Deleting a Cell Definition to Replace the Cells with a Different One

Hi Koit,

I did not think too much about your code, because in my opinion there is a problem in your original assumption.

I never have not thought too much how shared cells replacement works, but I guess it's not as simple as graphic cells replacement.

Unknown said:

I failed at writing a VBA snippet for this so resorted to the CadInputQueue instead

Based on MicroStation VBA help file the key-in syntax is: DELETE SCDEFS <ALL | ANONYMOUS | NAMED>.  Based on what information you use the key-in delete scdefs KPR?

Unknown said:

my purpose is to delete a certain SharedCellDefinition ... then attach a new cell library (the code firstly searches for a string to get the location of the cell library) and, lastly, replace all cells which used the previous cell definition with ones from the attached library.

How do you want to delete Shared Cell Definition element (step 1) if there are the shared cells instances and to replace the instances later (step 3)? It cannot work. The I have not tried do it using VBA or MDL code, but I am pretty sure the Shared Cell Defintion can be removed only if there are no instances linked to it the definition. It's what a compress option "SC_NAMED" and the key-in DELETE SCDEFS ALL do.

Unknown said:

and when I try the key-ins (even the ".SendCommand "delete scdefs KPR"" line does not seem to achieve the desired result

What is your desired result using this key-in? The key-in itself is wrongly used I guess and it's not clear why you want to delete the shared cell definition element in the situation it's still used by some shared cells.

Unknown said:

I was trying to use the SyntaxHighlighted but it seems I failed in that as well

SyntaxHighlighter tool works fine. Did you set in the tool that your code is VB code? Otherwise the code is usually not highlighted because identified as a normel text.

Unknown said:

Thoughts on what's going wrong?

Well ... see my comments. But I am thinking it your first wrong step is why you don't use MicroStation cell replacement tool that works I guess fine and can be easily used to replace all instances of one shared cell by another shared cell definition. The only requirement is the cells have to have the same name.

With regards,

  Jan

Jan,

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I noticed the highlighter worked after posting; I just thought it would be noticeable in the text editor as well so when it wasn't I had the thought that something was wrong... Seems to be alright though.

I should have clarified. "KPR" is the name of the cell model I am deleting. Therefore, the way I figured it would work is that the definition "NAMED" would be replaced by the specific cell name in this instance?

I found no reference to the cell replacement tool in the Microstation v8 VBA Help other than the ReplaceCurrentElement which is the one I was trying to use -- but you seem to be referring to something else?

The new cell has the same name as the old one -- thinking about it right now, there does not seem to be any need to delete the cell definition but that was the way it was originally suggested I work. Going through the process right now in the program, it worked exactly the same without deleting the original model so I don't think there is an actual need to delete it. I guess that bit can be scrapped.

I'm still curious by the ReplaceCurrentElement bit though.

Cheers
Koit

Hi Koit,

Unknown said:

Seems to be alright though.

Unfortunately it's not. But it shoud be possible to edit your existing post and to change the highlighter setting for the posted code.

Unknown said:

I found no reference to the cell replacement tool in the Microstation v8 VBA Help

I did not write about VBA tool, but about MicroStation tool that is designed to replace both types of cells in different modes. It can be simply used by key-in, which in general I don't recommend (to use key-ins in VBA or MDL code), but in this situation it can be efficient workaround how to use existing complex functionality.

Unknown said:

I'm still curious by the ReplaceCurrentElement bit though.

It's probably the method I recommend to start with. I don't know if it's possible, but if this method is able to replace SharedCellDefinition element and don't break existing connection to existing SharedCell elements (shared cells instances), it should be simple solution of your requirement.

With regards,

  Jan

Thanks Jan, got it now. Seems I had to delete the original code and re-copy it. Looks better though!

I see re the cell replacer tool.

How about the supposition that we ignore the bit in my code where I try to delete as a SharedCellDefinition -- as you pointed out, it's both wrong and unnecessary. However, even without that, and looking specifically into the bit here (the method for replacing cells).

Then when we consider the functionality of the ReplaceCurrentElement which you suggested I use, the function above should achieve the intended purpose. It is my understanding that I need to "find"/"retrieve" the SharedCellDefinition first before I can use it as a replacement element, which I thought this code would do. However, there is no apparent result for the above method. And note, here we are already talking about replacing CellElements/SharedCellElements and not their definitions.

What do you think?

Cheers

Koit

Private Sub ReplaceCells(levelName As String, replacingElement As String)
 
    Dim oReplacer As SharedCellDefinitionElement
    Dim replaceScanCriteria As ElementScanCriteria
    Set replaceScanCriteria = New ElementScanCriteria
    replaceScanCriteria.ExcludeAllTypes
    replaceScanCriteria.IncludeType msdElementTypeSharedCellDefinition
     
    Dim replEnum As ElementEnumerator
    Set replEnum = ActiveModelReference.Scan(replaceScanCriteria)
     
    Do While replEnum.MoveNext
        If replEnum.Current.IsSharedCellDefinitionElement Then
            Dim tempSCE As SharedCellDefinitionElement
            Set tempSCE = replEnum.Current
             
            If tempSCE.Name = replacingElement Then
                Set oReplacer = tempSCE
                Exit Do
            End If
        End If
    Loop
     
    ' Set up corresponding level object
    Dim oLevel As Level
    Set oLevel = ActiveDesignFile.Levels(levelName)
 
    ' Set up scan criteria
    Dim oScanCriteria As ElementScanCriteria
    Set oScanCriteria = New ElementScanCriteria
     
    oScanCriteria.ExcludeAllLevels
    oScanCriteria.ExcludeAllTypes
     
    oScanCriteria.IncludeLevel oLevel
    oScanCriteria.IncludeType msdElementTypeLineString
     
    Dim oEnumerator As ElementEnumerator
    Set oEnumerator = ActiveModelReference.Scan(oScanCriteria)
     
    Dim oElement As Element
     
    Do While oEnumerator.MoveNext
        Set oElement = oEnumerator.Current
         
        If oElement.IsCellElement Then
            Dim eleCell As CellElement
            Set eleCell = oElement
             
            eleCell.ReplaceCurrentElement oReplacer
             
            eleCell.Redraw
            eleCell.Rewrite
 
        Else: MsgBox "This element is not suitable for this action."
        End If
    Loop
     
End Sub

Unknown said:

What do you think?

Well ... nothing. This discussion is very theoretical. You have not provided any testing case and my feeling is that even basic requirements are not clearly defined. To discuss a code without having test case and exact report what is (not) working seems to me like time wasting.

In my opinion you should at first clearly define what do you want to achieve and what requirements and condition exist, using other words "What the replacement means to you?" E.g. is there any mslink, user data or other data attached to your shared cell? To replace the cell and to maintain this extra data is substantially more complex than to work with plain cells. Also, does replacement has to maintain element id or the original element can be deleted and a new one placed?

With regards,

  Jan