Softimage SDK Programmer's Guide > Customizing Softimage using the SDK > Custom Commands >

# Working with Arguments

For scripted commands, the Execute callback takes the same arguments as the command. The order in which you add the arguments determines how Softimage passes data into the Execute callback.

    // [ JScript ]
    function MyCommand_Init( ctxt )
    {
    	// Get the Command object from the callback context
    	var oCmd;
    	oCmd = ctxt.Source;

    	// Get the ArgumentCollection
    	var oArgs;
    	oArgs = oCmd.Arguments;

    	oArgs.AddWithHandler("Arg0","Collection");
    	oArgs.Add( "Arg1", siArgumentInput, false );

    	return true;
    }
    function MyCommand_Execute( Arg0, Arg1 )
    {
    	...
    }

A C++ command gets a Context object that contains the command arguments in its Arguments attribute:

    // C++
    XSIPLUGINCALLBACK CStatus MyCommand_Execute( CRef& in_ctxt )
    {
    	Context ctxt( in_ctxt );
    	CValueArray args = ctxt.GetAttribute(L"Arguments");

    	CValue objects = args[0];
    	CValue flag = args[1];

    #ifdef _DEBUG
    	Application app;
    	for (long i=0; i<args.GetCount(); i++)
    	{
    		app.LogMessage( L"Arg" + CValue(i).GetAsText() + L" : "
    			+ L"DataType = " + CValue( (long)args[i].m_t ).GetAsText() );
    	}
    #endif
    	...
    	return CStatus::OK;
    }

The Arguments attribute is a CValueArray. Each element of this array is a CValue object that stores an argument, which could be a boolean, numeric, or string value, a single Softimage object, or a collection of objects. For example, if you add an argument using the Collection argument handler:

    oArgs.AddWithHandler( L"objects", L"Collection" );

then in the CValueArray of arguments, there will be a CValue element that stores a collection of objects:

    XSIPLUGINCALLBACK CStatus MyCommand_Execute( CRef& in_ctxt )
    {
    	Context ctxt( in_ctxt );
    	CValueArray args = ctxt.GetAttribute(L"Arguments");

    	// CValue::operator CValueArray() automatically converts
    	// args[0], which is a CValue, to a CValueArray
    	CValueArray objects = args[0];
    	for (long i=0; i<objects.GetCount(); i++)
    	{
    		// objects[i] is a CValue object that holds a CRef to an object
    		CRef ref = objects[i];			// CValue::operator CRef() does the conversion for us
    		if ( ref.GetClassID() == siX3DObjectID )
    		{
    			// Construct an X3DObject from the CRef
    			X3DObject obj( ref );
    			...
    		}
    	}
    	...
    }

Note that if you use the SDK Command Wizard to generate your C++ command, the wizard always assigns the arguments to CValue objects like this:

    CValue Arg0 = args[0];
    CValue Arg1 = args[1];

However, args[i] is a CValue, and the CValue class provides a set of conversion operators that allow you to do this instead:

    CValueArray objects = args[0];	// arg that uses the Collection arg handler
    CRef obj_ref = args[1];// arg that uses the SingleObj arg handler
    bool flag = args[1];// boolean arg
    CString name = args[2];// string arg