Nabble - 4D Plug-Ins

Re: Unicode/Quartz

2008-10-01T07:14:03Z

Rob,

Thanks I was able to figure it out from:

QuickDraTQuartz2D

Quartz2D_Collection

CGContext

and several internet queries...

The answer to question 1 that I was looking for was this:

PA_PluginProperties props;

PA_GetPluginProperties( params, &props);

CGContextRef windowContext;

CGrafPtr thePort = (CGrafPtr) props.fMacPort;

OSStatus err;

err = QDBeginCGContext(thePort, &windowContext);

CGContextSaveGState(windowContext);

CGContextShowTextAtPoint (windowContext, 5, h-20, data, strlen(data));

CGContextRestoreGState(windowContext);

QDEndCGContext(thePort, &windowContext);

However I still have not found a way to print out PA_Unistring without converting it to a C String, but I will keep looking.

Neil

On Oct 1, 2008, at 7:27 AM, Rob Laveaux wrote:

On 30 sep 2008, at 23:30, Neil Dennis wrote:

1) How can I get a CGContextRef for the plugin area? I remember reading something on it, but can't find it now.

2) How can PA_Unistring be drawn out to the plugin area using quartz methods?

Both answers can be found in the Quartz 2D Programming Guide. Which is part of the XCode documentation.

You can also look here:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/GraphicsImaging/Conceptual/drawingwithquartz2d/dq_context/chapter_3_section_2.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30001066-CH203-CJBDCHAC

HTH,

- Rob Laveaux

--------------------------------------------------------
Pluggers Software
Bleriotlaan 62
2497 BM Den Haag
The Netherlands

Email: rob.laveaux@...
Website: http://www.pluggers.nl

--------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Unicode/Quartz

2008-10-01T04:27:36Z

On 30 sep 2008, at 23:30, Neil Dennis wrote:

> 1) How can I get a CGContextRef for the plugin area? I remember
> reading something on it, but can't find it now.

> 2) How can PA_Unistring be drawn out to the plugin area using quartz
> methods?

Both answers can be found in the Quartz 2D Programming Guide. Which is
part of the XCode documentation.

You can also look here:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/GraphicsImaging/Conceptual/drawingwithquartz2d/dq_context/chapter_3_section_2.html#/
/apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30001066-CH203-CJBDCHAC

HTH,

- Rob Laveaux

--------------------------------------------------------
Pluggers Software
Bleriotlaan 62
2497 BM Den Haag
The Netherlands

Email: rob.laveaux@...
Website: http://www.pluggers.nl

--------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Subclassing a 4D window

2008-09-30T15:48:09Z

On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 1:23 AM, Patrick de Boer
<Patrick.deBoer@...> wrote:
> Hello David,
>
> By "The %xxxx callback" I mean the plugin entry point of the external area, in which you can handle the area events generated by 4D (eAE_InitArea, eAE_Idle, etc).
>
> This entry point is called in the context/thread of 4D, so it's safe to do callbacks there.
>
> I use it to generate an On Outside Call event whenever there's something in the event queue, so the Form Method can pick those events up in 4D.
>

Aha! Thanks.

I'm actually not using an external area at all... :) I just subclass
the window, capture the events I'm interested in, and give the rest to
the original 4D windowproc. But I think I will still have to implement
some sort of message queueing/retrieval. Currently I generate an On
Outside Call event in the subclassed window, but that seems not to
work for all events, so I will try the queue and see what happens.
It's unfortunate that the design of 4D doesn't lend itself to this
kind of thing, but I also acknowledge that the designers probably were
deliberately not allowing for people like me trying to hack the
program.

Thanks again

David
--
David Dancy
Sydney, Australia
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Unicode/Quartz

2008-09-30T14:30:21Z

I'm upgrading a plugin from 4Dv 2004 to 4D v11 and running into a few
obstacles

1) How can I get a CGContextRef for the plugin area? I remember
reading something on it, but can't find it now.
2) How can PA_Unistring be drawn out to the plugin area using quartz
methods?

