Zero touch - problem in constructing a new object using a library

1

Hello,
I am trying to write a zero touch plugin that takes input parameters of a cuboid and three floating numbers (x y z), and once exported to a DLL, the library will create a new cuboid which is the result of translating the original cuboid by the direction given by the three numbers. I am aware of the Objects section in the following tutorial

but that example cannot be built.

My code begins with:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Autodesk.DesignScript.Geometry;

namespace TestZeroTouchDynamo
{
    public class MyCube1
    {
        public Autodesk.DesignScript.Geometry.Cuboid _c;

The following function is based on the above tutorial.
public static MyCube1 ByAnotherCuboid1(Autodesk.DesignScript.Geometry.Cuboid c, float x, float y, float z)
{
_c = c;
_c.Translate(x, y, z);
}

This cannot be built, and I see errors about the use of non-static fields in a static function, and the lack of a return value.

1>\MyCube1.cs(17,13,17,15): error CS0120: An object reference is required for the non-static field, method, or property ‘MyCube1._c’
1>\MyCube1.cs(18,13,18,15): error CS0120: An object reference is required for the non-static field, method, or property ‘MyCube1._c’
1>\MyCube1.cs(15,31,15,47): error CS0161: ‘MyCube1.ByAnotherCuboid1(Cuboid, float, float, float)’: not all code paths return a value

So I modified it as follows (which can be built)
public static MyCube1 ByAnotherCuboid(Autodesk.DesignScript.Geometry.Cuboid c, float x, float y, float z)
{
MyCube1 a = new MyCube1();
a._c = c;
a._c.Translate(x,y,z);
return a;
}

And use the library in Dynamo as follows (please note the MyCube1 block), but I only see the highlighted original cube.

978×406 112 KB

If I add yet another function:
public Autodesk.DesignScript.Geometry.Cuboid GetCuboid()
{
return _c;
}

Calling this will crash Dynamo Studio. Maybe I need to dispose something here.

So I was wondering how I can achieve the desired result.

Thank you.

Best regards,
Nicholas

PS: Apologies for the code formatting, I am not very sure how to use the toolbar to format a code snippet.

2

here is what your code should look like:

public class mycubefunctions
{

public static Autodesk.Geometry.Cuboid ByAnotherCubeAndOffset( Cuboid cuboid, double x, double y, double z)

return cuboid.translate(x,y,z);

}

3

Thanks a lot Michael for your reply.

There’s a typecast-related error in your code. But I modified it as follows:

public static Cuboid ByAnotherCubeAndOffset(Cuboid cuboid, double x, double y, double z)
{
    return cuboid.Translate(x, y, z) as Cuboid;
}

and it works. I can also declare static fields in the class (for example a static double extraX and offset the cube by x+extraX) and use them in Dynamo.