases,
      Func<Entity, List<Phase>, Point3d, Matrix3d, bool> update
    ) : base(ent)
    {
      _ucs = ucs;
      _ent = ent;
      _pt = pt;
      _phases = phases;
      _phase = 0;
      _update = update;
    }
 
    // Move on to the next phase
 
    internal void NextPhase()
    {
      _phase++;
    }
 
    // Check whether we're at the last phase
 
    internal bool IsLastPhase()
    {
      return (_phase == _phases.Count - 1);
    }
 
    // EntityJig protocol
 
    protected override SamplerStatus Sampler(JigPrompts prompts)
    {
      // Get the current phase
 
      var p = _phases[_phase];
 
      // If we're dealing with a geometry-typed phase (distance,
      // point ot angle input) we can use some common code
 
      var gp = p as GeometryPhase;
      if (gp != null)
      {
        JigPromptGeometryOptions opts;
        if (gp is DistancePhase)
          opts = new JigPromptDistanceOptions();
        else if (gp is AnglePhase)
          opts = new JigPromptAngleOptions();
        else if (gp is PointPhase)
          opts = new JigPromptPointOptions();
        else // Should never happen
          opts = null;
 
        // Set up the user controls
 
        opts.UserInputControls =
          (UserInputControls.Accept3dCoordinates
          | UserInputControls.NoZeroResponseAccepted
          | UserInputControls.NoNegativeResponseAccepted);
 
        // All our distance inputs will be with a base point
        // (which means the initial base point or an offset from
        // that)
 
        opts.UseBasePoint = true;
        opts.Cursor = CursorType.RubberBand;
 
        opts.Message = p.Message;
        opts.BasePoint =
          (gp.Offset == null ?
            _pt.TransformBy(_ucs) :
            (_pt + gp.Offset.Invoke(_phases, _pt)).TransformBy(_ucs)
          );
 
        // The acquisition method varies on the phase type
 
        if (gp is DistancePhase)
        {
          var phase = (DistancePhase)gp;
          var pdr =
            prompts.AcquireDistance(
              (JigPromptDistanceOptions)opts
            );
 
          if (pdr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
          {
            // If the difference between the new value and its
            // previous value is negligible, return "no change"
 
            if (
              Math.Abs((double)phase.Value - pdr.Value) <
              Tolerance.Global.EqualPoint
            )
              return SamplerStatus.NoChange;
 
            // Otherwise we update the appropriate variable
            // based on the phase
 
            phase.Value = pdr.Value;
            _phases[_phase] = phase;
            return SamplerStatus.OK;
          }
        }
        else if (gp is PointPhase)
        {
          var phase = (PointPhase)gp;
          var ppr =
            prompts.AcquirePoint((JigPromptPointOptions)opts);
 
          if (ppr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
          {
            // If the difference between the new value and its
            // previous value is negligible, return "no change"
 
            var tmp = ppr.Value.TransformBy(_ucs.Inverse());
 
            if (
              tmp.DistanceTo((Point3d)phase.Value) <
              Tolerance.Global.EqualPoint
            )
              return SamplerStatus.NoChange;
 
            // Otherwise we update the appropriate variable
            // based on the phase
 
            phase.Value = tmp;
            _phases[_phase] = phase;
  &

#160;         return SamplerStatus.OK;
          }
        }
        else if (gp is AnglePhase)
        {
          var phase = (AnglePhase)gp;
          var par =
            prompts.AcquireAngle((JigPromptAngleOptions)opts);
 
          if (par.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
          {
            // If the difference between the new value and its
            // previous value is negligible, return "no change"
 
            if (
              (double)phase.Value - par.Value <
              Tolerance.Global.EqualPoint
            )
              return SamplerStatus.NoChange;
 
            // Otherwise we update the appropriate variable
            // based on the phase
 
            phase.Value = par.Value;
            _phases[_phase] = phase;
            return SamplerStatus.OK;
          }
        }
      }
      else
      {
        // p is StringPhase
 
        var phase = (StringPhase)p;
 
        var psr = prompts.AcquireString(p.Message);
 
        if (psr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
        {
          phase.Value = psr.StringResult;
          _phases[_phase] = phase;
          return SamplerStatus.OK;
        }
      }
      return SamplerStatus.Cancel;
    }
 
    protected override bool Update()
    {
      // Right now we have an indiscriminate catch around our
      // entity update callback: this could be modified to be
      // more selective and/or to provide information on exceptions
 
      try
      {
        return _update.Invoke(_ent, _phases, _pt, _ucs);
      }
      catch
      {
        return false;
      }
    }
 
    public Entity GetEntity()
    {
      return Entity;
    }
 
    // Our method to perform the jig and step through the
    // phases until done
 
    internal void RunTillComplete(Editor ed, Transaction tr)
    {
      // Perform the jig operation in a loop
 
      while (true)
      {
        var res = ed.Drag(this);
 
        if (res.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
        {
          if (!IsLastPhase())
          {
            // Progress the phase
 