I have written a PA_UnistringToChar* to Char* function and I can use
the deprecated "DrawText" QuickDraw method, but that totally defeats
the purpose of unicode and quartz in the first place. I would rather
draw it out using "improved" techniques.

Neil
--
Neil Dennis
4D Developer since 1990

GreaText - Designing Software for the Way You Work
25 Holly Lane
Farmington, NH 03835

mailto:ndennis@...
http://www.greatext.com/

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RE: Subclassing a 4D window

2008-09-30T08:23:04Z

Hello David,

By "The %xxxx callback" I mean the plugin entry point of the external area, in which you can handle the area events generated by 4D (eAE_InitArea, eAE_Idle, etc).

This entry point is called in the context/thread of 4D, so it's safe to do callbacks there.

I use it to generate an On Outside Call event whenever there's something in the event queue, so the Form Method can pick those events up in 4D.

Regards,
Patrick.

-----Original Message-----
From: 4D-Plugins@... [mailto:4D-Plugins@...] On Behalf Of David Dancy
Sent: dinsdag 30 september 2008 14:59
To: 4D Plugin Talk
Subject: Re: Subclassing a 4D window

On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 7:30 PM, Patrick de Boer
<Patrick.deBoer@...> wrote:
> Hello David,
>
> You cannot callback into 4D from the WinProc, because it runs in a different thread. You'll need to setup an event queue and poll that queue from 4d-window event loop (The %xxxx callback method).
>
Patrick

Thanks for confirming! I have already begun implementing this approach
by having the plugin's windowproc generate an On Outside Call of the
window it's subclassing. This seems to work for most things (still
figuring out how to get menus working - if you have any
ideas/experience, I'm all ears).

Sorry for being dim, but what do you mean by "the %xxxx callback
method? Do you mean the form method of the window I've subclassed?

Cheers

--
David Dancy
Sydney, Australia
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Re: Subclassing a 4D window

2008-09-30T05:59:18Z

On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 7:30 PM, Patrick de Boer
<Patrick.deBoer@...> wrote:
> Hello David,
>
> You cannot callback into 4D from the WinProc, because it runs in a different thread. You'll need to setup an event queue and poll that queue from 4d-window event loop (The %xxxx callback method).
>
Patrick

Thanks for confirming! I have already begun implementing this approach
by having the plugin's windowproc generate an On Outside Call of the
window it's subclassing. This seems to work for most things (still
figuring out how to get menus working - if you have any
ideas/experience, I'm all ears).

Sorry for being dim, but what do you mean by "the %xxxx callback
method? Do you mean the form method of the window I've subclassed?

Cheers

--
David Dancy
Sydney, Australia
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RE: Subclassing a 4D window

2008-09-30T01:30:45Z

Hello David,

You cannot callback into 4D from the WinProc, because it runs in a different thread. You'll need to setup an event queue and poll that queue from 4d-window event loop (The %xxxx callback method).

Regards,
Patrick de Boer.

-----Original Message-----
From: 4D-Plugins@... [mailto:4D-Plugins@...] On Behalf Of David Dancy
Sent: dinsdag 30 september 2008 06:52
To: 4D Plugin Talk
Subject: Subclassing a 4D window

4D 2004.7r3, Windows Vista/XP:

Has anyone ever successfully subclassed a normal 4D window? I've tried
a few things that looked promising, but ultimately end in unhandled
exceptions.

I've tried the Windows API calls SetWindowLong and SetWindowSubclass,
and they work in that the window calls my method in my plugin as its
controller, but any calls from the my controller method in the plugin
back to 4D via the 4D engine invariably end in a crash.

If you can share how to make a subclassed window generate a callback
into 4D, I would be very grateful.

TIA

--
David Dancy
Sydney, Australia
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Subclassing a 4D window

2008-09-29T21:52:02Z

4D 2004.7r3, Windows Vista/XP:

Has anyone ever successfully subclassed a normal 4D window? I've tried
a few things that looked promising, but ultimately end in unhandled
exceptions.

