Hi Len,

Re:
> Can I use moi://appdata/ or %appdata% as part of the path to AdditionalCommandsDirs?

Have you looked at the example function called instantScript() in the API? I'm wondering if maybe running your code as a script rather than a command might give you more flexibility. Another thing to look at is shellExecute in the Filesystem section.

- Peer

I'll look into instantScript() closer. I have already tested shellExecute and may use that for some python or database connectivity. But it still doesn't solve the ease of installation issue.

Its easier to tell someone to put this exactly in your ini file:

"moi://appdata/ArcCam"

Than to tell them:

"C:\users\YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME HERE\AppData\Roaming\Moi"

A lot of them wouldn't even know what their Windows username is. Windows is frustrating compared to how easy I can do this stuff in Linux.

>Len

Hi Len,

For seamless installation I guess you'd need a standalone installer script that asks MoI for the location of the appData directory, copies your files there, and maybe writes the path to moi.ini if the files are put in their own folder. I can't think of a way to add a command just by typing something in moi.ini

The closest thing I've done is a startup script that replaces a native file with my own by copying my html file from the startup scripts folder. That still requires manually navigating to the startup scripts folder to put the script and html there though.

doReplacePromptSaveChanges();

function doReplacePromptSaveChanges() {

    var existingName = moi.filesystem.getUiDir() + 'PromptSaveChanges.htm';
    var backupName = existingName + '.bak';
    var backupExists = moi.filesystem.fileExists( backupName );

    if (backupExists === false) {

        // backup PromptSaveChanges.htm
        moi.filesystem.copyFile(existingName, backupName );

        // overwrite PromptSaveChanges.htm
        var replacerName = moi.filesystem.getAppDataDir() + 'startup/' + 'PromptSaveChanges.htm';
        moi.filesystem.copyFile(replacerName, existingName );
    }
}

- Peer

Hi Len,

re:
> Can I use moi://appdata/ or %appdata% as part of the path to AdditionalCommandsDirs?

Unfortunately no, it can only take a regular file system path there, not a moi:// URL or environment variable.

How about a new mechanism that would scan through any folders under say appdata/plugins and look for a commands folder inside of there.

So then the install would be to put your stuff inside appdata/plugins/ArcCAM and your commands would be under appdata/plugins/ArcCAM/commands and I could also look for startup scripts inside appdata/plugins/ArcCAM/startup ?

And you could put images inside appdata/plugins/ArcCAM/icons and those would work already using moi://appdata/plugins/ArcCAM/icons/file.png .

- Michael

Michael,

I like it!

I've been messing around with NSIS today, and it is able to fiddle with moi.ini, but I don't feel comfortable with that. Having a plug-in container seems much safer.

>Len

Hi Len, ok I will set this up for the next v5 beta. So it will look for commands in directories inside appdata/plugins/<PluginName>/commands and will also look for startup scripts (scripts to run when MOI is launched) under appdata/plugins/<PluginName>/startup.

So you won't have to modify moi.ini for that and to install you can have it in a .zip and unzip it under appdata/plugins.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

Will it also look for appdata/plugins/<PluginName>/scripts ?

- Peer

Hi Peer,

re:
> Will it also look for appdata/plugins/<PluginName>/scripts ?

I should be able to make that work too.

- Michael

Thanks Michael. I like this new plugin folder idea of yours.

- Peer

Michael,

I have added a plasma table module to ArcCAM. Any idea when you're gonna release the next beta?

>Len

Hi Len,

re:
> Any idea when you're gonna release the next beta?

Probably within the next couple of weeks.

- Michael

For my plasma script, I want to be able to set the cplane to a surface and translate curve coordinates to x,y values relative to the cplane. Before I write a function that takes the vectors from moi.view.getCPlane() and translates x,y,z values to values relative to the cplane origin, is there a better way to do what I am wanting?

[object MoiCoordinateFrame]
origin=0.9706,2.7112,2.7112
xaxis=1,0,0
yaxis=0,0.7071,0.7071
zaxis=0,-0.7071,0.7071

Also, is there an easy way to select the curve that makes up the surface?

>Len

Hi Len,

If you have a coordinate frame and you want to translate a point from world coordinates into that local frame's coordinates you can do this:

var local_x = frame.distancex( global_pt );
var local_y = frame.distancey( global_pt );
var local_z = frame.distancez( global_pt );


> Also, is there an easy way to select the curve that makes up the surface?

I'm sorry I'm not understanding this part. What is the curve that makes up the surface? A curve used to generate the surface with a particular command? The edges of the surface?

- Michael

Yes, the edges of the surface?

Lets just say a cube to keep it simple. Select a face, and then have the script return the curve object which is a square made up of four line segments.

>Len

Hi Len, on a cube there would be 12 individual line curves. There isn't any curve object that would have 4 line segments in it but you can get a list of the 4 lines for a face by face.getLoops();

face.getLoops() returns a list of trimming boundaries. The first loop is the outer boundary of the face. The 2nd and further loops are holes.

Each loop is an object list of edges.

So for the face of a cube when you call face.getLoops() there will be one loop, and that loop will be an object list with 4 edge curves in it.

- Michael

Awesome, thats exactly what I need! Also, having a list of the holes will simplify a ton.

>Len

As someone who mainly models in MoI, for CNC machining (and 3D printing) and has to export/import into Fusion360 (my god do I hate modelling in Fusion...) to use its CAM; this is a very interesting topic for me. Good luck with it. I'll be following along