Add Ribbon tab to Contextual Tab Selector Rule using CUI API

By Adam Nagy

I'd like to programmatically add my Ribbon tab to the Contextual Tab Selector rule that I created. How could I do it?

Solution

Here is a sample code that shows how to do it using the CUI API. In this case we'll add the Annotation Ribbon tab to the AcArcSelected rule which is part of the AcContextualTabSelectorRules.xaml file.

Once you run the below command, whenever you select an arc in the drawing the Annotation tab will show up.

using System;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Customization;
using acApp = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application;
using System.Collections.Generic;
 
[assembly: CommandClass(typeof(ContextualTab.AEN1Commands))]
 
namespace ContextualTab
{
  public class AEN1Commands
  {
    [CommandMethod("MyCommand")]
    static public void Cmd1()
    {
      // Part of AcContextualTabSelectorRules.xaml
      const string kRuleId = "AcArcSelected";
 
      // Id of Annotation tab
      const string kTabId = "ID_TabAnnotate";
 
      // Get customization section
 
      string menuName = (string)acApp.GetSystemVariable("MENUNAME");
      CustomizationSection cs = 
        new CustomizationSection(menuName + ".cuix");
 
      // Check if the rule is already used
 
      RibbonRoot rr = cs.MenuGroup.RibbonRoot;
      RibbonTabSelector ts = null;
 
      foreach (RibbonTabSelector tsIter in rr.RibbonTabSelectors)
        if (tsIter.Rule == kRuleId)
        {
          ts = tsIter;
          break;
        }
 
      // If it's not used then create it
 
      if (ts == null)
      {
        ts = (RibbonTabSelector)System.Activator.CreateInstance(
               typeof(RibbonTabSelector), true
             );
 
        ts.Rule = kRuleId;
        rr.RibbonTabSelectors.Add(ts);
      }
 
      // Add the tab we want to make appear
 
      if (!new List(ts.Tabs).Contains(kTabId))
        ts.Append(kTabId);
 
      // Save modifications and reload
 
      if (cs.IsModified)
      {
        cs.Save();
 
        acApp.ReloadAllMenus();
      }
    }
  }
}