Accessing the 'Name' of a custom component

Hello...

Is there any way I can access the name a user puts onto a component (via the context menu), and use that at runtime? This would be a compiled component.

Lets say that the input is a string "hello" and the user changes the name of the component to "hello." Can I test if the input string and the name are the same in order to condition the output?

Thanks!
Luis

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by to] on June 22, 2010 at 5:40am

hi luis

maybe look at this
system.ComponentModel.Design.ComponentRenameEventHandler();

-to]

Permalink Reply by Luis Fraguada on June 22, 2010 at 3:33pm

Hello -to],

Interesting, not at all the place I was looking for it. Now, this is a system namespace...I would have guessed this was more a GH_* thing? Ok, well, lets see where this leads! Thanks man!

luis

Permalink Reply by Luis Fraguada on June 23, 2010 at 4:04am

maybe sth more like this...

public delegate void GH_MenuTextBoxTextChanged(
GH_MenuTextBoxCollection sender,
string iText
)

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on June 23, 2010 at 4:56am

Hi Luis,

the "name" of an object that the user can change is actually called NickName inside the SDK. All objects on the canvas have the following members which are implemented from IGH_InstanceDescription:

- Name (official name)
- NickName (name displayed in UI, changeable by user)
- Description (brief explanation of what the object does, visible in Tooltips)
- Category (name of the tab that contains the object)
- SubCategory (name of the panel that contains the object)

There's a bunch more, but these are the most important ones.

When you're inside a VB or C# script, there is a member variable called owner of type:
Grasshopper.Kernel.IGH_ActiveObject

IGH_ActiveObject derives from IGH_InstanceDescription, so the NickName of the component itself should be available as follows:
Dim nn As String = owner.NickName

If however you want the nicknames of input parameters, then you have to cast the owner object to a GH_Component. GH_ActiveObject is lower in the inheritance hierarchy and it doesn't know about input and output parameters. So, in order to get the nickname of the first input parameter, do:

Dim cmp As GH_Component = DirectCast(owner, GH_Component)

Dim nn0 As String = cmp.Params.Input(0).NickName

There are events that are raised whenever nicknames change, but I don't think you want to go in that direction.

At any rate, system.ComponentModel.Design.ComponentRenameEventHandler doesn't have anything to do with Grasshopper Components.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Turku, Finland

Permalink Reply by Luis Fraguada on June 23, 2010 at 6:23am

Hello David,
That is excellent! The nickname is exactly what I was looking for. Tested it out on a vb component and it seems to be functioning very well. I was thinking of this for incoming OSC Messages...a user could change the Nickname of the component to the name of the device...if the name of the device from the incoming message matches the nickname, then that data is stored...

Are there any extra considerations when compiling a component with this info you have provided? I could imagine that I would need to set up what the active object is?

Permalink Reply by Luis Fraguada on June 23, 2010 at 9:35am

For future reference. I was able to get the nickname of the component instance from the base...

in a C# project (_nn is a string):

_nn = base.NickName;

Any hints on adding the functionality of a wifi/receiver input?

Permalink Reply by to] on June 23, 2010 at 10:46am

hi luis

maybe this time i am right ;)
reflect GH_Receiver (Grasshopper.Kernel.Parameters.GH_Receiver)

Permalink Reply by Luis Fraguada on June 23, 2010 at 11:14am

to],

I was checking out the receiver component where you specified and it derives from something other than GH_Component...in this case GH_Param. So I would be assuming that I would need to construct it very similarly to this...but I think I would be assuming too much.

David, could we get that functionality in GH_Component (if it does not already exist through overriding)?

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on June 24, 2010 at 6:48am

True, the Receiver object derives from GH_Param. You can cast objects to parameters in the same way as you'd cast objects to components:

Dim param As IGH_Param = DirectCast(someobjectyouknowforsureisaparameter, IGH_Param)

IGH_Param is a fairly simple object type. GH_Component is much more complex as it contains the component logic plus any (variable) number of input and output parameters.

Most special objects in Grasshopper derive from IGH_Param (TextPanel, GraphMapper, ParamViewer, BarGraph, Slider etc., notable exceptions being Gradient, Legend, Timer and Scribble which are just basically weird).

The Receiver object is nothing more than a Generic Parameter with an overridden display function.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Turku, Finland

Permalink Reply by Odysseas Georgiou on February 2, 2011 at 3:06am

Hello,

is it possible to inherit the NickName of a param plugged in a custom component then? Do I still have to cast the input parameter where the param is plugged into and then cast it to an IGH_Param or am i just talking nonsense?

Thanks,

Odysseas

Permalink Reply by Dirk Anderson on January 16, 2012 at 10:14pm