I've tried the Windows API calls SetWindowLong and SetWindowSubclass,
and they work in that the window calls my method in my plugin as its
controller, but any calls from the my controller method in the plugin
back to 4D via the 4D engine invariably end in a crash.

If you can share how to make a subclassed window generate a callback
into 4D, I would be very grateful.

TIA

--
David Dancy
Sydney, Australia
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Menu bar in 4D window

2008-09-22T17:16:49Z

I'm trying to get a menu bar to appear in a normal 4D window as part
of some UI changes in our application. I realise that 4D is an MDI
application and it's not really the convention to do this, but we'd
like to see if it's possible anyway.

The closest we've come to the functionality we want is a series of 3D
buttons with drop-down menus that are triggered when the user clicks
on them, but this doesn't give the "rollover" effect of a normal menu
bar. We'd like that if we can get it.

I have written a plugin to create a menu bar and put some menus into
it, and this appears to be working, except that when I call "SetMenu"
with a HWND of the current form's window (using PA_GetHWND to convert
the 4D window handle into a Windows one) nothing happens. I can
override the WindowProc for the 4D window and receive all the Windows
API messages that get sent to it with no problems, so in principle I
could also handle all the menu-related actions, if I could just get a
menu bar into the window itself. The sticking point appears to be that
because each 4D window is an MDI Child window, it's not designed to
carry a menu bar and so XP/Vista doesn't allow you to put one in.

Has anyone ever managed to get this working? Or is it just not
technically possible?

I came across the "SetParent" command in the API, which looks like it
would detach a window and re-attach it to e.g. the Desktop. If I do
this, a) will it allow the window to carry a menu bar? b) will it
totally stuff up 4D?

Thanks for tolerating what's probably a silly question!

TIA

--
David Dancy
Sydney, Australia
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[Off] Job Available

2008-09-20T13:47:17Z

I classified this as [Off] since it is not a 4D plugin job... however
I think it is relevant to the list since the plugin coders out there,
like me, are able to do some Mac coding in C++.

I have a client who is looking for a hard core type Mac OS X
programmer that can create a driver of sorts. This application will
run in the background and monitor the a storage devices capacity and
talk to the devices firmware. It will also need to read some of the
device settings and take action based on some rules.

Please contact me off-list if you are interested. Please include a
resume and some references. This sounds like a fun job and I would
love to dive into it myself, but I find myself with plenty of work
right now and am not currently able to take the time for this project.

Neil
--
Neil Dennis
4D Developer since 1990

GreaText - Designing Software for the Way You Work
25 Holly Lane
Farmington, NH 03835

mailto:ndennis@...
http://www.greatext.com/

**********************************************************************
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[ANN] Future of EleGantt plug-in

2008-09-15T13:01:20Z

EleGantt is a 4th Dimension plug-in package designed to help developers add
Gantt charts to 4th Dimension applications. EleGantt provides the tools
needed to add Gantt charts to almost any 4D window. Because EleGantt is a
plug-in, it provides capabilities not available to the developer using
native 4D commands and objects. EleGantt consists of a single 4D plug-in
area to display Gantt charts, and nearly thirty commands to control the look
and behavior of the area.

To see EleGantt in action, please download a demo of JobOrder, our vertical
market application for project management and accounting, from
ftp://ftp.joborder.com/demo/ <ftp://ftp.joborder.com/demo/> . You can also
download the plug-in demo directly from ftp://ftp.joborder.com/elegantt/
<ftp://ftp.joborder.com/elegantt/> .

EleGantt is no longer compatible with the plug-in architecture in 4D v11 SQL
and needs to be replaced or updated. For historical reasons, Management
Software is responsible for the source code, but our skills are in 4D
development, not in plug-in development, so we will need assistance in the
update.

EleGantt has a small, but vocal, user community, mostly 4D programmers who
have embedded EleGantt in mission-critical applications. The current price
of EleGantt is $245 per platform for a hassle-free license.

We can picture several directions for the future of EleGantt.

