Can an API Add-on control the attribute manager?

[James Murray]

Does the API give the ability to control the attribute manager?

I'm thinking specifically of a quick change of pen settings.

Is such a thing possible?

Thanks,

[Karl Ottenstein]

James wrote:
Does the API give the ability to control the attribute manager?

I'm thinking specifically of a quick change of pen settings.

Is such a thing possible?

Thanks,

Hi James,

AFAIK, we do not have documentation that tells us if and how we can interact with of the standard add-ons. (Attribute Manager is an add-on in the Standard folder.) The API defines methods that permit add-ons to communicate with one another, and it is possible that the GS-written add-ons permit external requests, but GS hasn't told us about it if so.

Now, if you just want to change pen settings, that's another quesiton. 😉 Any attribute can be retrieved, created, deleted or modified via the API. So, yes, a change of pen settings is possible, for example, to dynamically toggle between PlotMaker monotone pens and ArchiCAD color pens.

Karl

[Akos Somorjai]

Karl wrote:
AFAIK, we do not have documentation that tells us if and how we can interact with of the standard add-ons. (Attribute Manager is an add-on in the Standard folder.) The API defines methods that permit add-ons to communicate with one another, and it is possible that the GS-written add-ons permit external requests, but GS hasn't told us about it if so.

Karl

Hi Karl & James,

The Attribute Manager and most of GS's add-ons don't have such an interface; that functionality is mainly implemented in I/O type add-ons. In fact inter-add-on communication was mainly developed for the Publisher (back in the 7.0 days when the Publisher was an add-on), and it was not widely implemented afterwards.

To modify the pens, the easiest way is to use the ACAPI_Attribute_Modify call. You can also put together a nice UI if you want, with the standard AC pen selector popup. The popup can also contain a custom set of colors, but it's a bit more work...

HTH,

Akos

[TomWaltz]

Akos

in such a situation, would you be limited to non-Teamwork projects?

Or can ACAPI_Attribute_Modify override Teamwork permission rules, and allow a Team Member to edit the project attributes for their current session only?

[Akos Somorjai]

Tom,

TomWaltz wrote:
in such a situation, would you be limited to non-Teamwork projects?

Or can ACAPI_Attribute_Modify override Teamwork permission rules, and allow a Team Member to edit the project attributes for their current session only?

ACAPI_Attribute_Modify honors the TeamWork project state. The API behaves similarly to the UI.

HTH,

Akos