Managed C++ examples

FinalBuilder Discussion
1

 

Hi,

I'm trying to write a custom action .dll using managed C++ in Microsoft Visual 2005.

Are there examples of this ?


All I'm after is stub to show the parameter passing mechanism.

Thanks,
Steve.

 

 

 

2

Hi Steve

 

I have to admit I don't think we have tried to write actions using Managed C++ before. This is my first attempt with Managed C++, I'm kinda shocked at how little the VS IDE does for you compared to the other languages it supports!

I got this to compile, but haven't tested it yet :

 

// CPPTest.h

#pragma once

using namespace System;
using namespace FB60CustomActionInterfaces;

namespace CPPTest {

    public ref class Class1 : IFBCustomAction   
    {
        // TODO: Add your methods for this class here.
    public: virtual System::Void AbortAction(FB60CustomActionInterfaces::IFBCustomActionExecuteContext^ Context)
            {
               
            };
    public: virtual System::Boolean OnExecute(FB60CustomActionInterfaces::IFBCustomActionExecuteContext^ Context)
            {
                return false;   
            };
    public: virtual System::Boolean OnValidate(FB60CustomActionInterfaces::IFBCustomActionValidateContext^ Context)
            {
                return false;
            };
    public: virtual System::Boolean SupportsAbort()
            {
                return false;
            };
    };
}

I will try to test this later today if time permits (end of financial year stuff to deal with today).

 

 

 

 

3

Thanks Vincent.

 

I finally managed to get there in the end using "code by permutation", although I've now hit the next brickwall!!!

I'm trying to return a value from my managed C++ back to finalbuilder.

In my managed C++ i've used the line

    context->SetVariable(context->Properties->PropertyAsString::get("ReturnString"), string1);

to set the property "ReturnString" to value of string1.

 

In ActionStudio, I've included a property "ReturnString" and a property page with a text box that uses

"bind to" ReturnString.

When calling this custom action, I insert a finalbuilder variable "%returnString%" into the above textBox,

but when I run the program, nothing gets returned.

 

Any sugguestions?

 

thanks, Steve

 

 

 

4

Hi Steve

Try splitting up the statement so we can see where it is going wrong :

System::String^ variablename = context->Properties->PropertyAsString::get("ReturnString");

context-SendLogMessage(variablename);

context->SetVariable(variablename, string1);

Then we can see if the variable name is ok.

Other than that, you can send you VC project and action package to support and I will take a look at it on monday and see if I can debug it and figure out what is going wrong.

 

5

Hi Vincent,

I tried that, and in Visual, it seems to have picked up the correct variable name from the property,

but when I pass that value through, it doesn't appear to be making it into finalbuilder

ie. a watch on the variable remains the same.

 

I've sent a copy of the Visual solution and action studio action to support.

 

Thanks,
Stephen.

 

6

Ok,

I think I've found the problem...

In action studio, I used a TextEdit box for the return value as opposed to a VariablesComboBox.

This seems to have fixed the problem and I can now pass the value through.

 

As an aside, am I able to do it using a TextEdit box ? From memory, I thought some of the native actions allowed you to specify variables directly into a TextEdit as opposed to the VariablesComboBox ?

Thanks for the help,

Steve.

 

 

 

7

Hi Steve

I haven’t looked at your project yet, but my guess would be that you are specifying the variable name in the textbox with % symbols, which you shouldn’t do when dealing with variable names rather than variable references.