ARES Commander provides a C++ plugin which lets you create third party Plugin Software for ARES Commander.

The CFx examples are in the following folder: \ARES Commander 20XX SDK\Samples\CFx\. Open the solution file CFxSamples.sln.

Follow the steps described in “How to Create a Sample C++ plugin and build,load the plugin”.

New Project

Add a new C++ Empty project using Visual Studio 2017 as SampleCommand in ‘\ARES Commander 20XX SDK\Samples\CFx’.

Header Section

Create the following header files.

SampleCommand.h

Creates the SampleCommand class with global and local command name.

#include "FxCommand.h"
#include "FxCommandContext.h"
#include "FxUserIO.h"

class SampleCommand
{
public:
    /** Description:
        Sets non-localized version of the command name.
    */
    virtual const OdString globalName() const;
                   
    /** Description:
        Sets localized version of the command name.
    */
    virtual const OdString localName() const;

    ~SampleCommand(void);

protected:
    SampleCommand(void);
};

SampleCommandModule.h

Creates a new module for the SampleCommand class with initApp, uninitApp, and object that represents the command.

#include <RxModule.h>
#include <StaticRxObject.h>
#include "SampleCommand.h"

/** Description:
    Creates a new module for Sample command.
*/
class CHelloCommandModule : public OdRxModule
{
public:
    ~CHelloCommandModule() {}

protected:
    CHelloCommandModule() {}

    /** Description:
        Adds new command to the current module.
    */
    virtual void initApp();

    /** Description:
        Removes command from the current module.
    */
    virtual void uninitApp();

private:
    /** Description:
        Object from type sampleCommand is created. It represents the new command.
    */
    OdStaticRxObject<SampleCommand> m_SampleCommand;
};

stdafx.h

Includes all the standard system include files/project specific include files that are frequently used

#include <windows.h>
#include "OdaCommon.h"

Source File Section

Create the following CPP files.

SampleCommand.cpp

CPP file for creating commands that you can call from ARES commander.

SampleCommandModule.cpp

Defines entry points for the dynamic library (TX = DLL).

stdafx.cpp

Source file that includes just the standard include files.

Project Settings

Do the following settings to make the C++ sample plugin to work.

Open SampleCommand Property Page and do the following settings:
1. In Configuration: Release
2. In Platform: Choose the appropriate platform (in this example, it is x64).
Specify Additional Include and Library Directories: Include libraries and include files from ARES Commander SDK folder.
Include files can be found in C:\Program Files\Graebert GmbH\ARES Commander 20XX SDK\Include\*.
Specify Additional Dependencies: Link appropriate libraries that implement ARES Commander plugin API. Libraries can be found in \Program Files\Graebert GmbH\ARES Commander 20XX SDK\Libraries\*.
Change extension of output and other properties as in the image below:
The name of the shared library containing the subclass of OdRxModule should be according to the rule: <application name>.tx.
Define _TOOLKIT_IN_DLL macro:
Open SampleCommand property page and set C/C++ → Language → Treat WChar_t As Built in Type to No (/Zc:wchar_t-).
Navigate to the C:\Program Files\Graebert GmbH\ARES Commander 20XX\BIN and find the files named TD_Db_*.dll:
In our example, the file name is TD_Db_4.03_15.dll. Add the _4.03_15 suffix to your output .dll name to load it normally.

Building

Build the SampleCommand project, then Open ARES Commander and use the APPLOAD command to load your application:

In our example, we have SampleCommand_4.03_15.tx as result.

If there are no errors, a confirmation message displays as successfully loaded with the output of the project

ARES Commander Partner Documentation

Creating New Project