chooks: I finally got those darn things converted to v9.0

[bryan314]

...and knowing my luck Mastercam 9.1 will probably come out next week.

 

Anyways the current version of my chooks can be downloaded at:

Link to Bryan's chook downloads (1560K/1.52MB)

 

The main website page is:

Bryan's chook web page.

 

The short list:

Converted chooks over to 9.0

A few minor bugfixes

A few new chooks:

scanarcs: Scan selected arc sizes then change color or set to 'result.' Search options are =, >, <, <> between, and >< outside.

 

multirun: Run multiple chooks and functions from a list.

 

trnslcnt: Toggle the translucency for a shaded surface.

 

Plus a few other odds and ends.

 

Bryan

 

[ 02-27-2003, 10:39 AM: Message edited by: bryan314 ]

[ksoufi]

Wooooo very good

[ProductDevelopmentGuy]

Bryan,

We are producing a new C-Hook development kit for V9.1, but almost all V9.0 C-Hooks should still run in V9.1 without being re-built.

The exception is any C-Hooks which look to the SIM for the serial number, sim type, Mastercam level, etc. These will need to be rebuilt.

The V9.1 C-hook kit will also include enhanced access to Solids and the WCS

 

PDG

[ksoufi]

I hope that new kit developpement will be provided with best documentation support.

For example, now i'm trying to add tools and using

____________________________________

EXTERN void (*_tool_manager) (

tp_tool *tl, // IO: pointer to material - make sure tl->op.slot is set for read access

short mode, // I: TLMGR_ADD, TLMGR_EDIT, etc

db_ptr_type *eptr, // O: db pointer to tool entity

boolean *succf); // O: tool manager successful

#define tool_manager (*_tool_manager)

___________________________________________

 

make sure tl->op.slot is set for read access

does not correspond to reality

 

[Rekd™]

This release is going to make available VBA also, correct? And what will be the uses/limitations of using VB to create c-hooks, (v-hooks?)

 

TY

 

'Rekd

[bryan314]

quote:

---

This release is going to make available VBA also, correct? And what will be the uses/limitations of using VB to create c-hooks, (v-hooks?)

---

In 9.1 you wont be able to directly turn vbscript into chooks. The vbscript engine itself is a chook. It in turn interprets a script you write.

 

benifits:

[*]Don't have to buy an expensive compiler.

[*]Don't have to learn c or its super/sub-sets C++, MFC, etc

[*]Don't have to learn the Mastercam C api.

[*]To make a change you just edit the script with your favorite text editor and rerun.

[*]vbscript probably has a userbase since it's a Mircosoft product.

[*]Should make it easy to prototype a program for later translation into a chook.

Limitations:

[*]Runs slower since the file has to be reinterpreted every time. This shouldn't be noticable for small scripts.

[*]I lied - you probably still have to learn the MC Api just in vbscript form.

[*]C has a wealth of libraries and code repositories out there. If someone hasn't written it, they've written something similiar. If nothing similiar, someones written a paper describing how to write it. If no ones written....And so on.

[*]You have to learn vbscript. If you know visual basic this shouldn't be too bad.

 

I sure if you search Google or something you can find a wealth of information on benifits/limitations of scripting languages vs programming languages.

 

Bryan

[ProductDevelopmentGuy]

Version 9.1 will include the ability to create, edit, test, and save Visual Basic Scripts. VBScript is driven by a Microsoft engine that lets the programmer edit and run add-ins without needing to purchase and/or learn a compiler. The language is almost exactly like the Visual Basic programming language, and we provide a slick editor that lets you edit and test scripts, without having to exit Mastercam and without having to "compile" and "link" them. We've providing lots of help files and lots of samples, too.

The downside is that the VBScript interface to Mastercam does not have all of the functionality that the C-Hook API has. The upside is that this functionality can easily be expanded after the release of V9.1, without requiring new .EXEs.

The initial release of our support fof VBScript will include the ability to create and modify points, lines, and arcs, as well as allowing creation of Contour, Drill, and Pocket operations. There's lots of other stuff in there too, like import of other file types (IGES, DWG, etc), access to tool definition, and the ability to read data from a Microsoft Excel file.

When you get V9.1, please take a look at it. It's available in Create/Next/Add-ins (or by invoking the "MCAMVB" C-Hook)

Coming (very) soon to a computer near you...

 

PDG