Code Red > .NET
First VB.NET application......ssssllllloooooowwwwww
Jeff_M:
OK, so I finally had a chance to put my VB.NET purchase to work. A simple little application to gather & count all blocks inserted on all layers and display the results in a Treeview on a form.
After figuring how to fill the nodes of the Treeview, all went rather smoothly. That is, until I ran it. Since I'm still using Acad2002 I have to reference the COM object, and I think this is where the problems start. Anyway, my test drawing consisted of 4 layers with 3 blocks inserted a random number of times on each layer, for a grand total of 14 blocks in the drawing. Then I execute my block-count.exe from Windows Explorer and a snappy 15, or so, seconds later my form is displayed. "Hmmm...", I think to myself, "Pretty darn slow there. I wonder what it will do on a larger drawing?" So I load up a drawing with about 500 block inserts and a ton of layers (the routine searches Modelspace, so the layer count shouldn't matter), fire-up block-count.exe, and about 3 minutes later it displays the result. "AACCKK!!", this is not very good.....
So, is my slowdown caused by the COM object, or the filling of the Treeview, or just my basic lack of understanding how to do things in VB? I have never tried to do any programming outside of Lisp & VBA, so I suspect it's probably all 3......here's the pertinent code if anyone cares to see the crud I can produce:
--- Code: ---
Public Sub New()
MyBase.New()
'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
InitializeComponent()
Dim objAcad As AutoCAD.AcadApplication
Dim ThisDwg As AutoCAD.AcadDocument
Dim oEnt As AutoCAD.AcadEntity
Dim oBlk As AutoCAD.AcadBlockReference
Dim sLayName As String
Dim sBlkName As String
Dim oNodes As TreeNodeCollection
Dim oNodeLay As TreeNode
Dim oNodeBlk As TreeNode
Dim oNodeCnt As TreeNode
objAcad = GetObject(, "autocad.application")
ThisDwg = objAcad.ActiveDocument
oNodes = TreeView1.Nodes
For Each oEnt In ThisDwg.ModelSpace
If TypeOf oEnt Is AutoCAD.AcadBlockReference Then
oblk = oEnt
sBlkName = oblk.Name
sLayName = oblk.Layer
If NodeAvailable(sLayName, oNodes) Then
oNodeLay = New TreeNode(sLayName)
TreeView1.Nodes.Add(oNodeLay)
Else
oNodeLay = AvailableNode(sLayName, oNodes)
End If
If NodeAvailable(sBlkName, oNodeLay.Nodes) Then
oNodeBlk = New TreeNode(sBlkName)
oNodeLay.Nodes.Add(oNodeBlk)
oNodeCnt = New TreeNode("1")
oNodeBlk.Nodes.Add(oNodeCnt)
Else
oNodeBlk = AvailableNode(sBlkName, oNodeLay.Nodes)
oNodeCnt = oNodeBlk.Nodes.Item(0)
oNodeCnt.Text = oNodeCnt.Text + 1
End If
End If
Next
End Sub
'The following 2 functions derived from http://www.dotnetspider.com/technology/kb/Article1271.aspx by Mahesh
Private Function NodeAvailable(ByVal NodeValue As String, _
ByVal ndNodes As TreeNodeCollection) As Boolean
Dim ndNode As TreeNode
For Each ndNode In ndNodes
If ndNode.Text = NodeValue Then
Return False
End If
Next
Return True
End Function
Private Function AvailableNode(ByVal NodeValue As String, _
ByVal ndNodes As TreeNodeCollection) As TreeNode
Dim ndNode As TreeNode
For Each ndNode In ndNodes
If ndNode.Text = NodeValue Then
Return ndNode
End If
Next
Return Nothing
End Function
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Me.Close()
End Sub
Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
If Button2.Text = "Expand &All" Then
TreeView1.ExpandAll()
Button2.Text = "Collapse &All"
Else
TreeView1.CollapseAll()
Button2.Text = "Expand &All"
End If
End Sub
--- End code ---
Jeff_M:
For anyone who gets past that first post, I figured out how to accomplish this in VBA. The trouble is, you aren't supposed to distribute VBA macros with the treeview control in it since VBA doesn't come with it.