1. Rewrite EleGantt using modern graphics libraries with 4D v11 SQL
compatible code.

2. Rewrite EleGantt using an existing high-level plug-in, such as
Canvas.

3. Merge the code in EleGantt into an existing 4D plug-in with similar
features. Examples of plug-ins which might be extended to duplicate the
features of EleGantt include SchedulePack or hmCal.

We are also open to hearing alternative suggestions from other EleGantt
users or plug-in developers.

All of these choices will be relatively expensive, considering the
relatively low sales price and low annual sales of EleGantt, and cannot be
justified as a solo expenditure by Management Software.

Our hope is that the other current users of EleGantt would be interested in
supporting the programming of a 4D v11 SQL version of EleGantt.

If you use EleGantt or are interested in using EleGantt, please let us know
if you would contribute a proportionate share to upgrading EleGantt. If, for
example, 15 users are interested and the upgrade costs $15,000, each company
would pay $1,000 for a 4D v11 SQL-compatible EleGantt. If EleGantt were
rewritten as a stand-alone product, each user would receive a copy of the
source and compiled code, along with full rights for future use in any way.
If EleGantt were rewritten by merging into an existing product, each user
would receive a copy of the compiled code, along with hassle-free
distribution rights, but would not have any guaranteed rights to the plug-in
source code or to future distributions by the new EleGantt publisher.

If this subject is relevant to you, please email me or call me directly with
your thoughts and any other ideas for the preservation of EleGantt.

Because I subscribe to the iNUG lists in digest form, please feel free to
also email me directly, in addition to posting your replies on the lists,
for a faster response.

Thank you,

Victor Siegle

------------------------------------------
Victor Siegle
Management Software, Inc.
75 South Main Street
Homer, NY 13077

Victor_Siegle@...

www.JobOrder.com
800.734.9143, x 10 - Toll-free in USA and Canada
607.756.4150, x 10 - Phone outside USA and Canada
866.607.9612 - FAX in USA
--------------------------------------------------------

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Re: MFC DLL Control in a Plugin Area?

2008-09-10T02:32:19Z

Patrick

Thanks for your suggestions - I knew it was going to be tough, but I
was hoping it wouldn't be quite like that...

I have the option of using the same controls, but deployed as an
ActiveX DLL; would that be any easier?

Cheers

David
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RE: PA_IsCompiled

2008-09-10T01:12:13Z

> But there is no way within the API to know which is actually calling the plugin, so I'm not sure how that distinction is useful.

If you need this information, you can call from the plugin PA_ExecuteFunction and compare the results of "Structure file" and "Structure file(*)".

HTH,

- François Marchal, 4D
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RE: MFC DLL Control in a Plugin Area?

2008-09-10T00:44:06Z

Hey David,

As you know, nothing is impossible *cough*, but it won't be very easy either.

The most obvious problems you will run into:

#1 4D does not set the current directory to the plugin folder when it loads your plugin, which means that linking your own or any 3rd party dll to your dll will give problems, you either have to use the 'delay load dll' trick (I think Rob explained this a while ago on this list or you can use 'proxy' plugin, that sets the current directory, then loads your dll/plugin and forwards the one entry point that 4d uses to communicate with your plugin.

#2 You cannot call 4D from any other threads than the one 4D uses to call the plugin/external area, so any messages/information you want to pass back to 4d, you'll have to write your own queue that you then poll from 4D.

#3 When using an plugin/external area, 4d does some trickery on the windows message loop, so you have to do some workarounds to get window resizing and mouse wheel events to works. (and probably some other stuff).

Personally I've not done MFC programming (it was too scary for me hehehe), but these are the problems I know from the top of my head that you'll encounter.

Regards,
Patrick de Boer.

-----Original Message-----
From: 4D-Plugins@... [mailto:4D-Plugins@...] On Behalf Of David Dancy
Sent: woensdag 10 september 2008 08:13
To: 4D Plugin Talk
Subject: MFC DLL Control in a Plugin Area?

MFC gurus:

Is it possible to put a control defined by an MFC DLL into a 4D Plugin
Area, and interact with it? I'm thinking of something like a toolbar
or a menu control. I'm expecting it will either be "impossible" or
"too hard" due to the way 4D works.

