All right, fair enough. That was actually surprisingly easy to figure out--thanks for the suggestion. --M.

#1 from my last post was a bit ambiguous, so I'll clarify: I've been asked to investigate what it would take to write a CHook that can be used to replace the Misc. Values. (1) Is it possible to store external information--e.g. the path to an external file, like a PDF--in the Mastercam file? (2) If so, how is this done?

Sorry about the delay in responding; I got caught up in some other things I've been working on. Anyway, two things, primarily: My supervisor is working on a post processor... and has unfortunately run out of Misc. Ints. Since it appears the Misc. Values are implemented as a pair of static arrays in X4, it's not possible to easily add more. However, because the Misc. Values can be replaced by a C-Hook (according to the Mastercam documentation), I've been asked to investigate what it would take to do this. We sometimes get PDFs with part information from our customers. I've been asked to come up with a C-Hook to automatically call up the file. Writing the code to call up the file is easy. What's been stopping me on this persisting the filename. I'd prefer to persist it in the part's .mcx file, but my attempts have all failed miserably. I'm also trying generally to figure out how to do nontrivial things with C-Hooks, but there simply aren't all that many examples out there, and the C-Hook API documentation, while useful and necessary in its own way, isn't useful for that.

After spending several days trying to work some things out, I've concluded that I'm probably doing something wrong (Mastercam crashing on shutdown was a BIIIG clue) and it might be a good idea to ask for help. To that end... are there any C-Hook tutorials or sample code available anywhere? I'm working in X4, and the SDK for X4 only appears to have interface documentation--and while that's both necessary and useful, it's unfortunately not enough.

Will do, and thanks. (Note that it'll be coming from my private email address--I really need to get on the boss about getting a work email address set up...) As for what the CHook will do, we'd like a custom setup sheet with information on it that--so I'm given to understand--isn't available using X+. And there's other CHooks the boss'd like me to work on, too.

Can anyone tell me how to get a copy of the C-Hook Developer's Guide? I'm currently working on a couple of C-Hooks, and while I've been able to figure out some things on my own, I'm beginning to think that I'll either need a copy of that dev guide, or things are going to be really painful while I try to figure more advanced things out. I don't even really care if it's a dated version, I just need something. I do have the SDK, but all that's got is the interface documentation and the "what's new" document. Oh, and if it makes a difference I'm currently working with X4.