Creating Menu Commands (VB.NET)

This topic shows how to create a VB.NET add-in in Microsoft Visual Studio that adds menu commands to the context-sensitive and Tools menus of vaults in File Explorer.

NOTE: Because SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional cannot force a reload of add-ins if they are written in .NET, all client machines must be restarted to ensure that the latest version of the add-in is used.

1. Start Microsoft Visual Studio.
    

2. Click File > New > Project.
    

3. Select Visual Basic in Installed and select Windows Desktop > Class Library (.NET Framework) as the template.
    

4. Type a name for the project in Name and click OK.
    

5. Click Project > Add Reference > Browse, click EPDM.Interop.epdm.dll, and click OK.
   

6. Right-click Epdm.Interop.epdm in the Solution Explorer, select Properties, and set Embed Interop Types to False to handle methods that pass arrays of structures.
    

7. Click Project > Add Reference > Assembly > Framework, click System.Drawing, and click OK.
    

8. Click Close.
    

9. Right-click the name of the project in the Solution Explorer and select Properties.
    

   1. On the Application tab, click Assembly Information.
       

   2. De-select Make assembly COM-Visible.
       

   3. On the Compile tab, select AnyCPU for the Target CPU, de-select Prefer 32-bit, and select Register for COM interop.
       

10. Save the project.

11. Double-click Class1.vb in the Solution Explorer to open the code window.
     

    1. Before Public Class Class1 type:
       
       Imports EPDM.Interop.epdm
       Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
       <Guid("")> _
       <ComVisible(True)> _
        

    2. To populate the GUID attribute above, click Tools > Create GUID in the IDE, select GUID Format 6, click Copy, and click Exit. Replace <Guid("")> with the copied string.
        

    3. Type Implements IEdmAddIn5 after Public Class Class1 and make sure that the GetAddInInfo and OnCmd methods are generated after you press Enter.
        

    4. Replace your add-in's implementation of the IEdmAddIn5::GetAddInInfo method with the following code:

    Public Sub GetAddInInfo(ByRef poInfo As EdmAddInInfo, ByVal poVault As EIEdmVault5, ByVal poCmdMgr As IEdmCmdMgr5) Implements IEdmAddIn5.GetAddInInfo
    
      'Specify the add-in information 
      poInfo.mbsAddInName = "Menu command sample"
      poInfo.mbsCompany = "SOLIDWORKS Corporation"
      poInfo.mbsDescription = "Adds menu command items"
      poInfo.mlAddInVersion = 1
      poInfo.mlRequiredVersionMajor = 5
      poInfo.mlRequiredVersionMinor = 2
    
      'Add menu command items (the command-ID numbers 1000 and 1001 are
      'arbitrary; PDM does not use them; instead, PDM only passes them to the
      'implementation of OnCmd to know which command was selected)
      poCmdMgr.AddCmd(1000, "First command", EdmMenuFlags.EdmMenu_Nothing, "This is the first command", "First command", 0, 99)
      poCmdMgr.AddCmd(1001, "Second command", EdmMenuFlags.EdmMenu_MustHaveSelection, "This is the second command", "Second command", 1, 99)
    
    End Sub
    
    The flag EdmMenuFlags.EdmMenu_MustHaveSelection means that the second command is only available if the user has selected one or more files or folders.

    5. Replace your add-in's implementation of the IEdmAddIn5::OnCmd method with the following code (IEdmAddIn5::OnCmd is called when a menu command is selected by the user):

    Public Sub OnCmd(ByRef poCmd As EdmCmd, ByRef ppoData As EdmCmdData[]) Implements IEdmAddIn5.OnCmd

      'Check the command ID to see which command was selected
      '(This only affects the caption of the message box below)
      Dim CommandName As String

      If poCmd.mlCmdID = 1000 Then
        CommandName = "The first command."

      Else
        CommandName = "The second command."

      End If

      'Retrieve the bounds of the array containing the selected files and folders
      Dim index As Long

      Dim last As Long

      index = LBound(ppoData)

      last = UBound(ppoData)

      Dim StrID As String

     
      'Create a message showing the names and IDs of all selected files and folders
      Dim message As String

      message = "You have selected the following files and folders: " + vbLf

      While index <= last
        If ppoData(index).mlObjectID1 = 0 Then
          message = message + "Folder: (ID="

          StrID = ppoData(index).mlObjectID2

          message = message + StrID + ") "
        Else
            message = message + "File: (ID="

            StrID = ppoData(index).mlObjectID1

            message = message + StrID + ") "
        End If
    
        message = message + ppoData(index).mbsStrData1 + vbLf
        index = index + 1
      End While
    
      'Display the message
      Dim v As EdmVault5
      v = poCmd.mpoVault
      v.MsgBox(poCmd.mlParentWnd, message, EdmMBoxType.EdmMbt_OKOnly, CommandName)
    
    End Sub

12. Click Build > Build Solution to build the add-in.

13. Install the add-in through the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Administration tool:
     
    1. Open the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Administration tool.
        
    2. Expand the vault where you want to install this add-in and log in as Admin.
        
    3. Right-click Add-ins and click New Add-in.
        
    4. Browse to project_path\project_name\project_name\bin\Debug, click project_name.dll and EPDM.Interop.epdm.dll.
        
    5. Click Open.
        
    6. Click OK.
        
    7. Click OK.

    
     

14. The first menu command appears in the context-sensitive and Tools menus of vault files in File Explorer. The second menu command appears in the context-sensitive menus only when one or more files or folders are selected. Right-click a file in the vault and select Second command. A dialog similar to the following is displayed: