CustomPlugin Class

A custom plugin is the most basic plugin that can be defined. It can be used when none of the specialized behaviour of other plugin tyes is required.

Namespace: Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Plugins
Assembly: Autodesk.Navisworks.Api (in Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic
Public MustInherit Class CustomPlugin _
	Inherits Plugin
C#
public abstract class CustomPlugin : Plugin
Visual C++
public ref class CustomPlugin abstract : public Plugin

Remarks

This class can be used as a base class for a plugin to Navisworks when none of the other specialized plugin behaviour is required.

For example, if a user wishes to write a set of plugins which can be called by a third party program, and wants the benefits of the plugins architecture within Navisworks, they may choose to use this class as a base class.

Combining this class and InterfaceAttribute is an effective way of providing an easily identifiable customised plugin within the wider collection of plugins.

InterfaceAttribute can be used to group a collection of plugins; the plugins assigned the same InterfaceAttribute can be found using Application.Plugins.FindInterfaces.

Note NotePlease note that Navisworks Freedom does not provide support for plug-ins.

Examples

CopyCustomPlugin example
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Windows.Forms;

using System.Text;

using Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Controls;

namespace VehicleAddin
{
   [Plugin("VehiclePlugin", "ADSK")] //standard Plugin attribute
   [AddInPlugin(AddInLocation.AddIn, CallCanExecute = CallCanExecute.Always, LoadForCanExecute = false)]
   public class VehicleAddin : AddInPlugin
   {
      //When called this searches all the plugins for the attribute defined interface
      //then displays a message box with the plugin details

      public override int Execute(params string[] parameters)
      {
         //load the bike plugin
         PluginRecord bikePluginRecord = Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Application.Plugins.FindPlugin("BikePlugin.ADSK");
         if (bikePluginRecord != null)
         {
            if (!bikePluginRecord.IsLoaded)
            {
               bikePluginRecord.LoadPlugin();
            }
         }

         StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();
         output.AppendLine("The following 'Vehicles.ADSK' interfaces were found:");

         foreach (PluginRecord pr in Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Application.Plugins.FindInterfaces("Vehicles.ADSK"))
         {
            output.Append("DisplayName=");
            output.Append(pr.DisplayName);
            output.Append(", IsLoaded=");
            output.Append(pr.IsLoaded);
            if (pr.IsLoaded && pr.LoadedPlugin is VehiclePlugins.VehiclePlugin)
            {
               output.Append(", Vehicle is ");
               output.Append((pr.LoadedPlugin as VehiclePlugins.VehiclePlugin).VehicleType);
            }
            output.AppendLine();
         }
         MessageBox.Show(output.ToString());

         return 0;
      }
   }
}

namespace VehiclePlugins
{
   [Plugin("VehiclePlugin", "ADSK")] //standard Plugin attribute
   [Interface("Vehicles", "ADSK")]   //All the vehicles implement the same interface so they can be easily searched for
   public abstract class VehiclePlugin : CustomPlugin
   {
      abstract public string VehicleType { get; }
   }

   [Plugin("CarPlugin", "ADSK")]    //standard Plugin attribute
   [Interface("Vehicles", "ADSK")]   //All the vehicles implement the same interface so they can be easily searched for)
   public class CarPlugin : VehiclePlugin
   {
      public override string VehicleType 
      { 
         get 
         {
            return "a car";
         }
      }
   }

   [Plugin("BikePlugin", "ADSK")]   //standard Plugin attribute
   [Interface("Vehicles", "ADSK")]  //All the vehicles implement the same interface so they can be easily searched for
   public class BikePlugin : VehiclePlugin
   {
      public override string VehicleType 
      { 
         get 
         {
            return "a bike";
         }
      }
   }

   [Plugin("TruckPlugin", "ADSK")]   //standard Plugin attribute
   [Interface("Vehicles", "ADSK")]  //All the vehicles identify with the same interface so they can be easily searched for
   public class TruckPlugin : VehiclePlugin
   {
      public override string VehicleType 
      { 
         get 
         {
            return "a truck";
         }
      }
   }
}

Inheritance Hierarchy

See Also

T:Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Plugins.CustomPlugin