Add layer description

DonatasAzaravičius

Hi,
I have wrote a function to create new layer. It create layer with name, color and off status set. But fail to add description to new layer.

bool newLayer( const ACHAR * name, const ACHAR * description, Adesk::UInt32 color, bool isOff )
{
    Acad::ErrorStatus es = Acad::eOk;
    AcDbLayerTableRecord * pLayerTableRecord = new AcDbLayerTableRecord;
    es = pLayerTableRecord->setName( name );
    if ( es != Acad::eOk )
    {
        acutPrintf( _T( "\nERROR: Could not add layer name! Error code: %s" ), acadErrorStatusText( es ) );
        delete pLayerTableRecord;
        return false;
    }

    if ( description != nullptr )
    {
        es = pLayerTableRecord->setDescription( description );
        if ( es != Acad::eOk )
        {
            acutPrintf( _T( "\nERROR: Could not add layer description! Error code: %s" ), acadErrorStatusText( es ) );
            acutPrintf( _T( "\nLayer description: %s" ), description );
        }
    }

    AcCmColor colorObject;
    if ( colorObject.setColorIndex( color ) == Acad::eOk )
        pLayerTableRecord->setColor( colorObject );

    pLayerTableRecord->setIsOff( isOff );

    AcDbLayerTable * pLayerTable = nullptr;
    es = acdbHostApplicationServices( )->workingDatabase( )->getSymbolTable( pLayerTable, AcDb::kForWrite );
    if ( es != Acad::eOk )
    {
        acutPrintf( _T( "\nERROR: Could not open SymbolTable! Error code: %s" ), acadErrorStatusText( es ) );
        delete pLayerTableRecord;
        return false;
    }

    es = pLayerTable->add( pLayerTableRecord );
    pLayerTable->close( );
    if ( es != Acad::eOk )
    {
        acutPrintf( _T( "\nERROR: Could not add new layer to SymbolTable! Error code: %s" ), acadErrorStatusText( es ) );
        delete pLayerTableRecord;
        return false;
    }

    pLayerTableRecord->close( );

    acutPrintf( _T( "\nLayer %s %s" ), name, _T( " have been created." ) );

    return true;
}

After running this code in BricsCAD I get this output:

ERROR: Could not add layer description! Error code: eNullObjectPointer
Layer description: Place holder description.
Layer MyLayerName  have been created.

Why pLayerTableRecord->setDescription( description ); returns eNullObjectPointer? As second line in output shows variable description is set to Place holder description.

Torsten Moses

Hi Donatas,
interestingly, the behaviour is the same in AutoCAD/ARX ...
reason is, that the "layer description" property is stored as XData, and XData on a database object require that the object is database-resident.

> Layer description: Place holder description.
which version of BricsCAD do you use ? In my testing on V22, the (input) string is not changed at all.

So easiest solution :
first add the new layer to the LayerTable, then assign all the properties

bool newLayer(const ACHAR* name, const ACHAR* description, Adesk::UInt16 color, bool isOff)
{
    AcDbLayerTable* pLayerTable = nullptr;
    Acad::ErrorStatus es = acdbCurDwg()->getSymbolTable(pLayerTable, AcDb::kForWrite);
    if (es != Acad::eOk)
    {
        acutPrintf(_T("\nERROR: Could not open SymbolTable! Error code: %ls"), acadErrorStatusText(es));
        return false;
    }

    AcDbLayerTableRecord* pLayerTableRecord = new AcDbLayerTableRecord();

    es = pLayerTable->add(pLayerTableRecord);
    pLayerTable->close();
    if (es != Acad::eOk)
    {
        acutPrintf(_T("\nERROR: Could not add new layer to SymbolTable! Error code: %ls" ), acadErrorStatusText(es));
        delete pLayerTableRecord;
        return false;
    }

    es = pLayerTableRecord->setName(name);
    if (es != Acad::eOk)
    {
        acutPrintf(_T("\nERROR: Could not add layer name! Error code: %ls"), acadErrorStatusText(es));
    }

    if (description != nullptr)
    {
        es = pLayerTableRecord->setDescription(description);
        if (es != Acad::eOk)
        {
            acutPrintf(_T("\nERROR: Could not add layer description! Error code: %ls"), acadErrorStatusText(es));
            acutPrintf(_T("\nLayer description: %ls"), description);
        }
    }

    AcCmColor colorObject;
    if (colorObject.setColorIndex(color) == Acad::eOk)
        pLayerTableRecord->setColor(colorObject);

    pLayerTableRecord->setIsOff(isOff);
    pLayerTableRecord->close();

    acutPrintf(_T("\nLayer %ls %ls"), name, _T(" have been created."));
    return true;
}

many greetings !

DonatasAzaravičius

😳
Thanks. This is new for me. So, I need to first add it to database.
I use BricsCAD Platinum 20.
I had BricsCAD 20, upgraded it to Platinum and after 1-2 months found out Bricsys merged Platinum into BricsCAD. It would been better if I extended my license