Here are answers to questions about the MicroStation^® Development Library (VB.NET and C#). When implementing functionality in .NET, there are Windows environment variables to consider. Similar questions are posted by MDL developers on the Bentley Discussion Groups.

Q Have you any hints about developing an application for MicroStation using .NET?

• What development tools does the SDK provide?
• Do I need to define any Windows environment variables?
• How do I use the Bentley development tools?
• Can I use Visual Studio?

A

At the end of the build process you should end up with a .NET assembly that either has the command.xml file embedded in the assembly or as an external resource (.xml file) next to the assembly. Now you need to tell MicroStation where the assembly is located by augmenting the MS_ADDINPATH configuration varialble in MicroStation. We typically do this by creating a configuration file in the appl directory under MicroStation/config/appl. In the file we have one line that is MS_ADDINPATH > "location of where my assembly is". Now once that is in place we can load the addin in MicroStation using the command MDL LOAD AssemblyName. Make sure that your MDL Task ID is not greater than 15 characters (legacy limit). To validate the addin before running you can use the USTNXOM program from the developer shell. To use this simply run the executable like this:

USTNXOM -validateAddin "Your Assembly.dll"

It should then tell you if it finds and resolves the command table and is formatted correctly.

To develop a Tool I would recomend starting with the AddIn class. This will help you to define an application that will run in MicroStation. Here is some sample code for implementing the AddIn part of the application …

Imports Bentley.MicroStation.WinForms
Imports Bentley.MicroStation.InteropServices
Imports Bentley.Interop.MicroStationDGN
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports Bentley.MicroStation
Namespace ProjectReviewApp

	Public Class ProjectReviewAppVB
		Inherits Bentley.MicroStation.AddIn
		Private Shared s_App As ProjectReviewAppVB
		Private Shared pReviewDialog As ProjectReviewForm
		Sub New(ByVal mdlDesc As System.IntPtr)
			MyBase.New(mdlDesc)
			s_App = Me
		End Sub
		Public Shared Function GetApp() As ProjectReviewAppVB
			GetApp = s_App
		End Function
		Public Shared Function GetDialog() As ProjectReviewForm
			If pReviewDialog Is Nothing Then
			pReviewDialog = New ProjectReviewForm
			End If
			GetDialog = pReviewDialog
		End Function

		Protected Overrides Function run(ByVal cmdLine() As String) As Integer
			run = 0
		End Function

		Public Shared Sub ReleaseDialog()
			pReviewDialog = Nothing
		End Sub
	End Class
	Public Class KeyinCommands
		Public Shared Sub Open(ByVal unparsed As String)
			Dim pDialog As ProjectReviewForm
			pDialog = ProjectReviewAppVB.GetDialog
			If Not pDialog Is Nothing Then
				pDialog.ScanFile()
				pDialog.ShowForm()
			End If
		End Sub

		Public Shared Sub Close(ByVal unparsed As String)
			Dim pDialog As ProjectReviewForm
			pDialog = ProjectReviewAppVB.GetDialog
			If Not pDialog Is Nothing Then
				pDialog.CloseForm()
			End If
		End Sub

		Public Shared Sub Scan(ByVal unparsed As String)
			Dim pDialog As ProjectReviewForm
			pDialog = ProjectReviewAppVB.GetDialog
			If pDialog Is Nothing Then
				pDialog.ShowForm()
				Else
				pDialog.ScanFile()
			End If
		End Sub
	End Class
End Namespace

Now for the "Tool" itself I would recommend using the COM Interop Bentley.Interop.MicroStationDGN and the IPrimitiveCommandEvents or ILocateCommandEvents class. For documentation on those classes refer to the MicroStationVBA.chm file.

For the user interface I would use a winform that inherits from the Bentley.MicroStation.Winforms.Adapter class. Note when you inherit from this class you will not be able to use the designer mode of the IDE. You can then design with the various components of the IDE for buttons etc. Here is a sample that has a listbox and a scan of the design file …

Imports Bentley.MicroStation.Winforms
Imports Bentley.Interop.MicroStationDGN
Imports Bentley.MicroStation
Imports Bentley.Windowing
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Namespace ProjectReviewApp

	Public Class ProjectReviewForm
	Inherits Bentley.MicroStation.WinForms.Adapter
	Private Shared s_App As Bentley.Interop.MicroStationDGN.Application
	Private Shared s_Current As ProjectReviewForm
	Dim m_window As Bentley.Windowing.WindowContent

	#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "

	Public Sub New()
		MyBase.New()

		'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
		InitializeComponent()

		'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
		s_Current = Me
	End Sub

	'Form overrides dispose to clean up the component list.
		Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
		If disposing Then
			If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
				components.Dispose()
			End If
		End If
		MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
		s_Current = Nothing
	End Sub

	'Required by the Windows Form Designer
	Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer

	'NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer
	'It can be modified using the Windows Form Designer.
	'Do not modify it using the code editor.
	Friend WithEvents ListBox1 As System.Windows.Forms.ListBox
	Private Sub InitializeComponent()
		Me.ListBox1 = New System.Windows.Forms.ListBox
		Me.SuspendLayout()
		'
		'ListBox1
		'
		Me.ListBox1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(48, 40)
		Me.ListBox1.Name = "ListBox1"
		Me.ListBox1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(200, 173)
		Me.ListBox1.TabIndex = 0
		'
		'ProjectReviewForm
		'
		Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
		Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(292, 268)
		Me.Controls.Add(Me.ListBox1)
		Me.Name = "ProjectReviewForm"
		Me.Text = "ProjectReviewForm"
		Me.ResumeLayout(False)

	End Sub

	#End Region

	Public Function ScanFile() As Integer
		Dim oEnum As Bentley.Interop.MicroStationDGN.ElementEnumerator
		Dim oScanCriteria As Bentley.Interop.MicroStationDGN.ElementScanCriteriaClass
		Dim iStatus As Integer
		oScanCriteria = New Bentley.Interop.MicroStationDGN.ElementScanCriteriaClass
		oEnum = Bentley.MicroStation.InteropServices.Utilities.ComApp.ActiveModelReference.Scan(oScanCriteria)
		ListBox1.Items.Clear()
		Do While oEnum.MoveNext
		If ListBox1.Items.Contains(oEnum.Current.Type.ToString) = False Then
		iStatus = ListBox1.Items.Add(oEnum.Current.Type.ToString)
		End If
		Loop
		ScanFile = iStatus
	End Function

	Public Sub ShowForm()
		If s_Current Is Nothing Then
			s_Current = New ProjectReviewForm
		End If
		Dim winManager As Bentley.Windowing.WindowManager
		winManager = Bentley.Windowing.WindowManager.GetForMicroStation
		m_window = winManager.DockPanel(s_Current, "ProjectReviewForm", s_Current.Text, Bentley.Windowing.DockLocation.Floating)
	End Sub

	Public Sub CloseForm()
		If s_Current Is Nothing Then
			Exit Sub
		End If
		ProjectReviewAppVB.ReleaseDialog()
		m_window.Close()
		m_window = Nothing
		s_Current = Nothing
	End Sub
	End Class
End Namespace

The Bentley Developer Network group has a wizard for starting and a tutorial on building .NET AddIn applications.

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