[Viewport Scale]

I believe you are setting the wrong scale:

1/4" = 1'-0" => 1/4" = 12" => 1" = 48" (1:48)

You really want the object to be 1/4 of its size which is a scale of 3" = 1'-0"

3" = 1'-0" => 3" = 12" => 1" = 4" (1:4)

[Ability to make any Class or Layer be Non-Plot]

You could also mark them invisible by overriding the classes and/or layers of a viewport created in a sheet layer.

[How do you shorten a GetLine3D]

Just to expand on the vector solution:

VAR

vec1,vect2: VECTOR;

p1X,p1Y,p1Z,p2X,p2Y,p2Z,p3X,p3Y,p3Z,dist1,dist2: REAL;

BEGIN

{.......}

{.......}

{vector starting at p1 and ending at p2}

vec1.x:= p2X - p1X;

vec1.y:= p2Y - p1Y;

vec1.z:= p2Z - p1Z;

dist1:= Norm(vec1); {Length of vec1}

dist2:= dist1 - 5; {Assuming mm is the default unit. Otherwise use 5mm}

vect2:= dist2 * UnitVec(vec1); {UnitVec is the vector that is 1 unit long}

{p3 is 5 units shorter than p2}

p3X:= p1X + vect2.x;

p3Y:= p1Y + vect2.y;

p3Z:= p1Z + vect2.z;

{.......}

{.......}

END;

[extracting PIO name]

All plugin objects have a record with the name of the plugin so you would need to get a handle to this record. In older versions, the parametric record would be the last one but now you can get a handle directly with GetParametricRecord.

PROCEDURE GetPio;
VAR 
pX,pY: REAL;
objHdl: HANDLE;
pioName: STRING;

FUNCTION GetPioName(pioHdl: HANDLE): STRING;
VAR
	recTot: INTEGER;
	recHdl: HANDLE;
BEGIN
IF GetType(pioHdl) = 86 THEN
	BEGIN
	recHdl:= GetParametricRecord(pioHdl);

{ or this code if an older version}
{		recTot:= NumRecords(pioHdl);
	recHdl:= GetRecord(pioHdl,recTot);
}
	GetPioName:= GetName(recHdl);
	END
ELSE
	GetPioName:= '';
END;
BEGIN
GetPt(pX,pY);
objHdl:= PickObject(pX,pY);
IF (objHdl <> NIL) THEN
BEGIN
pioName:= GetPioName(objHdl);
IF Len(pioName) > 0 THEN
	Message(pioName)
ELSE
	Message('Not a plug-in object');
END
ELSE
ClrMessage;
END;
Run(GetPio);

[Mousedown not giving coordinates suddenly?]

I have experienced this before and I guess it has not been fixed yet.

You probably have 2 choices:

REPEAT

GetMouse(mx,my);

UNTIL Mousedown(px,py); {note: use other variables px,py}

or substitute the REPEAT block with

GetPt(mx,my);

[Customizing Spotlight Plugins]

This is something that I have thought about but have not had a need to code it. I would think that you can create a custom plugin and then embed the vw plugin within it. You will have to duplicate the vw plugin parameters to control it from your plugin. Then you can add your own code to customize your plugin further.

[Script length restriction for 64 bit]

It seems odd that you would have that limitation on a windows machine. My largest plug-in is 272 kb (= 272,000 char) and is running from a single file.

I had this problem about 8 years ago but it seems it got fixed on the Windows side around that time because all the newer plug-ins I have created since then are larger than 32 kb and running without problems.

[Deselecting objects within groups]

Get a handle to the parent of the line and get the object type. If it is a group type then skip.

[Deselecting objects within groups]

Make it a tool rather than a command. As you pick/select each line, the text will be placed immediately after. You can continue picking as long as the tool is active.

[Xtrd and worksheet]

I multiply to 1000 (units for volume and area are in sqm)

That is exactly what I am talking about. Your display units may be cubic & square meters but internally, it is calculated as cubic & square millimeters. So volume/area will give you linear millimeters, and in your case it is 4500 mm = 450 cm.

[Xtrd and worksheet]

Because the internal units are mm even when the display units are cm.

1 cm = 10 mm so just divide the result by 10, which would give you 449.9915 and rounded up is 450 cm.

[Converting Shapefiles to 3D contours or loci]

It seems that the connection to the record is broken. The code assumes that the Z value is in a record named "1' contour" and field "CONTOUR".

If you can post a sample file, I can update the code to make it work better.

[How to use DBSQLExecuteError?]

Should be placed right after a call to an ODBC function that returns FALSE such as

IF DBSQLExecuteDSN() THEN

BEGIN

...

... {Continue code}

END

ELSE IF DBSQLExecuteError() THEN

BEGIN

...

... {Write out error information}

END;

[VW WORKSHEET VALUES TO DATABASE (ODBC)]

First you are trying to connect a database to a worksheet which cannot be done automatically. The ODBC is designed to connect an external database to objects that have attached records. An object is then matched to a row in the external database with a common field value.

However, it is feasible to match the database to vw worksheet with scripts that will read from or write to the database.

a sample script can be found at

DBSQLExecuteDSN

[How to input data from custom dialog to database(excel) and worksheet using]

There is also 2 other alternatives that you may want to consider.

The one that will give you more flexibility and two way communication is ODBC but it is also the most complicated to set up.

The other one is creating a *.csv file, also a text file, that can be read directly by excel. This last one was the only way to set up databases some time ago and I still use this method to read from data tables.

[Initial Render mode when changing from Top/Plan to 3D View]

If your test is OK then most likely it is a hardware problem.