            NextPhase();
          }
          else
          {
            // Only commit when all phases have been accepted
 
            tr.Commit();
            return;
          }
        }
        else
        {
          // The user has cancelled: returning aborts the
          // transaction
 
          return;
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Now let's take it for a spin. Here's some C# code that uses the framework to define jigs (and their respective commands) for frustums (FJ), cylinders (CYJ), cones (COJ) and tori (TJ):

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System;
using JigFrameworks;
 
namespace EntityJigs
{
  public class Commands
  {
    [CommandMethod("FJ")]
    public void FrustumJig()
    {
      var doc =
        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
      var db = doc.Database;
      var ed = doc.Editor;
 
      // First let's get the start position of the frustum
 
      var ppr = ed.GetPoint("\nSpecify frustum location: ");
 
      if (ppr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
      {
        // In order for the visual style to be respected,
        // we'll add the to-be-jigged solid to the database
 
        var tr = doc.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();
        using (tr)
        {
          var btr =
            (BlockTableRecord)tr.GetObject(
              db.CurrentSpaceId, OpenMode.ForWrite
    <
p style="margin: 0px">            );
 
          var sol = new Solid3d();
          btr.AppendEntity(sol);
          tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(sol, true);
 
          // Create our jig object passing in the selected point
 
          var jf =
            new EntityJigFramework(
              ed.CurrentUserCoordinateSystem, sol, ppr.Value,
              new List<Phase>()
              {
                // Three phases, one of which has a custom
                // offset for the base point
 
                new SolidDistancePhase("\nSpecify bottom radius: "),
                new SolidDistancePhase("\nSpecify height: "),
                new SolidDistancePhase(
                  "\nSpecify top radius: ",
                  1e-05,
                  (vals, pt) =>
                  {
                    return
                      new Vector3d(0, 0, (double)vals[1].Value);
                  }
                )
              },
              (e, vals, cen, ucs) =>
              {
                // Our entity update function
 
                var s = (Solid3d)e;
                s.CreateFrustum(
                  (double)vals[1].Value,
       

;           (double)vals[0].Value,
                  (double)vals[0].Value,
                  (double)vals[2].Value
                );
                s.TransformBy(
                  Matrix3d.Displacement(
                    cen.GetAsVector() +
                    new Vector3d(0, 0, (double)vals[1].Value / 2)
                  ).PreMultiplyBy(ucs)
                );
                return true;
              }
            );
          jf.RunTillComplete(ed, tr);
        }
      }
    }
 
    [CommandMethod("CYJ")]
    public void CylinderJig()
    {
      var doc =
        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
      var db = doc.Database;
      var ed = doc.Editor;
 
      // First let's get the start position of the cylinder
 
      var ppr = ed.GetPoint("\nSpecify cylinder location: ");
 
      if (ppr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
      {
        // In order for the visual style to be respected,
        // we'll add the to-be-jigged solid to the database
 
        var tr = doc.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();
        using (tr)
        {
          var btr =
            (BlockTableRecord)tr.GetObject(
              db.CurrentSpaceId, OpenMode.ForWrite
          

;  );
 
          var sol = new Solid3d();
          btr.AppendEntity(sol);
          tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(sol, true);
 
          // Create our jig object passing in the selected point
 
          var jf =
            new EntityJigFramework(
              ed.CurrentUserCoordinateSystem, sol, ppr.Value,
              new List<Phase>()
              {
                // Three phases, one of which has a custom
                // offset for the base point
 
                new SolidDistancePhase("\nSpecify radius: "),
                new SolidDistancePhase("\nSpecify height: "),
              },
              (e, vals, cen, ucs) =>
              {
                // Our entity update function
 
                var s = (Solid3d)e;
                s.CreateFrustum(
                  (double)vals[1].Value,
                  (double)vals[0].Value,
                  (double)vals[0].Value,
                  (double)vals[0].Value
                );
                s.TransformBy(
                  Matrix3d.Displacement(
                    cen.GetAsVector() +
                    new Vector3d(0, 0, (double)vals[1].Value / 2)
                  ).PreMultiplyBy(ucs)
             

60;  );
                return true;
              }
            );
          jf.RunTillComplete(ed, tr);
        }
      }
    }
 
    [CommandMethod("COJ")]
    public void ConeJig()
    {
      var doc =
        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
      var db = doc.Database;
      var ed = doc.Editor;
 