And yep, it's a wee bit quicker. The same drawing that took about 3 minutes to do in VB.NET took just about the blink of an eye in VBA......
So how do I let someone else use my routine? "Just Do It"? Find out why the .NET approach is so slow? Give it up because I really don't have a clue?
Anywho, here's the code tha works in VBA. You will need to add the MSTreeview Control 6.0(SP4) to your controls. Create a form with a Treeview and 2 Command buttons. Use the Captions of Button 1 as "Done" and Button2 as "Expand All".
--- Code: ---
Option Explicit
Private Sub Button2_Click()
Dim oNode As Node
If Button2.Caption = "Expand All" Then
For Each oNode In TreeView1.Nodes
oNode.Expanded = True
Next
Button2.Caption = "Collapse All"
Else
For Each oNode In TreeView1.Nodes
oNode.Expanded = False
Next
Button2.Caption = "Expand All"
End If
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click()
Unload Me
End Sub
Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
Dim oEnt As AcadEntity
Dim oBlk As AcadBlockReference
Dim sLayName As String
Dim sBlkName As String
Dim oNodes As Nodes
Dim oNodeLay As Node
Dim oNodeBlk As Node
Dim oNodeCnt As Node
Set oNodes = TreeView1.Nodes
For Each oEnt In ThisDrawing.ModelSpace
If TypeOf oEnt Is AcadBlockReference Then
Set oBlk = oEnt
sBlkName = oBlk.Name
sLayName = oBlk.Layer
On Error Resume Next
Set oNodeLay = TreeView1.Nodes.Item(sLayName)
If Err Then
Err.Clear
Set oNodeLay = TreeView1.Nodes.Add(, , sLayName, sLayName)
End If
Set oNodeBlk = TreeView1.Nodes.Item(sLayName & sBlkName)
If Err Then
Set oNodeBlk = TreeView1.Nodes.Add(sLayName, tvwChild, sLayName & sBlkName, sBlkName)
Set oNodeCnt = TreeView1.Nodes.Add(sLayName & sBlkName, tvwChild, sLayName & sBlkName & "Count", "1")
Err.Clear
Else
Set oNodeCnt = TreeView1.Nodes.Item(sLayName & sBlkName & "Count")
oNodeCnt.Text = oNodeCnt.Text + 1
End If
End If
Next
End Sub
--- End code ---
Keith™:
The answer is called "marshalling" ... anytime you have to access an object across threads or processes (which is what your application is doing with AutoCAD) the process slows down considerably, sometimes to the point of being painfully slow ...
Consider making it an ActiveX dll and load it with something like this in lisp:
--- Code: ---
(setq myproj (vlax-create-object "MyProject.StartupClass"))
--- End code ---
Then when you are done with your project, you can release the project with
--- Code: ---
(vlax-release-object myproj)
--- End code ---
Of course, this will require you add a class to your project and export that class so it is callable and creatable by AutoCAD .. also, your dll will need to be registered on the computer with regsvr32.exe
Not too difficult to do once you understand the basics of it ...
Jeff_M:
Thanks Keith! I thought that the dll might be a solution, but that just brought me back to the clueless part. But now that I know it is the direction to head:
Oh boy, something new to try to learn over the weekend! :)
Kerry:
--- Quote --- ... to learn over the weekend!
--- End quote ---
You young guys with good retention and unimpaired cognition make me envious :D
The general consensus is to save the NET stuff for AC2006+ Jeff.
Keiths comments about marshalling are spot on. Translation across interfaces is a bummer.
That being said, every step IS an advancement. There is tons of sample NET stuff around unrelated to AutoCAD.
I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts on using VB.NET. I'd have thought the differences from VB6 would outweigh any syntax similarities.
I suppose not being a prolific VB'er made the choice of C# more natural for me.
Have fun with it
Regards
Kerry
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