Using AcEditor::commandEnded to change the layer of a block reference when it is inserted

By Philippe Leefsma

Q:

When a BlockReference is created with the INSERT command, I would like to change the layer it is on. Is there a way to do this?

A:

One approach to consider is to use AcEditor::commandEnded: If the command was INSERT, then a selection set is used to get the last entity added to the drawing. A transaction is used to open the entity and change the layer. The attached example does this.

Here is the pertinent code:

 

void ASDKwbEdReactor::commandEnded(

const ACHAR * cmdStr)

{

     if(_tcscmp(cmdStr,_T("INSERT")) == 0)

     {

          if (!acdbHostApplicationServices()

              ->workingDatabase())

                return;

 

           // Get entities just operated on

           ads_name sset;

           int err = acedSSGet(_T("L"),

           NULL, NULL, NULL, sset);

 

           if (err != RTNORM)

           {

              acutPrintf(

                _T("\nError acquiring last entity"));

                return;

           }

 

           actrTransactionManager->startTransaction();

 

           long length;

           acedSSLength(sset, &length);

 

           ads_name en;

           AcDbObjectId eId;

           AcDbEntity *pEnt;

 

           for (long i=0; i < length; i++)

           {

                acedSSName(sset, i, en);

 

                Acad::ErrorStatus es =

                    acdbGetObjectId(eId, en);

 

                if (es != Acad::eOk)

       
         {

                  acutPrintf(

                   _T("\nacdbGetObjectId failed: ")

                   _T("Entity <%lx,%lx>, error %s."),

               en[0], en[1],

                   acadErrorStatusText(es));

 

                     acedSSFree(sset);

                     return;

                }

 

               es = actrTransactionManager->getObject(

                    

               (AcDbObject*&)pEnt,

                    eId, AcDb::kForWrite);

 

                if (es == Acad::eOk)

                {

                  // This maybe a redundant test as

                  // INSERT was the command

                     if ( pEnt->isA() ==

                         AcDbBlockReference::desc() )

                     {

                           // You need to have an

                           // existing TEST layer

                           pEnt->setLayer(_T("TEST"));

                     }

                }

                else

                {

                     acutPrintf(

                       _T("\ngetObject failed: %s."),

                       acadErrorStatusText(es));

 

                     actrTransactionManager->

                        abortTransaction();

                     acedSSFree(sset);

                     return;

                }

           }

 

           actrTransactionManager->endTransaction();

           acedSSFree(sset);

     }

}