[Initial Render mode when changing from Top/Plan to 3D View]

This is just a simple box I created in a new file. The rectangle has a solid fill and it is extruded.

[Initial Render mode when changing from Top/Plan to 3D View]

No just the viewport. The design layer does render in solid color.

I am also aware that there is a new checkbox that allows the rendering to be colored or not. Checked or unchecked, it does not make a difference.

[Initial Render mode when changing from Top/Plan to 3D View]

I did update the view every time I changed the mode but OpenGL always renders as wireframe

[Initial Render mode when changing from Top/Plan to 3D View]

I am having a similar problem when choosing OpenGL as the render mode in a viewport. It shows the wireframe rendering of the object instead of OpenGL. All other modes do change and render as expected.

I have a windows laptop with 2 GPU. If I use the built-in Intel, it will not even change to a 3D view and gives the Out of Memory error. If I use the NVidia with 1 GB VRAM, it works fine except for the problem above.

Win 7, i7-2670QM, 14GB RAM

NVidia GeForce GT 540M

[extrude along path]

These are parameters in the "Extrude Along Path" pio:

SetRField(extrudeHdl, 'Extrude Along Path', 'Scale', 'Exponential');
SetRField(extrudeHdl, 'Extrude Along Path', 'Factor', '-0.555827');
SetRField(extrudeHdl, 'Extrude Along Path', 'Lock Profile Plane', 'True');
SetRField(extrudeHdl, 'Extrude Along Path', 'Fix Profile', 'No');

[Set class fill type und pen type]

I see that there are some functions to specify the pen and fill styles of a class, but none to actually set them active, for example, I can set the foreground Color used for solid fills, but how can I actually set the class to "solid fill"?

Use PROCEDURE SetClFPat(className:STRING; fillpattern:LONGINT);

basic fillpattern codes:

0 = No fill

1 = foreground color

2 = background color

normally, you would set an object fill to the background color.

[Join lines inside PIO]

Piet,

The following code will let you select 2 lines and will join them similar to the way is done with the Join menu command.

The Join procedure is the same format that you suggested:

PROCEDURE JoinLines;
VAR
line1Hdl,line2Hdl: HANDLE;
selPt: POINT3D;

FUNCTION CheckObjCallback(h : HANDLE; px, py : REAL) : BOOLEAN;
BEGIN
IF GetType(h) = 2 THEN
	CheckObjCallback:= TRUE
ELSE
	CheckObjCallback:= FALSE;
END;

PROCEDURE Join(VAR line1,line2: HANDLE);
VAR
	dist1,dist2: REAL;
	parallel, intOnLines : BOOLEAN;
	ln1beg,ln1end,ln2beg,ln2end,intPt: POINT;
BEGIN
GetSegPt1(line1,ln1beg.x,ln1beg.y);
GetSegPt2(line1,ln1end.x,ln1end.y);
GetSegPt1(line2,ln2beg.x,ln2beg.y);
GetSegPt2(line2,ln2end.x,ln2end.y);
LineLineIntersection(ln1beg,ln1end,ln2beg,ln2end,parallel,intOnLines,intPt);

dist1:= Distance(ln1beg.x,ln1beg.y,intPt.x,intPt.y);
dist2:= Distance(ln1end.x,ln1end.y,intPt.x,intPt.y);
IF dist1 > dist2 THEN
	SetSegPt2(line1,intPt.x,intPt.y)
ELSE
	SetSegPt1(line1,intPt.x,intPt.y);

dist1:= Distance(ln2beg.x,ln2beg.y,intPt.x,intPt.y);
dist2:= Distance(ln2end.x,ln2end.y,intPt.x,intPt.y);
IF dist1 > dist2 THEN
	SetSegPt2(line2,intPt.x,intPt.y)
ELSE
	SetSegPt1(line2,intPt.x,intPt.y);
END;

BEGIN
TrackObject(CheckObjCallback, line1Hdl, selPt.x, selPt.y, selPt.z);
IF line1Hdl <> NIL THEN
BEGIN
SetSelect(line1Hdl);
TrackObject(CheckObjCallback, line2Hdl, selPt.x, selPt.y, selPt.z);
IF line2Hdl <> NIL THEN
	BEGIN
	SetSelect(line2Hdl);
	Join(line1Hdl,line2Hdl);
	END;
END;
END;
Run(JoinLines);

[Join lines inside PIO]

If you can select them, then you should be able to change the end points. You can find the intersection point with:

PROCEDURE LineLineIntersection(

l1start :POINT;

l1end :POINT;

l2start :POINT;

l2end :POINT;

VAR parallel :BOOLEAN;

VAR intOnLines :BOOLEAN;

VAR sectpt :POINT);

[Polylines in PIO: arcs and stuff]

Yes but you can't do that when you start from a 3D path based object where each vertex might have a different elevation.

All you have to do is change the elevation of each NURBS vertex. In the example above if you start at 0.00 and end at 12.00 elevation, you then assign the appropriate elevation to the other mid points, which in this case is 4.00 & 8.00. The effect is a quarter spiral. In my experience, getting the NURBS object in the correct shape or roundness is far more complicated than setting elevations. By converting a polyline to a NURBS curve, most of the hard work is already done.

Its probably possible doing it all manually but that's a bit too much effort I guess

Is it a bit too much effort? Yes, it is and the NURBS learning curve is steep. I spent countless hours trying to get a traffic signal mast arm (a tapered path extrude) in the right shape so that I could calculate the elevation at any point along the arm axis.