But if you've done it already, and you don't mind sharing some general
tips, I'd really appreciate some pointers on how to begin:
* How to include a third-party MFC DLL in a 4D plugin and instantiate
objects from it
* How to get the messages that it receives from the OS (presumably via
4D) and respond to them
* How to send messages back

I think I can manage the Plugin Area bits; but MFC is huge and scary
at the moment.

TIA

--
David Dancy
Sydney, Australia
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MFC DLL Control in a Plugin Area?

2008-09-09T23:12:39Z

MFC gurus:

Is it possible to put a control defined by an MFC DLL into a 4D Plugin
Area, and interact with it? I'm thinking of something like a toolbar
or a menu control. I'm expecting it will either be "impossible" or
"too hard" due to the way 4D works.

But if you've done it already, and you don't mind sharing some general
tips, I'd really appreciate some pointers on how to begin:
* How to include a third-party MFC DLL in a 4D plugin and instantiate
objects from it
* How to get the messages that it receives from the OS (presumably via
4D) and respond to them
* How to send messages back

I think I can manage the Plugin Area bits; but MFC is huge and scary
at the moment.

TIA

--
David Dancy
Sydney, Australia
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how does a plugin get disabled

2008-09-09T18:26:36Z

I have a plugin that worked fine in a structure previously.

In a copy of the structure I removed calls to the plugin, and recompiled.

Then I put the plugin back, and re-established the calls to the plugin functions.

Now 4D gives me a privilege error.

I look in the explorer and see that if I click on the plugin listed, it is disabled, with its path pointing to the windows directory in the bundle, Other plugins only point to the .bundle path.

It is perplexing, so I am hopeful that someone may be able to shed some light on this issue.

--
Jeff Edwards
Goodsoftware Pty Ltd

Re: Why might a plugin not load?

2008-09-09T09:08:27Z

Thanks for both of your responses.

Rob, I have a 4DPluginAPI.def which exports FourDPackex, so I don't think that's it.

Matthias,
My plugin directory has a 4D Plugin.rsr, but this is where I get a little fuzzy on things. The RSR file is something created by the plugin wizard, right? From your post, you make it sound like VC generates it and would need to copy it to the appropriate location. But as I understand it, this isn't the case. So, since I haven't changed the API of the plugin since it was last built (and working), I should be able to use the same RSR file, right? That's what I'm doing--I have copied the previously existing RSR file to the plugin directory by hand.

Are you suggesting creating a new plugin from scratch, configuring all the functions/parameters, and then copying all the code from the old plugin? This will be pretty time-consuming, so I want to be sure that's what you're suggesting.

Thanks again,
Robbie

Matthias Schmidt-6 wrote:

Am/On Thu, 4 Sep 2008 09:32:06 -0700 schrieb/wrote RobbieG:
> does your
> 4D Plugin.bundle/Contents/Windows/
> contain a 4D Plugin.rsr file?
>
> Under Windows I had a problem, that VS7 wouldn't copy the ressource file
> to the correct location.
> If you create a new project with the plugin wizzard on windows it
> usually works
>
> cheers,
>
> Matthias
>

PA_Picture in v11

2008-09-08T09:37:56Z

Hello,

In the native v11 API, PA_Picture is void*. For ObjectTools I need to
know the size and have access to the picture data so it can be
serialized/deserialized. How will I do this?

Regards,

Aparajita
www.aparajitaworld.com

"If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed."
- Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

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Re: PA_IsCompiled

2008-09-08T09:06:08Z

> If a 4D component calls a plugin, you can ask either the component
> or the host database if it runs compiled or not.

But there is no way within the API to know which is actually calling
the plugin, so I'm not sure how that distinction is useful.

Regards,

Aparajita
www.aparajitaworld.com

"If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed."
- Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

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RE: PA_IsCompiled

2008-09-08T09:00:32Z

> What exactly is the meaning of that flag?

Hello Aparajita,

If a 4D component calls a plugin, you can ask either the component or the host database if it runs compiled or not.

