Text Tag in VB

Is it possible to perform the "Text Tag" component funtion in VB?

Here is what I am trying to do. I have a list of lines with varying lengths in a VB component. I would like to display the lengths of each line in the rhino canvas. The obstacle is this...it is my intention to avoid the use of the GH components as much as possible, as others that will be using the GH script are not as familiar with the interface.

Ultimately, I will create a component that requires only the input/setting of a single point, and all of the geometry is created and controlled by sliders(integers and doubles).

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on October 1, 2012 at 1:59pm

Hi Pierre,

you want to draw 3D text in the Rhino viewports from inside a custom component? I assume it's a GHA project written in VB.NET?

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Pierre Roberson on October 1, 2012 at 2:06pm

Yes, this is correct. At the moment, I have written much of the code that creates the geometry in the grasshopper VB component as a test, just to verify that what I am trying to do can be coded in VB.
Ultimately, I will transfer this info into visual studio and create GHA project. I have already gone over the insructions and general process in the grasshopper SDK.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on October 2, 2012 at 3:20am

In case you cannot open the attached gh file, I also posted the VB code.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Attachments:

DrawCustom3dText.gh, 2 KB
CustomText.vb, 1 KB

Permalink Reply by Pierre Roberson on October 2, 2012 at 6:29am

Thanks,

I got text to appear within a circle, I also added a new plane to the String.format plane argument.

I am still fairly new to VB scripting, so I do have some questions about the structure of the script. I noticed that you create two override methods. I don't see where you call the methods. Why is it that these methods do not need to be called? Also, there is no output (i.e. A=tags). I'm just curious as to how this code works.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on October 2, 2012 at 7:31am

I wasn't using A, I probably should have removed the output altogether.

I'm not calling the overrides, just as the script itself doesn't call RunScript. The script component calls both the RunScript and preview methods. You can add skeleton preview methods using the button in the top-right corner of the script editor window.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Pierre Roberson on October 2, 2012 at 6:37am

Also, what is runCount? I can find it in the Grasshopper SDK or RhinoCommon SDK.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on October 2, 2012 at 7:34am

runCount enumerates the iteration of the RunScript (i.e. how often it has been called) within this solution. It therefore provides an easy way to do something once -and only once- within a single solution. In the Grasshopper SDK this information is provided by IGH_DataAccess.Iteration

The first time the RunScript method is called the runCount equals zero. Then it is incremented every time. There's no way of knowing what the last call to RunScript is going to be.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Pierre Roberson on October 2, 2012 at 8:22am

Thanks,
One last thing. How do I change the precision of the text output value? As of now, if I have a line that measures as 8.25 this script outputs the integer value of 8. I would like to output a floating decimal to 1/100th (i.e. 1.00)

Permalink Reply by Pierre Roberson on October 2, 2012 at 8:52am

Figured it out, thanks for all of the help! Works great

Dim radius As Double = c.Radius
Dim radString As String
radString = Format(radius, "f")

Dim tag As New Rhino.Display.Text3d(radString, y, C.Radius * .25)
tags.Add(tag)
box.Union(tag.BoundingBox)

Permalink Reply by Pierre Roberson on October 3, 2012 at 1:17pm

Ok, I am still working on this one.

The text text tag works fine if I add this into the vb component. When I add this into Visual Studio to create a component, it doesn't work. Not only that, but it causes the rest of my geometry to dissappear. Any suggestions?

If I take the code for the text tag out of the VB project, everything else works perfectly.

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