Is it possible to create and use MetaData (with IIMetaDataManager and IParamDescriptor) in Max.NET? Also, what is the Max.NET equivalent of doing say IMetaDataManager::GetInstance() to obtain the manager singleton? I've tried global.GetCOREInterface(global.Interface_ID.Create(0xdcdd1738, 0x15ee4791)) but it won't let me cast the result to IIMetaDataManager. Do you need to create the ID from the raw hex like that or is it predefined somewhere? |
| You should be able to do Global.IMetaDataManager.Instance but it seems that wasn't exported for some reason. Also, as you mentioned it is not being upcast when creating through CreateInstance. I will look at this further. How urgent is this for you? In max.net, all global static methods are under IGlobal interface, and all static methods belonging to a class are under IGlobal.ClassName property. So, in case of meta data, it should've been under Global.IMetaDataManager. Marsel Marsel Khadiyev (Software Developer, EPHERE Inc.) |
| I need to prototype an export plugin with meta-data ASAP. Any delays and I'll have to bite the bullet and write our plugins in C++ instead. If meta-data is a problem, can I do the same by writing my own CustAttribs? How would the UI work for this? I want meta-data because it will allow editing in the rollout panel. Also, is there an established way of working with Max's Tab<> objects? I noticed I have to insert items into tables as IntPtr. Does that mean I need to undermine the GC in order to obtain unsafe pointers to an object in order to put it into a Tab<>? Building meta-data means creating a definition which includes a table of ParamDescriptors. |
| Hey Chris, You should be able to do the same with custom attributes. There is no good (bug-free) way of creating them through SDK but I am dealing with them in ZK. Here's some code that I'm copying pasting from my project: internal static IValue MaxScriptExecute( string str )
{
bool res = false;
IGlobal global = Plugin.Instance.Global;
//Plugin.Log( "Executing: " + str );
return global.ExecuteScript( global.StringStream.Create( str ), /*ref */res );
} internal static ICustAttrib CreateCustomAttributes( IReferenceTarget destination )
{
const string variableName = "temporaryZookeeperVariable";
MaxScriptExecute( variableName + " = attributes CustomAttributes(parameters main rollout:params(param0 type:#float ui:param0 default:0) rollout params \"Parameters\"(spinner param0 \"Param 1\" type:#float))" );
MaxScriptExecuteWithReference( "custAttributes.add {reference} " + variableName, destination );
return MaxScriptExecuteWithReference( "custAttributes.get {reference} ( custAttributes.count {reference} )", destination ).ToReftarg as ICustAttrib;
} MaxScriptExecuteWithReference(...) uses a custom plugin I implemented just for keeping references. You can substitute it with any other way of getting at your reftarget from maxscript (for example $.object to get from selection) If this way doesn't work for you let me know and I'll look into MetaData class. Marsel Marsel Khadiyev (Software Developer, EPHERE Inc.) |
| I'm writing my plugins in C++ for now but I'd like to revisit Max.NET when these issues get ironed-out and the technology becomes more mature. Good luck with it and keep me informed :-) |
| Hi Chris, Just to update you, in latest Max.NET build IIMetaDataManager is now accessible through global.IMetaDataManager.Instance. This method wasn't exported due to a little bug in the exporter but now it is, along with many other public static inline methods found in Max SDK. Cheers, Marsel Marsel Khadiyev (Software Developer, EPHERE Inc.) |
