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Product Modeler

Adding a Toolbar to all Product Workbenches

Implementing the
CATIPRDWorkshopAddin Interface

Use Case

Abstract

This article presents the CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin use case which illustrates how to create a toolbar that is active in all Product workbenches including Product Structure workshop's.

What You Will Learn With This Use Case
The CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin Use Case
Step-by-Step
In Short
References

What You Will Learn With This Use Case

By implementing the CATIPRDWorkshopAddin interface, a toolbar with its commands can be made active in any Product Structure Workshop. Please see article [5] if the toolbar should only be made active in the Product Structure workshop.

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The CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin Use Case

CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin is a use case of the CAAProductStructureUI.edu framework that illustrates the ProductStructureUI framework capabilities.

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What Does CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin Do

The goal of CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin is to demonstrate how to implement the CATIPRDWorkshopAddin interface. It consists of the following parts:

Code to create the toolbar and the layout of the commands
Code to be executed when the command is selected
Resource definition for the visual aspects of the interface

Our toolbar appears on top of the CATIA frame and contains a single command represented by the icon.

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How to Launch CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin

To launch CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin:

Set the current directory to InstallRoot/CAAProductStructureUI.edu
Set up the build time environment and build the CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin.m module (see reference [1])
Edit the CNext/code/dictionary/CAAProductStructureUI.edu.dicodictionary by uncommenting the line containing CATIPRDWorkshopAddin
#CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin use case CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin CATIPRDWorkshopAddin libCAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin
Install the dictionary and other resource files by executing mkCreateRuntimeView
Start CATIA by executing mkrun
Display the toolbar named "Toolbar 1" if necessary:
Click on the command and a dialog box will appear:

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Where to Find the CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin Code

CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin code is located in the CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin.m module of the CAAProductStructureUI.edu framework.

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Step-by-Step

There are three parts in CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin:

Toolbar Creation and Layout
Command Implementation
User Interface

We will now detail each of those sections:

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Toolbar Creation and Layout

The implementation of CATIPrdWorkshopAddin is provided by our CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin class. Its purpose is to create the toolbar and to do the layout the commands on it. Only two methods need be defined: CreateToolbars and CreateCommands.

...
class CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin: public CATBaseUnknown {

CATDeclareClass;

public:

        // Standard constructors and destructors for an implementation class
        // -----------------------------------------------------------------
        CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin();
        virtual ~CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin();

        /**
         * @see ApplicationFrame.CATIWorkbenchAddin#CreateToolbars
         */
        CATCmdContainer * CreateToolbars();

        /**
         * @see ApplicationFrame.CATIWorkbenchAddin#CreateCommands
         */
        void CreateCommands();

private:
        // The copy constructor and the equal operator must not be implemented
        // -------------------------------------------------------------------
        CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin(CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin &);
        CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin& operator=(CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin&);

};
...

The purpose of the CreateToolbars method is to create all the command headers of our toolbar. In this case a toolbar named CAAToolbar with a command named CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd1 is created.

...
CATCmdContainer * CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin::CreateToolbars ()
{
        CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinTRACE(">> CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin::CreateToolbars()");

        NewAccess(CATCmdContainer, pToolbarContainer, 
                  CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinToolbar);
        NewAccess(CATCmdStarter, pCommandStarter, 
                  CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinStarter);

        // Arranging the command within the toolbar
        SetAccessCommand(pCommandStarter, "CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd1");
        SetAccessChild(pToolbarContainer, pCommandStarter);

        int visibleFlag = 1;
        AddToolbarView (pToolbarContainer, visibleFlag, Top);

        CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinTRACE("<< CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin::CreateToolbars()");
        return pToolbarContainer;
}
...

The purpose of the CreateCommands method is to create all the command headers of our toolbar. Our command header class CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinHeader, is defined by way of the MacDeclareHeader macro.

Here a command named CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd1 is created. It is located in the CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin shared library and its class is CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd. The ShowProduct identifier will be used to locate resources related to this command.

...

#include "CATCommandHeader.h"
MacDeclareHeader(CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinHeader);

...

void CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin::CreateCommands ()
{
        CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinTRACE(">> CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin::CreateCommands()");

        // Instantiates the command header for the command
        new CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinHeader
                ("CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd1", // command name
                 "CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin",     // lib name
                 "CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd",  // class name
                 (void*) NULL);

        CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinTRACE("<< CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin::CreateCommands()");
}
...

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Command Implementation

The command that gets executed must be of a class named CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd as specified by CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin::CreateCommands. This class must also derives from the CATCommand class. The only method we need to override is the Activate method.

...
class CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd: public CATCommand {

public:

        CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd();
        virtual ~CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd();

        /**
         * Activates our command.
         * @param iFromClient 
         * The command that requests to activate the current one.
         * @param iEvtDat
         * The notification sent.
         */
        virtual CATStatusChangeRC Activate(CATCommand * iFromClient,
                                           CATNotification * iEvtDat);
};
...

In the Activate method, we just get the current window and display its title in a dialog box

...
CATStatusChangeRC CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd::Activate(CATCommand *iFromClient, 
                                                      CATNotification *iEvtDat)
{
        CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinTRACE (">> CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd::Activate");

        CATApplicationFrame *pApplication = CATApplicationFrame::GetFrame(); 
        if (NULL != pApplication) { 
                CATDlgWindow * pMainWindow = pApplication->GetMainWindow();
                CATDlgNotify *pNotifyDlg = new CATDlgNotify
                        (pMainWindow, "CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin", CATDlgNfyOK);
                if (NULL != pNotifyDlg) {
                        pNotifyDlg->DisplayBlocked
                                ("Hello World!",
                                 "CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin UseCase");
                        pNotifyDlg->RequestDelayedDestruction(); 
                }
        }
        RequestDelayedDestruction();

        CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinTRACE ("<< CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd::Activate");
        return CATStatusChangeRCCompleted;
}
...

Now that we have completed the code implementation, we need to take care of the user interface with the help of resource files.

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User Interface

There are two visible objects: the toolbar and its command.

The title of the toolbar named CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinToolbar is defined by the CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin.CATNls which can be found in install_root/CAAProductStructureUI.edu/CNext/resources/msgcatalog directory.

CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinToolbar.Title = "Toolbar 1";

The resources of the CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd1 are defined by three files:

CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinHeader.CATNls (located in the install_root/CAAProductStructureUI.edu/CNext/resources/msgcatalog directory):

CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinHeader.CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd1.Title = "cmd1";
CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinHeader.CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd1.Help = "cmd1 long help text";
CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinHeader.CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd1.ShortHelp = "cmd1 info";

These texts correspond to the screen tip, the documentation line and the command prompt input:

CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinHeader.CATRsc (located in the install_root/CAAProductStructureUI.edu/CNext/resources/msgcatalog directory) defines the bitmap name for the command icon:
CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinHeader.CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddinCmd1.Icon.Normal="CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin_I";
CAAPuiPRDWorkshopAddin_I.gif (located in the install_root/CAAProductStructureUI.edu/CNext/resources/graphic/icons/normal directory) contains the bitmap the command icon:

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In Short

This use case has demonstrated how to create a toolbar with a command:

Implement the CATIPRDWorkshopAddin interface to create a toolbar and layout the commands
Derive from CATCommand to implement the command action
Define resource files for the user interface

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References

[1]	Building and Launching a CAA V5 Use Case
[2]	Application Frame Overview
[3]	The CAA Command Model
[4]	Creating an Add-in
[5]	Adding a toolbar to the Product Structure Workshop
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History

Version: 1.1 [Aug 2004]	Document revised
Version: 1 [Oct 2003]	Document created
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