Metrics2 C++ Sample
Metrics is an MFC dialogue based application, which demonstrates calculation 
of distances, and nearest points between two objects and usage of 
IMetrics.Dist method. Metrics2 is an enhanced 
version of Metrics sample. Metrics2 demonstrates 
additionally how case when there are many points which have the same distance to 
another object is handled. It also demonstrates usage of "Include Children" 
property in distance calculations. 
Source code for Metrics sample is available in Samples\VC\Metrics2 folder of 
the installation directory. It is recommended to copy the folder to location 
outside of the installation folder.  
Running the application  
The application expects the model to have at least two top level objects. 
Names of the first and the second objects are displayed on the right hand side 
of the form. The Calculate button calculates distances between the two objects 
and displays the result in 3D view.  
By default pairs of nearest points are rendered connected with a red segment 
in 3D view. Check boxes in the Display group allow to turning on and off 
rendering shortest distances, nearest points and normals. 
When "Find All" check box is on, all pairs of nearest points (at the same 
distances in this sample) are found and displayed.
More. 
"Include Children" check box forces the algorithm to consider children of 
both objects as single object with its parent. In the default Dist,glm model the 
cylinder is a child of the box object. 
The Move Object control group allows changing position and orientation of 
either of the two objects. The movement is performed relative to the current 
location and orientation of the local frame of the object. Show check box 
displays or hides the local frame. 
The "Is Closer Than" controls allow to determine whether the objects are 
closer than the distance specified in the edit box.  
File menu allows loading new and saving the current model. 
Implementation
All DG Kernel related functionality is implemented inside the MetricsDlg 
class. The DG Kernel related data is initialized inside InitModelInfo() 
method, which uses GetModel
method of the DG Kernel control to obtain the root 
interface of the hierarchy. ISection
interfaces, representing generic DG Kernel object, are obtained for the first 
two top level objects of the model with the help of 
IModel.GetEntity and stored in 
m_iEntityFrom and m_iEntityTo member variables. 
Calculation of distance is performed in OnCalculate() handler, 
where IMetrics
interfaces are queried from relevant ISection 
and IMetrics.Dist is called. The result of 
the calculation is listed by returned IRelation
interface. 
In this application the calculated nearest points are displayed in 3D view 
with line segments and points. To improve performance of rendering
IRelation
is converted once to a pointer list and stored in m_pairList member. 
This work is done by CompileNearestData method, where pairs of the relation 
are iterated through, correspondent elements of the each per object list are 
retrieved and converted to the actual type of IVertex. 
The application uses ClientDraw
event, requested in OnInitDialog(), to add custom drawing of shortest 
segments and other elements to the scene. The drawing is performed inside 
OnClientDraw handler. In the OnClientDraw method the coordinates of each 
vertex are obtained via IVertex.GetVertexCoord. 
When rendering of normals, is requested they are obtained with a
IVertex.GetNormal call in 
DrawNormals(). 
Work related to the "Is Closer than" group of controls is done in 
OnCalculateCloserThan handler with the help of
IMetrics.IsCloserThan method. 
Note that movements of the current object are performed in OnMoveObject 
via IFrame2
rather than IFrame
to make movements relative to the current axes. 
  
                 |