MicroStation Wiki Launching VBA Applications As Initapps Or Dgnapps [CS]

Launching VBA Applications As Initapps Or Dgnapps [CS]

This Client Server article is republished in its entirety from 2002 for reference purposes.

By Bentley Technical Support Group
07 October 2002

http://selectservices.bentley.com/files/clientserver/downloads/Suh_autoload.zip

MicroStation V8 allows users to run MDL applications at the startup of MicroStation using the MS_INITAPPS environment variable, and at the opening of a new design file with the MS_DGNAPPS variable. The delivered Runmacro MDL application allows you similar functionality for MicroStation BASIC macros. Now with MicroStation VBA, you can also emulate these options for users running MicroStation V8 version 08.00.02.20 or higher.

Running VBA Application as an Initapp

There are two major steps involved in setting up your application for the startup of MicroStation V8. The first is to create a subroutine called OnProjectLoad(). This is the routine that gets called when MicroStation loads a MicroStation VBA project:

Option Explicit
Sub OnProjectLoad()
' Start here
MsgBox "MicroStation VBA Starting here"
End Sub

The next step is to check the Auto-Load option on in the VBA Project Manager.

Now every time you start MicroStation, your MicroStation VBA Project will load automatically.

Running VBA Application as a Dgnapp

Setting a MicroStation VBA application to run as a Dgnapp will require you to implement the IPrimitive and ILocate events. This involves calling an instance of your class to monitor for the opening and closing of a design file. The first step is to insert a class module into your project and call it OpenClose:

Next, you will need to go to the top of your Module code and declare a global class variable as follows:

Option Explicit
Dim oOpenClose As OpenClose

The "Option Explicit" statement implies that the user must define each variable's datatype or you will receive an error when trying to run your code.

Next, you want to create a new instance of the class object you just defined in your subroutine:

Sub Main()
Set oOpenClose = New OpenClose
End Sub

Now that we have created a new instance of the class, we need to link the class into the module to look for specific events. Go back to your class and type in the following statements:

Option Explicit

Dim WithEvents hooks As Application

Private Sub Class_Initialize()

Set hooks = Application

End Sub

The code you entered initializes the class to monitor events in MicroStation (in our case we want to look for opening and closing of the design files). Now we have to add the code for the events and for those operations we want to perform when the event occurs. The following code is used to monitor for the open event:

Private Sub hooks_OnDesignFileOpened(ByVal dgnFileName As String)

MsgBox "Opening DGN file " + dgnFileName

End Sub

This event will get called by your VBA application every time a new design file is opened. The class will provide the "dgnFileName" variable for you to use. Now we need to write the code for the close event:

Private Sub hooks_OnDesignFileClosed(ByVal dgnFileName As String)

MsgBox "Closing DGN file " + dgnFileName

End Sub

Now that we have our logic written, the final step is to ensure that the Auto-Load option for this project is checked for the Autoload.mvba example, or else we would need to manually load and run the project ourselves.

In review, we now know how to create and automate VBA applications for Initapps and Dgnapps. They are a convenient and time-saving method to running VBA applications in MicroStation V8.

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