HTH,

- François Marchal, 4D
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Re: Why might a plugin not load?

2008-09-06T01:45:36Z

On 4 sep 2008, at 18:32, RobbieG wrote:

> Can anyone out there advise me as to how to figure out where the
> point of
> failure is? I'd really appreciate the help.

Have you checked if the FourDPackex() gets exported?

If I remember correctly, all you have to do is include the
"4DPluginAPI.def" in your project file.

HTH,

- Rob Laveaux

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Bleriotlaan 62
2497 BM Den Haag
The Netherlands

Email: rob.laveaux@...
Website: http://www.pluggers.nl

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PA_IsCompiled

2008-09-05T08:24:38Z

Hello,

PA_IsCompiled was changed in v11.2 to add hostDatabase parameter:

char PA_IsCompiled( char hostDatabase)
{
long flag = hostDatabase ? 0x00800000 : 0x08000000;

What exactly is the meaning of that flag?

Regards,

Aparajita
www.aparajitaworld.com

"If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed."
- Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

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Re: Why might a plugin not load?

2008-09-04T19:14:28Z

Am/On Thu, 4 Sep 2008 09:32:06 -0700 schrieb/wrote RobbieG:

>
>I have a plugin that was originally developed with the 2004 Plugin API and
>Plugin Wizard (by someone else, so I'm not sure the entire history). It was
>built with Visual Studio 7 (I'm on Windows, obviously). I am rev'ing it to
>the new v11 Plugin API. I have it building and, other than a few
>unicode-related changes, I didn't change anything about it to get it
>building.
>
>However, when I try to create a new database to test it, the plugin doesn't
>load, and I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong. Although this was on a
>Mac, I've seen before where a plugin gets "discovered" by 4D, but you get an
>error message within 4D saying "The Plugin could not be loaded". In this
>case, 4D gives no evidence that it has even tried to load it. In fact, if I
>put a breakpoint in my plugin code in FourDPackex(), it never gets called,
>so 4D for some reason doesn't get that far with it, but I have no
>reason/information as to why.
>
>I've tried building with the old code base, compiled with the 2004 API,
>making no changes (as far as I know) from the previously working plugin, and
>I get the exact same behavior. However, if I try using the previously
>working plugin, it works. So, perhaps I have something wrong with me build
>settings?
>
>Can anyone out there advise me as to how to figure out where the point of
>failure is? I'd really appreciate the help.

does your
4D Plugin.bundle/Contents/Windows/
contain a 4D Plugin.rsr file?

Under Windows I had a problem, that VS7 wouldn't copy the ressource file
to the correct location.
If you create a new project with the plugin wizzard on windows it
usually works

cheers,

Matthias

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Why might a plugin not load?

2008-09-04T09:32:05Z

I have a plugin that was originally developed with the 2004 Plugin API and Plugin Wizard (by someone else, so I'm not sure the entire history). It was built with Visual Studio 7 (I'm on Windows, obviously). I am rev'ing it to the new v11 Plugin API. I have it building and, other than a few unicode-related changes, I didn't change anything about it to get it building.

However, when I try to create a new database to test it, the plugin doesn't load, and I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong. Although this was on a Mac, I've seen before where a plugin gets "discovered" by 4D, but you get an error message within 4D saying "The Plugin could not be loaded". In this case, 4D gives no evidence that it has even tried to load it. In fact, if I put a breakpoint in my plugin code in FourDPackex(), it never gets called, so 4D for some reason doesn't get that far with it, but I have no reason/information as to why.

I've tried building with the old code base, compiled with the 2004 API, making no changes (as far as I know) from the previously working plugin, and I get the exact same behavior. However, if I try using the previously working plugin, it works. So, perhaps I have something wrong with me build settings?

Can anyone out there advise me as to how to figure out where the point of failure is? I'd really appreciate the help.

Thanks,
Robbie

PA_SetPackedRecord

2008-08-27T05:16:13Z

Hi All,

Does anyone use PA_GetPackedRecord(..), PA_SetPackedRecord(..) ?

