Menu creation with API

[Anonymous]

WIN10 Pro | Archicad 22.5009 | VS 2017 with the 2015.3 toolset

I am brand new to Archicad and the API. I am a pretty good Googler, but can't find or don't completely understand... I am trying to add a menu item for our company toolbox. See attached for what I want, what I am able to get, and the code that is making that.

'STR#' 32500	"Menu strings" {
/* [   ] */			"JHP"
/* [   ] */ 			"JHP1"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP1A"
/* [  2] */ 				"JHP1B"
/* [  3] */ 				"JHP1C"
/* [   ] */ 			"JHP2"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP2A"
/* [   ] */			"JHP3"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP3A"
/* [  2] */ 				"JHP3B"
}

I would use the 2nd level [JHP1A, JHP1B, JHP1C] for executing commands and the 1st level [JHP1, JHP2, JHP3] for headings to organize these commands. I am successful with calling commands in the unorganized solution I have created. I am in search of the proper way to organize the cascading sets of submenus and commands.

I have tried several interpretations of what I see in the documentation and forums without success, including the number between the commented [ ]s, the number of TAB indentations, and indexing the 'STR#' string resource with 32500, 32501, 32502, 32503.

I have found this and suspect it is part of the "don't completely understand..."
http://download.Graphisoft.com/ftp/techsupport/documentation/developer_docs/APIDevKit51/APIHTMLLibra...

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Please and thank-you...
Chris

[Anonymous]

I this case i ussualy do different menu with common root JPH. Keep on mind that you have to register them in main of your addon.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick reply kzaremba.
I started with the 'Hello World' example that ships with 22, thinking that most of the internal or behind the scene associations [like RegisterInterface] would be taken care of. The pre-edit 'Hello World' version worked like a charm. And thought an edit to the actual 'Menu strings' in the .grc file would be all that is needed to achieve the menu design I was looking for.

I have confirmed this...

// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// RegisterInterface
//		Interface definitions
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

GSErrCode	__ACENV_CALL	RegisterInterface (void)
{
	GSErrCode err = ACAPI_Register_Menu (32500, 32510, MenuCode_UserDef, MenuFlag_Default);
	if (err != NoError)
		ACAPI_WriteReport ("RegisterInterface() ACAPI_Register_Menu failed\n", false);

	return err;
}		// RegisterInterface

...and 32500, as seen above, is the resource ID used throughout. According to the last example in the linked documentation in my original post, "the add-on inserts its own main menu with a submenu; menuPosCode should be MenuCode_UserDef" and I think I am doing that in the code above.

I believe the correct syntax for getting the cascading choices would be all that was required. But I could be so wrong with that assumption, as well.

Thanks for your interest,
Chris

[Anonymous]

Apparently I am not THAT good of a Googler...

https://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=42309

I just found this and suspect it will be a step in the right direction. I think the RegisterInterface and and other behind the scenes workings of these menus will be self explanatory...

[Anonymous]

Check any example in API. For example elemettest at the end of main part of addon there is example of registeration seqence that you should follow and also resource file.

[Ralph Wessel · Accepted solution]

A menu in the API consists of a single title heading up a list of items. It can't contain another heading underneath it. So your intended menu structure could be achieved like this:

'STR#' 32500	"JHP1 menu" {
/* [   ] */			"JHP"
/* [   ] */ 			"JHP1"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP1A"
/* [  2] */ 				"JHP1B"
/* [  3] */ 				"JHP1C"
}
'STR#' 32501	"JHP2 menu" {
/* [   ] */			"JHP"
/* [   ] */ 			"JHP2"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP2A"
}
'STR#' 32502	"JHP3 menu" {
/* [   ] */			"JHP"
/* [   ] */			"JHP3"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP3A"
/* [  2] */ 				"JHP3B"
}

Then register each successive menu in the same way as the original 32500, but using the relevant resource ID

[Tibor Lorantfy]

Ralph wrote:
A menu in the API consists of a single title heading up a list of items. It can't contain another heading underneath it.

Ralph's right, you have to create 3 different string table resources for this purpose.

So in your GRC file you should write this (as Ralph said):

'STR#' 32500	"JHP1 menu" {
/* [   ] */ 		"JHP"
/* [   ] */ 			"JHP1"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP1A"
/* [  2] */ 				"JHP1B"
/* [  3] */ 				"JHP1C"
}

'STR#' 32501	"JHP2 menu" {
/* [   ] */ 		"JHP"
/* [   ] */ 			"JHP2"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP2A"
}

'STR#' 32502	"JHP3 menu" {
/* [   ] */ 		"JHP"
/* [   ] */ 			"JHP3"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP3A"
/* [  2] */ 				"JHP3B"
}

In the C++ code you must register 3 menus in the RegisterInterface function (using MenuCode_UserDef flag) and you can initialize the same callback function for all of your menus in the Initialize function:

