Try changing Dim oTags() As TagElement to Dim oTags() As Variant

Try changing Dim oTags() As TagElement to Dim oTags() As Variant

"Can't assign to array" Compile error

Thanks,

Darius

I can't speak for others but I have never had success using GetTags(). Instead I prefer not to scan for specific host elements (in your case, Normal and shared cells) but instead target the tag elements themselves i.e. instead of:

es.IncludeType msdElementTypeCellHeader
es.IncludeType msdElementTypeSharedCell

try using:

es.IncludeType msdElementTypeTag

This will unlikely work with your existing code as is so you will probably need to edit your loop code suit the new scan element type.

Yes, I could use msdElementTypeTag but I do not know how to group all tags by cell they are attached to. There is the parent parameter but it seems to be empty. Please note that one drawing may have 2 or more the same cells with the same tag set attached. The goal is to update all tags of the tagset if the value of one tag meets my criteria.

Unknown said:

Dim oTags() As TagElement to Dim oTags() As Variant

No! It makes the code worse and dirty. It's defined that GetTags method returns TagElement(), so if there is an error, it will be not caused by correctly declared variable.

To use Variant is (with a couple of exceptions) seriously bad practice and always lead to worse code.

Unknown said:

I can't speak for others but I have never had success using GetTags().

I recall I used it several times in the past, both in VBA and C#, and it works fine.

Unknown said:

Instead I prefer not to scan for specific host elements (in your case, Normal and shared cells) but instead target the tag elements themselves

It's different approach that provides different results (existing elements vs. existing tags) and it depends on a local conditions and requirements what is better.

Unknown said:

Any help would be appreciated.

Are you sure the tag is attached to cell header? I assume it's attached to a graphics element inside the cell. Can you provide an example of the file?

One more question, not related to the discussed issue: Is there any reason to use .BuildArrayFromContents? It increases memory requirements a lot.

With regards,

  Jan

>>I assume it's attached to a graphics element inside the cell

You are right. I found those criteria online and I am not sure they are correct.

>>Is there any reason to use .BuildArrayFromContents?

No there is no particular reason. As well I found it online. I tried also regular Do While oEnumerator.MoveNext with the same devastating result. As I said both arrays with cells and their tag elements are created correctly since I can look into them if I interrupt the program. I am an amateur programmer and all suggestions how to alter the program are appreciated

Thanks

Darius

Unknown said:

You are right. I found those criteria online and I am not sure they are correct.

The criteria itself is correct, but the next step not. You have to iterate through elements inside cell to find element(s) with tag(s). The cell header is not graphical element, so GetTags returns I guess nothing, but

An example how your cells with tags look like would be helpful.

Is there always one element with tag inside cell or there can be more?

Unknown said:

No there is no particular reason.

In such case don't use it. To build an array upfront requires substantial more memory, is slower and is necessary only when elements during the iteration are modified in such way they have to be rewritten to the end of file. Which I suppose is not this case.

Unknown said:

As I said both arrays with cells and their tag elements are created correctly since

In such case there is a contradiction, because it means the tags are attached to cell headers. not inside the cell. But if you are sure this part of the code works, it's fine.

Unknown said:

all suggestions how to alter the program are appreciated

You code highly depends on the data and its structure, but you have not shared any file example, so it's hard to provide any guess why it does not work.

Regards,

  Jan

Good Evening Jan

Unknown said:

Barry Lothian

Dim oTags() As TagElement to Dim oTags() As Variant

No! It makes the code worse and dirty. It's defined that GetTags method returns TagElement(), so if there is an error, it will be not caused by correctly declared variable.

To use Variant is (with a couple of exceptions) seriously bad practice and always lead to worse code.

Barry Lothian

I can't speak for others but I have never had success using GetTags().

I recall I used it several times in the past, both in VBA and C#, and it works fine.

