topic Re: referencing by name, not index number in Archicad C++ API

referencing by name, not index number

TomWaltz — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 10:22:09 GMT

I am digging through the settings for defaults of different element types, and I found that many attributes are referenced by number, not name.

So if I want to set the font to "Arial" or the layer to "Text - Notes," I have to reference them by their index number (??!??!), not their actual name.

Is there any way around this that I'm not seeing?

Thanks!

Re: referencing by name, not index number

Akos Somorjai — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 07:46:41 GMT

Tom,

The element structures store only the indices of the attributes they refer to. The reasons behind that are synchronization and memory saving.

So, if you know the name of the attribute you'd like to set for an element, then for example in the layer case:

API_Attribute attr;
BNZeroMemory (&attr, sizeof (API_Attribute));
attr.header.typeID = API_LayerID;
CHCopyC ("Text - Notes", attr.header.name);

// now see if this layer exists
if (ACAPI_Attribute_Search (&attr) == NoError) {
    // bingo! put the index in the element's header
    element.header.layer = attr.header.index;
} else {
    // exercise for the reader
    // e.g. create a new, or
    // search for another suitable layer 
}

HTH,

Akos

Re: referencing by name, not index number

TomWaltz — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 14:08:54 GMT

Akos,

that seemed to be the funciton I was looking for,

When I compiled, though, the compiler gave me an error that ACAPI_Attribute_Search () requires a header, not an attribute.

Should that line then read:

ACAPI_Attribute_Search (&attr.header)

Re: referencing by name, not index number

Andras Babos — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 12:58:40 GMT

TomWaltz,

Yes, you're right. That was a typo on Akos' part.