Object DBX and the Documents collection

All,

Assuming you want to get some data from a file other than the active file, does this
make sense? Check the Documents collection to see if the file is open. If so, get the
data from the open file via the Documents collection. If the source file isn't open,
use Object DBX to open it. Then get the data from the DBX file.

Kinda seems like a dumb question. But I haven't seen code examples which do that. And
that makes me think I'm missing something here. Maybe it's not that simple?

What I have seen is code which assumes Object DBX should be used. When that fails,
because the file is open, the code ends. I've done that myself. I've also seen
messages in the VBA NG which mention the idea of copying an open source file to some
temporary folder so Object DBX can open it. Why?

Thanks for any insights...
Joe Burke

 

Thanks, Jason. At least I'm on the right track.

I must confess, it was only a few weeks ago I realized I can get data from files in
the Documents collection. And appropriately enough, I stumbled on it (while Google
searching for something unrelated) in a thread where someone informed you a couple
years ago. What goes around...

I sure have a lot to learn, but I'm not complaining. The discovery process is an
enjoyable trip in itself.

Joe

 

This is done because the file may be open by someone else on the network.
But you are on the right track, if the file can't be opened by ObjectDBX,
one should check the documents collection and get it from there if found.

 

Mike,

I'm on shaky ground here because most of the time I'm a standalone user. So the
following is more a question than a statement. As I understand it, the issue of
whether a file is open under Object DBX is local to the machine trying to open it.
IOW, if I'm machine A on a network, and machine B on the net has the file open I'm
trying to open with DBX... that won't prevent me from opening it.

Yes, no, maybe?

Joe Burke

 

no, odbx can't open a read only doc, just throws error
that's why you have to catch that error, make temp copy, then open that copy
(regardless of who has file open)

 

Joe - Nothing really confusing here.

Design your code to be document agnostic, which means you
don't write code that deals directly with an AcadDocument
or AxDbDocument.

Rather, design your code to work with an AcadDatabase,
and then it can be applied to any drawing, open in the
editor or in an AxDbDocument.

You just pass the .Database property of the AcadDocument
or the AxDbDocument object to the procedure that accesses
it, and that's pretty much it.

For that, you can use early binding:

Public Sub GetDatabaseInfo(Doc As Object)
Dim Db As AcadDatabase
Set Db = Doc.Database
...
End Sub

Note that you declare the parameter as an object, which
means it can be either an AcadDocument or an AxDbDocument,
and then you get the .Database property of either in the
sub.

 

Tony,

Thanks for the big picture. It will sink in eventually.

Joe Burke

 

Mark & Mike,

I see.

Thanks
Joe Burke