topic Re: Addins button or tool in ArcObjects SDK Questions

Addins button or tool

bastianellmenreich — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:10:25 GMT

hello,
by using the addins i must choose tool or button. i will convert my 9.3 c# code to addin and will prevent an installer with registrations. so in 9.3 i have a tool wich inherit from basetool. the tool opens a form in the onclick method. in the mouse down events i capture the geometry and send it to the form. the new addin tool did not have a onclick method and the button no onmousedown event.
also i cannot call the tool from the form by setting application.currenttool = addins.tool because of it is no command.
so what is the new way to open a form, select somthing like geometrytype (point or line), enable any kind (drawing or editing) of digitize and get back the new geometry to form.

thanks

Re: Addins button or tool

BradChappell — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:15:04 GMT

They are not added automatically but you can add them yourself:

ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns.Tool

protected override void OnMouseDown(MouseEventArgs arg)
protected override void OnMouseMove(MouseEventArgs arg)
protected override void OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs arg)

ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns.Button

protected override void OnClick()

Re: Addins button or tool

bastianellmenreich — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:14:12 GMT

thanks for your answer.

i know both addins and there methods. unfortunatly i need a combination of both.

first i want to open an form if the user click on a button. i can do that by use a button.
then the user select a geometrytype (point, line or polygon) in the form. after that the form should enable a tool to capture the new geometry. the problem is how can i call a addin tool?

when the user click on a addin tool instead of a button, i can only open a from when the user click on the map but i need the formselection first.

one way i will try is to call an command such as the editor with its oncreatefeature event. but its very complex.

kind regards

Re: Addins button or tool

EdgarBejarano — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:48:13 GMT

Hello. So far I see that the class in your project where you are defining your ArcMap Add-In cannot have more than one ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns baseclass. I tried the below and that will not work, and if I remove implementing the AddIns.Button baseclass, then I cannot have the OnClick().

public class Tool1 : ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns.Tool, ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns.Button
    {
        public Tool1()
        {
        }

        protected override void OnUpdate()
        {
            Enabled = ArcMap.Application != null;
        }

        protected override void OnClick()
        {
            //
            // TODO: Sample code showing how to access button host
            //
            //ArcMap.Application.CurrentTool = null;
            System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Hello OnClick");
        }

        protected override void OnMouseDown(MouseEventArgs arg)
        {
            System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Hello OnMouseDown");
        }
    }

Essentially, you want to do something similar to the Measure tool in ArcMap, whereby clicking on the tool on the toolbar will launch a form, allow the end-user to make one or more selections, then interact with the map via the mouse event handlers. You may have to consider the DLL registration/Inherit-from-BaseTool route again for that specific functionality or as the Add-In sample that implements various Add-In types demonstrates, which is to offer a button and a tool, separately. That sample may demonstrate how one can interact (pass-on info) to the other, as long as they are within the same VB.NET or C# project. If the button and tool do not demonstrate that interaction, it does seem that the tool and the dockable window will, because the dockable window gets updated with values based on user interaction with the tool. Check out that sample Add-In.
http://help.arcgis.com/en/sdk/10.0/arcobjects_net/conceptualhelp/index.html#/Sample_Custom_selection_extension/0001000003w2000000/

Re: Addins button or tool

PaulHedlund — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:20:29 GMT

I am having the same problem with trying to handle a tool and button within the same Add-in.

Is there any confirmation from ESRI on this? Is this a limitation of Add-ins? Classic COM extensibility could handle both ITool and ICommmand within the same button.

Re: Addins button or tool

KevinSigwart — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:51:52 GMT

When using the AddIn Tool, what you are looking for is the OnActivate() method. It is essentially the same thing as the OnClick event within BaseTool or the ITool in previous versions. When the Tool is selected in the toolbar it gets compressed and the OnActivate method is fired off. Then when a new tool is selected, the tool is deselected/decompressed and the Deactivate method is fired off.

Re: Addins button or tool

ChrisSchmeissner — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:22:51 GMT

Kevin,
Could you please post a snippit of how you would work with the OnActivate method. I have a button and a tool in my add-in. The button opens a form. Within this form a have a button that when clicked, I would like for it to activate the tool. The tool allows me to get the x,y locations from the map and then preform various tasks. The add-in tool itself work just fine. However I do not know how to call this tool from the form. Thank you.

Re: Addins button or tool

KenBuja — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 22:22:18 GMT

Here's an example of what I have for an add-in that uses a button on a form to start drawing on the map. the tool is named DrawTool


        Dim pUID As New ESRI.ArcGIS.esriSystem.UID
        Dim pCommandItem As ESRI.ArcGIS.Framework.ICommandItem

        pUID.Value = My.ThisAddIn.IDs.DrawTool
        pCommandItem = m_application.Document.CommandBars.Find(pUID, False, False)
        m_application.CurrentTool = pCommandItem

Re: Addins button or tool

ChrisSchmeissner — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 22:22:21 GMT

Here's an example of what I have for an add-in that uses a button on a form to start drawing on the map. the tool is named DrawTool


        Dim pUID As New ESRI.ArcGIS.esriSystem.UID
        Dim pCommandItem As ESRI.ArcGIS.Framework.ICommandItem

        pUID.Value = My.ThisAddIn.IDs.DrawTool
        pCommandItem = m_application.Document.CommandBars.Find(pUID, False, False)
        m_application.CurrentTool = pCommandItem

Ken,

Fantastic! It worked perfectly. Thanks so much for your help.

