MultiInstanceItemView makes it possible to have one or more configurations for each item view to the right of the structure tree. It allows for single, multiple, simultaneous configured ItemViews unlike Item-view which can have only one active instance.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites are the same as those noted in Getting Started With swExplorer Extensions. A MultiInstanceItemView VS template can be found in the zip file attached to the article linked above.

Example Configuration

<ExampleConfigs>
  <ExampleConfig id="1">  
    <ViewSettings> 
      <Caption>One</Caption> 
      <RibbonGroup>My group</RibbonGroup>
    </ViewSettings>
    <TopItemType itemType="I"/>
    <Message>Hello from 1</Message>
  </ExampleConfig>
  <ExampleConfig id="2">
    <Parameters>
      <Parameter name="p1" caption="Parameter:">
        <Values>
          <ForEach select = "/ISSE">
            <AddValue/>
          </ForEach>
        </Values>
      </Parameter>
    </Parameters>
    <ViewSettings>
      <Caption>Two</Caption>
      <RibbonGroup>My group</RibbonGroup>
    </ViewSettings>
    <TopItemType itemType="I"/>
    <Message>Going places</Message>
    <Path>$p1</Path>
  </ExampleConfig>
</ExampleConfigs>

The above configuration would result in a Ribbon group named "My Group" containing two menu icons: one labeled "One" and the other labeled "Two". Both would be using the same extension.

Explanation of Configuration Elements

<ExampleConfigs> is the top-level element that contains all of the individual configurations. Each configuration should have a unique id (string value).

<ViewSettings> enables you to set a custom view label, hover-tip, icon, etc. See How to Configure Item View Menu Button Settings.

<Parameters> offers parameterization, where the user may select which item to include in a view. Drop-downs will automatically be shown in the GUI. The <Values> tag adds values to the parameter, using <AddValue> sub-elements. See Parameters in the application Help for more details. For MultiInstanceView, you would use Parameters for finding the top item/context.

<TopItemType> identifies the item type of which the configuration is valid.

Multi Instance Implementation

The implementation of multi-instance extensions is very similar to the ordinary extensions, with some minor differences which will be illustrated in the examples below.

Multi Instance Item View

When you create a multi-instance item view, make sure it inherits from IswMultiInstanceItemView, and that the view host is of the type IswMultiInstanceItemViewHost.

using RemObjects.Hydra;
using System;
using SystemWeaver.ExtensionsAPI;
using SystemWeaver.ExtensionsAPI.PluginInterfaces;

namespace SWExtension.Examples
{
    [Plugin, NonVisualPlugin]
    public partial class MultiInstanceItemViewExample : NonVisualPlugin, IswMultiInstanceItemView
    {
        public static IswMultiInstanceItemViewHost ViewHost { get; private set; }
        public static IswBroker Broker { get; private set; }
        public MultiInstanceItemViewExample()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        public Guid GetGUID()
        {
            return Guid.Parse("798C62B2-04E8-4C46-8799-69A344E4A39A");
        }

        public string GetName()
        {
            return typeof(MultiInstanceItemViewExample).FullName;
        }

        public string GetCaption()
        {
            return "### My multi-instance view";
        }

Get the config, example XML, and tag names from the configuration:

        public string GetPluginContentName()
        {
            return typeof(MultiInstanceItemViewExampleContent).FullName;
        }

        public void Init(IswMultiInstanceItemViewHost host)
        {
            ViewHost = host;
            Broker = ViewHost.GetBroker();
        }

        public string GetConfigXMLExample()
        {
            return MultiInstanceItemViewExampleViewConfig.ExampleXmlConfiguration;
        }

        public string GetDocumentElementTagName()
        {
            return MultiInstanceItemViewExampleViewConfig.DocumentElementTagName;
        }

        public string GetConfigElementTagName()
        {
            return MultiInstanceItemViewExampleViewConfig.ConfigElementTagName;
        }

        public IswViewConfig ParseAndGetConfig(string xml)
        {
            return new MultiInstanceItemViewExampleViewConfig(Broker, xml);
        }
        public bool SupportsItem(IswItem item, IswViewConfig viewConfig)
        {
            return item.IsSID("I");
        }
    }
}

Things to Consider

SupportsItems and GetGUID make continuous calls, so it is important that when either of these two are implemented that the code you include executes as fast as possible. For SupportsItems, e.g., it may not be only the item type it is looking for; there may be other variables.

Multi Instance Configuration

The configuration could preferably look something like this:

namespace SWExtension.Examples
{
    public class MultiInstanceItemViewExampleViewConfig : IswViewConfig
    {
        public static readonly string DocumentElementTagName = "ExampleConfigs";

        public static readonly string ConfigElementTagName = "ExampleConfig";

        public static readonly string ExampleXmlConfiguration =
@"<ExampleConfigs>
  <ExampleConfig id=""1"">  
    <ViewSettings> 
      <Caption>One</Caption> 
      <RibbonGroup>My group</RibbonGroup>
    </ViewSettings>
    <TopItemType itemType=""I""/>
    <Message>Hello from 1</Message>
  </ExampleConfig>
  <ExampleConfig id=""2"">
    <Parameters>
      <Parameter name=""p1"" caption=""Parameter:"">
      <Values>
        <ForEach select = ""/ISSE"">
          <AddValue/>
        </ForEach>
      </Values>
      </Parameter>
    </Parameters>
    <ViewSettings>
      <Caption>Two</Caption>
      <RibbonGroup>My group</RibbonGroup>
    </ViewSettings>
    <TopItemType itemType=""I""/>
    <Message>Going places</Message>
    <Path>$p1</Path>
  </ExampleConfig>
</ExampleConfigs>";

Multi Instance View Content

The multi instance item view content must inherit from MultiInstanceItemViewContent, use the MultiInstanceItemViewWrapper, and the IswMultiInstanceItemViewContentHost.

