How to configure App for User? (SCG?)

[neil_at_informatix]

I have struggled through the ghastly mess of COM in a non-ATL environment, and now get the callbacks from the 3Dx driver... Ugh!!!
(The "Documentation" from 3Dx on COM programming is simply not up to sorting this out in anything other than a trivial one-purpose application, like the sample code...)

Anyway...

Now I want to make our Application look like a proper 3Dx application - I have looked at eg Google Sketchup, Google Earth and AutoCad - and they label the buttons and set toggles in the display.

I thought naively that

Code: Select all

dev->LoadPreferences("appname")

might set the appname in the SpacePilot display, but I see I was wrong (not just my code -- AtlCube3d displays "AtlCube3d" but loads preferences for "AtlCude3d" (sic)

Rooting around in the Program Files\3DxConnexion folders, I find a stash of .SCG files which are clearly the source of the advanced appearance of the other Apps ... but there appears to be no documentation of these files!

How do I:

• read and understand these files (docco please!)
• code them (acceptable values and sensible values?)
• introduce them to the 3DxConnexion world (locally I presume I stuff one into the program files folder? But then what about the rest of the world?)

We aren't doing our code as a plug-in (we don't have plug-ins...) - I just test for CoCreateInstance success/fail and use the 3Dx device only if it succeeds ... so most of the installation part ought to be trivial for us - what then would need to be installed with the 3Dx drivers (if anything), other than the standard required drivers?

• Is the SCG file meant to be packaged with the device driver rather than the application?
• What about help and help files? (There seem to be individual, small, help files for each app under 3DxConnexion) (What triggers those help files for the user? We normally trigger our own help files from F1...)
• Local language help?
• Localisation of the SCG file labels?
• How is "stuff" passed to 3DxConnexion to be installed?

We are English, but Japan is a major secondary market, plus Germany and France, and customers elsewhere, so translation of labels is important.

[jwick]

Stay from the .scg file format. It is completely changing in the next major release.

LoadPreferences chooses a config file. The string is a qualifier on the EXECUTABLES entry, not the ApplicationName.

I have struggled through the ghastly mess of COM in a non-ATL environment

If COM is difficult for your application, you can use the "old SDK". It is straightforward Win32/MFC. It is available in the Archive section of the web site.

If you can describe more of what you are trying to do, maybe we can help. You can do this in a PM if you prefer.

Jim
3Dx Software Development
[/quote]

[ngomes]

You can do this in a PM if you prefer.

It is also possible to reach our API support engineers by email. The addresses are available on the SDK page.