Re: Addins button or tool

EricStrasa — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:17:35 GMT

Chris:
I am facing the same problem. Could you please post your complete code snippet here or by email?

Thanks

Re: Addins button or tool

ChrisSchmeissner — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:54:40 GMT

In the code below btnMapTool is the button on my form I want to launch the Tool. Tool1 is the name of the tool. Hope this helps.

Private Sub btnMapTool_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnMapTool.Click
        Dim pUID As New ESRI.ArcGIS.esriSystem.UID
        Dim pCommandItem As ESRI.ArcGIS.Framework.ICommandItem

        pUID.Value = My.ThisAddIn.IDs.Tool1
        pCommandItem = m_app.Document.CommandBars.Find(pUID, False, False)
        m_app.CurrentTool = pCommandItem
End Sub

'************Below is the top portion of my Tool1 class.

Imports ESRI.ArcGIS.esriSystem
Imports ESRI.ArcGIS.Geometry
Imports ESRI.ArcGIS.Display
Imports ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto
Imports ESRI.ArcGIS.Geodatabase
Imports System.Xml.Linq
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports ESRI.ArcGIS.ArcMapUI

Public Class Tool1
    Inherits ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns.Tool

    Private Shared s_tool As Tool1

    Private m_app As ESRI.ArcGIS.Framework.IApplication = ArcMapAddin2.My.ArcMap.Application
    Private MxDoc As ESRI.ArcGIS.ArcMapUI.IMxDocument = ArcMapAddin2.My.ArcMap.Document

Public Sub New()
        s_tool = Me

    End Sub
    Friend Shared Function GetTool() As Tool1
        If s_tool Is Nothing Then
            Dim toolID As UID = New UIDClass()
            toolID.Value = ArcMapAddin2.My.IDs.Tool1
            ArcMapAddin2.My.ArcMap.Application.FindExtensionByCLSID(toolID)
        End If

        Return s_tool
    End Function

Protected Overrides Sub OnUpdate()
    Enabled = My.ArcMap.Application IsNot Nothing
    End Sub


    Protected Overrides Sub OnMouseDown(ByVal arg As ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns.Tool.MouseEventArgs)
        MyBase.OnMouseDown(arg)
        'Get the active view from the ArcMap static class.
        Dim activeView As IActiveView = My.ArcMap.Document.ActiveView

        '****************************************************************************************************
        'Get the X, Y coordinate from the point the tool was clicked
        Dim point As IPoint
        Dim DisplayTransform As IDisplayTransformation
        point = New ESRI.ArcGIS.Geometry.Point
        DisplayTransform = MxDoc.ActiveView.ScreenDisplay.DisplayTransformation
        point = DisplayTransform.ToMapPoint(arg.X, arg.Y)
        point.PutCoords(point.X, point.Y)
        'MsgBox("x = " & point.X & " y = " & point.Y)
'*************More Code for the tool goes here
End Sub

Re: Addins button or tool

EricStrasa — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 06:04:31 GMT

Chris:
Indeed, thanks. All I had in 8 hours was a lame iTool extension:

Imports ESRI.ArcGIS.ArcMapUI
Imports ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto
Imports ESRI.ArcGIS.Geometry

Public Class Tool1
    Inherits ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns.Tool
    Private frm As New Form1

    Public Sub New()
        frm.Visible = True
        frm.Activate()
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Sub OnUpdate()
        Enabled = My.ArcMap.Application IsNot Nothing
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Sub OnMouseDown(ByVal arg As ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns.Tool.MouseEventArgs)
        MyBase.OnMouseDown(arg)
        Dim mxDoc As IMxDocument = My.ArcMap.Application.Document
        Dim activeView As IActiveView = TryCast(mxDoc.FocusMap, IActiveView)
        Dim nPoint As IPoint = TryCast(activeView.ScreenDisplay.DisplayTransformation.ToMapPoint(arg.X, arg.Y), IPoint)
        System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Screen X=" + arg.X.ToString + ", Y= " + arg.Y.ToString)
        System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Map X=" + nPoint.X.ToString + ", Y= " + nPoint.Y.ToString)
        frm.txtX.Text = nPoint.X.ToString
        frm.txtY.Text = nPoint.Y.ToString
        frm.Activate()
    End Sub

End Class

Is the ArcMapAddin2 another Arcgis Tool button added to the project via Microsoft Visual Studio or how is this done?

Thanks

ScottParker — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:39:06 GMT

Thanks, I used a couple line of your code to activate a tool from a dockable window.

cschmeissner;135749 wrote:
In the code below btnMapTool is the button on my form I want to launch the Tool. Tool1 is the name of the tool. Hope this helps.

Private Sub btnMapTool_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnMapTool.Click
        Dim pUID As New ESRI.ArcGIS.esriSystem.UID
        Dim pCommandItem As ESRI.ArcGIS.Framework.ICommandItem

        pUID.Value = My.ThisAddIn.IDs.Tool1
        pCommandItem = m_app.Document.CommandBars.Find(pUID, False, False)
        m_app.CurrentTool = pCommandItem
End Sub