      // First let's get the start position of the cylinder
 
      var ppr = ed.GetPoint("\nSpecify cone location: ");
 
      if (ppr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
      {
        // In order for the visual style to be respected,
        // we'll add the to-be-jigged solid to the database
 
        var tr = doc.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();
        using (tr)
        {
          var btr =
            (BlockTableRecord)tr.GetObject(
              db.CurrentSpaceId, OpenMode.ForWrite
            );
 
          var sol = new Solid3d();
          btr.AppendEntity(sol);
          tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(sol, true);
 
          // Create our jig object passing in the selected point
 
          var jf =
            new EntityJigFramework(
              ed.CurrentUserCoordinateSystem, sol, ppr.Value,
              new List<Phase>()
              {
                // Three phases, one of which has a custom
                // offset for the base point
 
                new SolidDistancePhase("\nSpecify radius: "),
                new SolidDistancePhase("\nSpecify height: "),
              },
              (e, vals, cen, ucs) =>
              {
                // Our entity update function
 
                var s = (Solid3d)e;
                s.CreateFrustum(
                  (double)vals[1].Value,
                  (double)vals[0].Value,
                  (double)vals[0].Value,
                  0
                );
                s.TransformBy(
                  Matrix3d.Displacement(
                    cen.GetAsVector() +
                    new Vector3d(0, 0, (double)vals[1].Value / 2)
                  ).PreMultiplyBy(ucs)
                );
                return true;
              }
            );
          jf.RunTillComplete(ed, tr);
        }
      }
    }
 
    [CommandMethod("TJ")]
    public void TorusJig()
    {
      var doc =
        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
      var db = doc.Database;
      var ed = doc.Editor;
 
      // First let's get the start position of the frustum
 
      var ppr = ed.GetPoint("\nSpecify torus location: ");
 
      if (ppr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
      {
        // In order for the visual style to be respected,
        // we'll add the to-be-jigged solid to the database
 
        var tr = doc.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();
        using (tr)
        {
          var btr =
            (BlockTableRecord)tr.GetObject(
              db.CurrentSpaceId, OpenMode.ForWrite
            );
 
          var sol = new Solid3d();
          btr.AppendEntity(sol);
          tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(sol, true);
 
          // Create our jig object passing in the selected point
 
          var jf =
            new EntityJigFramework(
              ed.CurrentUserCoordinateSystem, sol, ppr.Value,
              new List<Phase>()
              {
                // Three phases, one of which has a custom
                // offset for the base point
 
                new SolidDistancePhase("\nSpecify outer radius: "),
                new SolidDistancePhase(
                  "\nSpecify inner radius: ",
                  1e-05,
                  (vals, pt) =>
                  {
                   

return
                      new Vector3d(0, 0, (double)vals[0].Value);
                  }
                )
              },
              (e, vals, cen, ucs) =>
              {
                // Our entity update function
 
                var s = (Solid3d)e;
                s.CreateTorus(
                  (double)vals[0].Value,
                  (double)vals[1].Value
                );
                s.TransformBy(
                  Matrix3d.Displacement(
                    cen.GetAsVector() +
                    new Vector3d(0, 0, (double)vals[1].Value)
                  ).PreMultiplyBy(ucs)
                );
                return true;
              }
            );
          jf.RunTillComplete(ed, tr);
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Let's see these commands in action:

In the next post we'll see a slightly more complicated example, where we jig a square (at least in X and Y) box between diagonal corners.

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2 responses to “Update to the AutoCAD .NET entity jig framework”

Chuck

December 12, 2012 at 12:07 am

Very nice. For my next trick I was going to try to get rid of all the casting and if(gp is ...) stuff in Sampler. My goal would be to make Sampler look like this:

protected override SamplerStatus Sampler(JigPrompts prompts)
{
// Get the current phase
var p = _phases[_phase];
return p.Acquire(prompts);
}

by adding this to Phase:
public abstract class Phase
{
...
public abstract SamplerStatus Acquire(JigPrompts prompts);
}

I got a little ways with it, but ran into trouble with some of the member variables of EntityJigFramework. I wasn't sure which ones I should keep and pass to the Phase constructor, and which I could get rid of (I can't figure out why in the middle of the Acquire process there's always a line to set _phase[_phases] = phase, for example, since phase is set to _phase[_phases] at the top of the Sampler function).