GSErrCode __ACENV_CALL	RegisterInterface (void)
{
	GSErrCode err = NoError;

	err = ACAPI_Register_Menu (32500, 0, MenuCode_UserDef, MenuFlag_Default);
	err = ACAPI_Register_Menu (32501, 0, MenuCode_UserDef, MenuFlag_Default);
	err = ACAPI_Register_Menu (32502, 0, MenuCode_UserDef, MenuFlag_Default);

	return err;
}

GSErrCode __ACENV_CALL	Initialize (void)
{
	GSErrCode err = NoError;

	err = ACAPI_Install_MenuHandler (32500, MenuCommandHandler);
	err = ACAPI_Install_MenuHandler (32501, MenuCommandHandler);
	err = ACAPI_Install_MenuHandler (32502, MenuCommandHandler);

	return err;
}

Finally your menu command handler function should look something like this:

GSErrCode	__ACENV_CALL MenuCommandHandler (const API_MenuParams* params)
{
	switch (params->menuItemRef.menuResID) {
		case 32500: {
			switch (params->menuItemRef.itemIndex) {
				case 1:		JHP1A ();		break;
				case 2:		JHP1B ();		break;
				case 3:		JHP1C ();		break;
			}
			break;
		}
		case 32501: {
			switch (params->menuItemRef.itemIndex) {
				case 1:		JHP2A ();		break;
			}
			break;
		}
		case 32502: {
			switch (params->menuItemRef.itemIndex) {
				case 1:		JHP3A ();		break;
				case 2:		JHP3B ();		break;
			}
			break;
		}
	}
	return NoError;
}

[Anonymous]

That was it!

I neglected to make the edits in the Initialize function. I can't wait until all the moving parts of this become second nature...

Thanks for the help guys!

Chris

[Anonymous]

Although I am still trying to get a handle on passing string arguments to the ShowMessage function, a final working solution is:

Thanks to all!

// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
// in the .grc file
// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/* Text appearing in the menu */

'STR#' 32500	"Menu strings" {
/* [   ] */			"JHP"
/* [   ] */ 			"JHP1"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP1A"
/* [  2] */ 				"JHP1B"
/* [  3] */ 				"JHP1C"
}

'STR#' 32501	"Menu strings" {
/* [   ] */			"JHP"
/* [   ] */ 			"JHP2"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP2A"
}

'STR#' 32502	"Menu strings" {
/* [   ] */			"JHP"
/* [   ] */			"JHP3"
/* [  1] */ 				"JHP3A"
/* [  2] */ 				"JHP3B"
}

// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
// in the main.cpp file
// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Command executed by menu choices
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
void ShowMessage(char argv[])
{
	MessageBox(0, argv, "Menu choice made is...",  MB_OK);
}

// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Handles menu commands
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GSErrCode __ACENV_CALL MenuCommandHandler(const API_MenuParams *menuParams)
{
	switch (menuParams->menuItemRef.menuResID) {
		case 32500: {
			switch (menuParams->menuItemRef.itemIndex) {
			case 1:		ShowMessage("1A");			break;
			case 2:		ShowMessage("1B");			break;
			case 3:		ShowMessage("1C");			break;
			}
			break;
		}
		case 32501: {
			switch (menuParams->menuItemRef.itemIndex) {
			case 1:		ShowMessage("2A");			break;
			}
			break;
		}
		case 32502: {
			switch (menuParams->menuItemRef.itemIndex) {
			case 1:		ShowMessage("3A");			break;
			case 2:		ShowMessage("3B");			break;
			}
			break;
		}
	}
	return NoError;
}
// MenuCommandHandler

// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// RegisterInterface
//		Interface definitions
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GSErrCode __ACENV_CALL	RegisterInterface(void)
{
	GSErrCode err = NoError;

	err = ACAPI_Register_Menu(32500, 0, MenuCode_UserDef, MenuFlag_Default);
	err = ACAPI_Register_Menu(32501, 0, MenuCode_UserDef, MenuFlag_Default);
	err = ACAPI_Register_Menu(32502, 0, MenuCode_UserDef, MenuFlag_Default);

	return err;
}
// RegisterInterface

// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Initialize
//		Called when the Add-On has been loaded into memory
//		to perform an operation
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GSErrCode __ACENV_CALL	Initialize(void)
{
	GSErrCode err = NoError;

	err = ACAPI_Install_MenuHandler(32500, MenuCommandHandler);
	err = ACAPI_Install_MenuHandler(32501, MenuCommandHandler);
	err = ACAPI_Install_MenuHandler(32502, MenuCommandHandler);

	return err;
}
// Initialize

[Anonymous]

For anyone that stumbles on to this in the future:

The only modification I made to Tibor's proposed solution above was to add a 'break;' to the first level case labels [case 32500:, case 32501:, case 32502:] of the nested switch statements.

Easily overlooked, but otherwise a complete and spot on solution. Thanks Tibor.