The earliest experience I had with VBA was extracting tag values from Excel so its a subject I'm quite familiar with. Its been a while since I encountered the problems I remember with Excel and tags so I've spent a little time this evening finding what the problem was. Using Jon's Tag Element Data Extraction example as a basis and tweaked slightly, I found the problem once again. Its not GetTags() that is the problem but it relates to the TagElement variable declaration in Excel in specific circumstances.

Whilst this works in MicroStation it does not work in Excel:

Set oHost = oEnumerator.Current
        If oHost.IsGraphical Then
            If oHost.HasAnyTags Then
                Dim oTags()                       As TagElement
                Dim oTag                          As TagElement
                Dim nTags                         As Integer
                Dim i                             As Integer
                Dim vtValue                       As Variant
                oTags = oHost.GetTags()

                For i = LBound(oTags) To UBound(oTags)
                    Set oTag = oTags(i)
                    vtValue = oTag.Value
Debug.Print "Tag [" & CStr(i) & "] =" & CStr(vtValue)
                Next i
            End If
        End If

This minor variation is the only way I found to get it working in Excel:

        Set oHost = oEnumerator.Current
        If oHost.IsGraphical Then
            If oHost.HasAnyTags Then
                Dim oTags()                       As TagElement
                Dim oTag                          As Variant
                Dim nTags                         As Integer
                Dim i                             As Integer
                Dim vtValue                       As Variant
                oTags = oHost.GetTags()

                For i = LBound(oTags) To UBound(oTags)
                    Set oTag = oTags(i)
                    vtValue = oTag.Value
Debug.Print "Tag [" & CStr(i) & "] = " & CStr(vtValue)
                Next i
            End If
        End If

Try it yourself, the first example will freeze your Excel instance and cause it to crash and restart.

Apologies for being a dirty coder!

My VBA editor accepted oTags as Variant but unfortunatelly it didn't solve the problem.

Unknown said:

Try it yourself, the first example will freeze your Excel instance and cause it to crash and restart.

Thanks for the code snippets! Will try to test them, because I am very sure whether the code in Excel does not work, the problem is somewhere else than in the variable declaration.

When accessing MicroStation from another application, the environment is not the same as when started from MicroStation,so in some situations an extra code or modifications can be necessary.

With regards,

  Jan

Hi Barry,

I tested it (with slightly modified code, see below) and I have to confirm the variant type has to be used, because it does not work othrwise. It seems to be a bug in VBA COM implementation that when more correct TagElement array is used, it's assigned, but cannot be accessed without the crash.

In such case, variant type is "necessary evil", because no other solution exist ;-)

For future reference, my testing code of Excel macro, working with already running MicroStation, is:

Option Explicit

Sub TestAccessToMicroStation()
    Dim oAL As ApplicationObjectConnector
    Dim o As MicroStationDGN.Application
    
    Set oAL = GetObject(, "MicroStationDGN.ApplicationObjectConnector")
    
    Set o = oAL.Application
    ProcessActiveModel o
End Sub

Private Sub ProcessActiveModel(app As MicroStationDGN.Application)

    Dim esc As ElementScanCriteria
    Set esc = app.CreateObjectInMicroStation("MicroStationDGN.ElementScanCriteria")
    esc.ExcludeNonGraphical
    
    Dim ee As ElementEnumerator
    Set ee = ActiveModelReference.Scan(esc)
    
    Do While ee.MoveNext
        If (ee.Current.HasAnyTags) Then
            ProcessElementWithTag ee.Current
        End If
    Loop

End Sub

Private Sub ProcessElementWithTag(el As Element)

    ' Used because a declaration 'As TagElement' does not work
    Dim tagElems As Variant
    tagElems = el.GetTags()
    
    Dim index As Long
    
    For index = LBound(tagElems) To UBound(tagElems)
        Dim tagElem As TagElement
        Set tagElem = tagElems(index)

        Dim tagValue As Variant
        tagValue = tagElem.Value
        Debug.Print "Tag [" & CStr(index) & "] =" & CStr(tagValue)
    Next index

End Sub

With regards,

  Jan