Anyway, here are the refactored Phase subclasses. I feel like they're close to working, but it would take more time than I have to untangle the member dependencies and if I changed them that drastically I'd want to unit test them and... well, you get the idea. Run with them if you want 😉

public abstract class GeometryPhase : Phase
{
// Geometric classes can also have an offset for the basepoint

public Func<list<phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> Offset;

public GeometryPhase(
string msg,
Func<list<phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> offset = null
)
: base(msg)
{
Offset = offset;
}

protected void SetOptions(JigPromptGeometryOptions opts)
{
// If we're dealing with a geometry-typed phase (distance,
// point ot angle input) we can use some common code

// Set up the user controls

opts.UserInputControls =
(UserInputControls.Accept3dCoordinates
| UserInputControls.NoZeroResponseAccepted
| UserInputControls.NoNegativeResponseAccepted);

// All our distance inputs will be with a base point
// (which means the initial base point or an offset from
// that)

opts.UseBasePoint = true;
opts.Cursor = CursorType.RubberBand;

opts.Message = Message;
opts.BasePoint =
(Offset == null ?
_pt.TransformBy(_ucs) :
(_pt + Offset.Invoke(_phases, _pt)).TransformBy(_ucs)
);
}
}

// A phase for distance input

public class DistancePhase : GeometryPhase
{
public DistancePhase(
string msg,
object defval = null,
Func<list<phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> offset = null
)
: base(msg, offset)
{
Value = (defval == null ? 0 : defval);
}

public override SamplerStatus Acquire(JigPrompts prompts)
{
var opts = new JigPromptDistanceOptions();
SetOptions(opts);

var pdr =
prompts.AcquireDistance(opts);

if (pdr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
{
// If the difference between the new value and its
// previous value is negligible, return "no change"

if (
Math.Abs((double)Value - pdr.Value) <
Tolerance.Global.EqualPoint
)
return SamplerStatus.NoChange;

// Otherwise we update the appropriate variable
// based on the phase

Value = pdr.Value;
_phases[_phase] = this;
return SamplerStatus.OK;
}
return SamplerStatus.Cancel;
}
}

// A phase for distance input related to Autodesk Shape Manager
// (whose internal tolerance if 1e-06, so we need a larger
// default value to allow Solid3d creation to succeed)

public class SolidDistancePhase : DistancePhase
{
public SolidDistancePhase(
string msg,
object defval = null,
Func<list<phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> offset = null
)
: base(msg, defval, offset)
{
Value = (defval == null ? 1e-05 : defval);
}
}

// A phase for point input

public class PointPhase : GeometryPhase
{
public PointPhase(
string msg,
object defval = null,
Func<list<phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> offset = null
)
: base(msg, offset)
{
Value =
(defval == null ? Point3d.Origin : defval);
}

public override SamplerStatus Acquire(JigPrompts prompts)
{
var opts = new JigPromptPointOptions();
SetOptions(opts);

var ppr =
prompts.AcquirePoint(opts);

if (ppr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
{
// If the difference between the new value and its
// previous value is negligible, return "no change"

var tmp = ppr.Value.TransformBy(_ucs.Inverse());

if (
tmp.DistanceTo((Point3d)Value) <
Tolerance.Global.EqualPoint
)
return SamplerStatus.NoChange;

// Otherwise we update the appropriate variable
// based on the phase

Value = tmp;
_phases[_phase] = this;
return SamplerStatus.OK;
}
return SamplerStatus.Cancel;
}
}

// A phase for angle input

public class AnglePhase : GeometryPhase
{
public AnglePhase(
string msg,
object defval = null,
Func<list<phase>, Point3d, Vector3d> offset = null
)
: base(msg, offset)
{
Value = (defval == null ? 0 : defval);
}

public override SamplerStatus Acquire(JigPrompts prompts)
{
var opts = new JigPromptAngleOptions();
SetOptions(opts);

var par =
prompts.AcquireAngle(opts);

if (par.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
{
// If the difference between the new value and its
// previous value is negligible, return "no change"

if (
(double)Value - par.Value <
Tolerance.Global.EqualPoint
)
return SamplerStatus.NoChange;

// Otherwise we update the appropriate variable
// based on the phase

Value = par.Value;
_phases[_phase] = this;
return SamplerStatus.OK;
}
return SamplerStatus.Cancel;
}
}

// And a non-geometric phase for string input

public class StringPhase : Phase
{
public StringPhase(
string msg,
string defval = null
)
: base(msg)
{
Value = (defval == null ? "" : defval);
}

public override SamplerStatus Acquire(JigPrompts prompts)
{
var psr = prompts.AcquireString(Message);

if (psr.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
{
Value = psr.StringResult;
_phases[_phase] = this;
return SamplerStatus.OK;
}
return SamplerStatus.Cancel;
}
}

Kean Walmsley

December 12, 2012 at 2:03 pm

Hi Chuck,

Yes, it'd be nice to be free of any explicit RTTI checks but I'm not that inclined to keep tweaking the implementation, as it does start to get a little complicated (as you're finding). Hopefully someone else will run with it, should they find the time. 🙂

The _phases[_phase] = phase calls are actually redundant, as you've noticed. My intention was to place the modified objects back in the list, but as we're dealing with object references they're not needed.

Cheers,

Kean

Through the Interface

Update to the AutoCAD .NET entity jig framework

2 responses to “Update to the AutoCAD .NET entity jig framework”

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