I've noticed in 4D v11.2 that PA_SetPackedRecord(..)creates a new record instead of overwriting the current record. Overwriting the current record is the behavior you would expect according to the documentation.

Regards,
Patrick de Boer.

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Re: Printing of the plugin area

2008-08-27T02:21:11Z

On 27 aug 2008, at 09:28, Christian Sakowski wrote:

> Yes, i set the height of the area in eAE_GetPrintSize.
>
> But this is not required, because on mac it works. It's the same demo
> database - on mac it works; on windows not.

I don't know whether it is required. What I do know is that I set it
and I don't have any printing problems.

> But why i have to tell the size to 4D? 4D knows the size, where the
> area is
> on the form!?

Because 4D allows the plugin area to print with variable height.
Similar to the way text fields can have a variable print height.

- Rob Laveaux

--------------------------------------------------------
Pluggers Software
Bleriotlaan 62
2497 BM Den Haag
The Netherlands

Email: rob.laveaux@...
Website: http://www.pluggers.nl

--------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Printing of the plugin area

2008-08-27T00:28:40Z

Yes, i set the height of the area in eAE_GetPrintSize.

But this is not required, because on mac it works. It's the same demo
database - on mac it works; on windows not.

But why i have to tell the size to 4D? 4D knows the size, where the area is
on the form!?
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> Von: Rob Laveaux <rob.laveaux@...>
> Antworten an: 4D Plugin Talk <4D-Plugins@...>
> Datum: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:52:38 +0200
> An: 4D Plugin Talk <4D-Plugins@...>
> Betreff: Re: Printing of the plugin area
>
>
> On 25 aug 2008, at 12:50, Christian Sakowski wrote:
>
>> Windows i have a problem with the event
>>
>> eAE_PrintBand
>>
>> On this event i call PA_GetUpdateHDC (the value returned is NOT
>> null). I
>> print the area with "print form". The problem is: The print preview
>> shows
>> nothing and if i print the page on a printer, the area is maybe
>> 50x50 pixel
>> :-(
>>
>> The 4D Plugin API is very poor. There are no descriptions of the
>> events. Any
>> advices?
>
> Are you using the eAE_GetPrintSize event? You need this to report to
> 4D the required height to print.
>
> For example:
>
> case eAE_GetPrintSize :
> area = (CPDFViewer*) PA_GetAreaReference( params );
> event->fMessage = area->getPrintSize(); // Return the height of the
> plugin area
> break;
>
> Also make sure the section markers on your 4D form are set correctly.
>
> HTH,
>
> - Rob Laveaux
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Pluggers Software
> Bleriotlaan 62
> 2497 BM Den Haag
> The Netherlands
>
> Email: rob.laveaux@...
> Website: http://www.pluggers.nl
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> **********************************************************************
> 4D Plugins hosted by 4D, Inc. http://www.4D.com/
>
>
> Did you know? The 4D Partner Program now gives you
> access to Hotfix releases as soon as they are available!
> To learn more, go to http://www.4D.com/support/partner.html
>
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>
>

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Re: Reading the STR# resource of a plugin.RSR file?

2008-08-26T04:41:45Z

> Or you can use the built-in 4D command in combination with
> PA_ExecuteFunction().

If you are using v11, PA_ExecuteFunction is old school. Use
PA_ExecuteCommandByID instead.

Regards,

Aparajita
www.aparajitaworld.com

"If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed."
- Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

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Re: Reading the STR# resource of a plugin.RSR file?

2008-08-26T04:37:58Z

>> Any reason why it doesn't work in 4d with 'Get indexed string' ?
>> I thought all the resource files are linked ?
>
> I don't know. Maybe because at the application level the plugin's
> resource file is not in the resource chain?

The plugin is only inserted in the chain when it is called by 4D.

Regards,

Aparajita
www.aparajitaworld.com

"If you dare to fail, you are bound to succeed."
- Sri Chinmoy | www.srichinmoy.org

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RE: Reading the STR# resource of a plugin.RSR file?