    [Plugin, VisualPlugin, NeedsManagedWrapper(typeof(MultiInstanceItemViewWrapper))]
    public partial class MultiInstanceItemViewExampleContent : RemObjects.Hydra.WPF.VisualPlugin, IswMultiInstanceItemViewContent
    {
        private IswMultiInstanceItemViewContentHost _host;
        private MultiInstanceItemViewExampleViewConfig _config;
        private IswServerEvent _events;
        private SWEventManager _eventManager;

        public MultiInstanceItemViewExampleContent()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        public void SetHost(IswMultiInstanceItemViewContentHost host)
        {       
            _host = host;
            _eventManager = new SWEventManager();
            _host.SetEvent(_eventManager);    
            textServerUrl.Text = MultiInstanceItemViewExample.ViewHost.GetServerUrl();
        }

        public void SetConfig(IswViewConfig config)
        {
            _config = config as MultiInstanceItemViewExampleViewConfig;
            textBlockConfig.Text = _config.Message;
        }

        public void SetCurrentItem(IswItem item)
        {
            if (item == null)
            {
                textBlockCurrentItem.Text = "";
                textBlockPathResult.Text = "";
                return;
            }

            textBlockCurrentItem.Text = $"Current item is {item.Name}";

            IswItems items = (_host as IswHydraStructureTreeGetSubItems).GetSubItems();

            try
            {
                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(_config.PathExpression))
                {
                    textBlockPathResult.Text = "";
                }
                else
                {
                    IswObjects pathResult = _host.ExecutePathWithParameters(_config.PathExpression, item);
                    textBlockPathResult.Text = string.Join(", ", pathResult.ToArray().Select(x => x.Name));
                }
            }
            catch (COMException e)
            {
                textBlockPathResult.Text = e.Message;
            }
        }

        private void ButtonOpen_Click(object sender, System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            var handle = SWHandleUtility.ToHandle(textItemId.Text);

            IswItem item = MultiInstanceItemViewExample.Broker.GetItem(handle);

            _host.OpenItem(item, THowToOpenType.ChangeFocusOnly);

        }

        private void ButtonIndicate_Click(object sender, System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            var handle = SWHandleUtility.ToHandle(textItemId.Text);

            var item = MultiInstanceItemViewExample.Broker.GetItem(handle);

            var list = MultiInstanceItemViewExample.Broker.Lists.NewItemList();

            list.Add(item);

            _host.IndicateItems(list);
        }

        private void ButtonSelectUser_Click(object sender, System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            MultiInstanceItemViewExample.ViewHost.GetDialogs().SelectUser(out IswUser user);
        }

        private void ButtonCopyToClipboard_Click(object sender, System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            var handle = SWHandleUtility.ToHandle(textItemId.Text);

            var item = MultiInstanceItemViewExample.Broker.GetItem(handle);

            var list = MultiInstanceItemViewExample.Broker.Lists.NewItemList();

            list.Add(item);

            MultiInstanceItemViewExample.ViewHost.GetClipboard().SetObjects(list);
        }

        private void ButtonConnectClipboard_Click(object sender, System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            _events = new ExtensionEvents();

            _host.SetEvent(_events);

            IswEvents ev = _events as IswEvents;

            ev.Object_SetName += DoSetName;
        }

        private void DoSetName(IswObject obj)
        {
            textEventInfo.Text = $"Name set to {obj.Name}";
        }
    }
}

The line "textServerUrl.Text = MultiInstanceItemViewExample.ViewHost.GetServerUrl();" is only there to save the URL to the host we are connected to. The result of "MultiInstanceItemViewExample.ViewHost.GetServerUrl()" can for example be "url:swap://sys7:1345/". You don't need "textServerUrl" unless you want to save the URL. Similarly, "textBlockConfig" is only there to save a property from the parsed configuration, and not needed for the example.

Prerequisites

It is recommended that you use a test server to try the example below. You should run it locally.
Access to a SystemWeaver Client.

Example

To compile and run (vad), you need to right click on the project in Visual Studio and select "Properties". Under "Build" and "Output path" you need to select the swExplorerExtension folder from the folder where you have the swExplorer.

Under “Debug” you need to select “Start external program” and enter the swExplorer.exe file that you use to run SystemWeaver.

You need to login as an Architect so you can reach the menu for “Configure the explorer”.

In the next window you need to click in the checkbox “Active” and perhaps edit the configuration.

To start the view, you need to click on MulitInstanceItemView1 Config 1 or 2.

The view is empty and the config is not parsed, so this will only show you how to start this.

The line "textServerUrl.Text = MultiInstanceItemViewExample.ViewHost.GetServerUrl();" is only there to save the url to the host we are connected to. The result of "MultiInstanceItemViewExample.ViewHost.GetServerUrl()" can for example be "url:swap://sys7:1345/".

That is not important for the example. You don't need "textServerUrl" unless you want to save the url.

"textBlockConfig" is only there to save a property from the parsed configuration. So, it is not needed for the example.

I have made a runnable example that you could use. To run it, you should use a test-server and run it locally. You also need to have a SystemWeaver client on your PC.

To compile and run, you need to right click on the project in Visual Studio and select "Properties".

Under "Build" and "Output path" you need to select the swExplorerExtension folder from the folder where you have the SystemWeaver client.

Under “Debug” you need to select “Start external program” and enter the swExplorer.exe file that you use to run SystemWeaver.