2008-08-26T03:31:14Z

Mmm, I'm guessing the plugin resource is not in the chain then, because I just tested it in 4D with 'get indexed string', not even by calling it with PA_ExecuteFunction.

I've also noticed that PA_ExecuteFunction behaves slightly differently from the 2004 version, in 2004 it always returned real's and now it returns integers/longints correctly (e.g. where you would expect an integer as result value).

-----Original Message-----
From: 4D-Plugins@... [mailto:4D-Plugins@...] On Behalf Of Rob Laveaux
Sent: dinsdag 26 augustus 2008 11:48
To: 4D Plugin Talk
Subject: Re: Reading the STR# resource of a plugin.RSR file?

On 26 aug 2008, at 11:01, Patrick de Boer wrote:

> Thanks, that's what I had initially, but I was trying to move away
> from Altura :)

Of course you can reduce its usage as much as possible.
But in my opinion you can't remove it completely if you want to get
things done.

Hopefully in a future version all these things will be stored in XML
files or something like that.

> Any reason why it doesn't work in 4d with 'Get indexed string' ?
> I thought all the resource files are linked ?

I don't know. Maybe because at the application level the plugin's
resource file is not in the resource chain?
Or if you're testing with 4D v11, you should be aware that
PA_ExecuteFunction returns a Unicode string. This is a bug that I
reported recently.

HTH,

- Rob Laveaux

--------------------------------------------------------
Pluggers Software
Bleriotlaan 62
2497 BM Den Haag
The Netherlands

Email: rob.laveaux@...
Website: http://www.pluggers.nl

--------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Reading the STR# resource of a plugin.RSR file?

2008-08-26T02:47:52Z

On 26 aug 2008, at 11:01, Patrick de Boer wrote:

> Thanks, that's what I had initially, but I was trying to move away
> from Altura :)

Of course you can reduce its usage as much as possible.
But in my opinion you can't remove it completely if you want to get
things done.

Hopefully in a future version all these things will be stored in XML
files or something like that.

> Any reason why it doesn't work in 4d with 'Get indexed string' ?
> I thought all the resource files are linked ?

I don't know. Maybe because at the application level the plugin's
resource file is not in the resource chain?
Or if you're testing with 4D v11, you should be aware that
PA_ExecuteFunction returns a Unicode string. This is a bug that I
reported recently.

HTH,

- Rob Laveaux

--------------------------------------------------------
Pluggers Software
Bleriotlaan 62
2497 BM Den Haag
The Netherlands

Email: rob.laveaux@...
Website: http://www.pluggers.nl

--------------------------------------------------------

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RE: Reading the STR# resource of a plugin.RSR file?

2008-08-26T02:01:46Z

Hey Rob,

Thanks, that's what I had initially, but I was trying to move away from Altura :)

Any reason why it doesn't work in 4d with 'Get indexed string' ?
I thought all the resource files are linked ?

Regards,
Patrick.

-----Original Message-----
From: 4D-Plugins@... [mailto:4D-Plugins@...] On Behalf Of Rob Laveaux
Sent: maandag 25 augustus 2008 19:55
To: 4D Plugin Talk
Subject: Re: Reading the STR# resource of a plugin.RSR file?

On 25 aug 2008, at 14:26, Patrick de Boer wrote:

> Does anyone have a piece of example code on how to read the STR#
> resource of my plugin's '.RSR' file? I need to access the plugin's
> API.

You have to use GetIndString() in Altura:

Str255 pString;
GetIndString( pString, resID, index );

Or you can use the built-in 4D command in combination with
PA_ExecuteFunction().

HTH,

- Rob Laveaux

--------------------------------------------------------
Pluggers Software
Bleriotlaan 62
2497 BM Den Haag
The Netherlands

Email: rob.laveaux@...
Website: http://www.pluggers.nl

--------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Crashing bug in plugin

2008-08-25T16:00:44Z

Update: I think I found the problem. Now I know I have to run the
plugin _outside_ Visual Studio's debug harness in order to _really_
debug it.

Cheers

David
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