Creating a new plugin project

Starting a project in Visual Basic .NET

To start a plugin project in Visual Basic .NET:

1	Start Visual Studio.

2	To create a new project, select File > New > Project.

 

3	For a Visual Basic project type, select Class Library from the templates, enter a Name for your project, and then click OK.

4	To successfully interact with VWorks Plugin, you must tell the compiler to generate a type library (TLB) and register it with COM as follows:

a	Edit the properties for your project by selecting Project > projectname Properties.

b	Click the Compile tab, and then select the Register for COM interop check box.

c	Save your changes.

5	Add a reference to the COM interface in your project as follows:

a	Select Project > Add Reference.

b	Click the COM tab.

c	Select the IWorksDriver 1.0 Type Library (IWorksDriver.dll).

d	If you want to implement the IVHooks interface, select the VHooksInterface 1.0 Type Library (VHooksInterface.dll).

Note: If you do not see the type library on the list, click the Browse button and then navigate to the …\Agilent Technologies\VWorks folder.

e

Click OK.

6	In the code window, add an Implements statement on the line after the Class statement in the following format:

Implements Interfacename.Interfacemember

Refer to the table in “Interfaces overview” for a list of VWorks Plugin interfaces. For all interfaces but IVHooks, use the IWorksDriver Namespace. For the IVHooks interface, use VHookInterfaceLib.

The following example shows the Implements statement for the IWorksDriver interface:

 

7	Press Enter.

Visual Studio automatically creates empty method bodies for each method defined in the interface.

8	Add your code to implement the interface’s methods.

Starting a project in C#

To start your project in C#:

1	Start Visual Studio.

2	To create a new file, select File > New > Project.

 

3	For a C# project type, select Class Library from the templates, enter a Name for your project, and then click OK.

4	To successfully interact with VWorks Plugin, you must tell the compiler to additionally generate a type library (TLB) and register it for COM interop as follows:

a	Edit the properties for your project by selecting Project > projectname Properties.

b	Click the Build tab, and then select the Register for COM interop check box.

c	Click the Application tab, and then click Assembly Information.

d	Select the Make assembly COM-Visible check box.

e	Save your changes.

5	Add a reference to the COM interface in your project as follows:

a	Select Project > Add Reference.

b	Click the COM tab.

c	Select the IWorksDriver 1.0 Type Library (IWorksDriver.dll).

d	If you want to implement the IVHooks interface, select the VHooksInterface 1.0 Type Library (VHooksInterface.dll).

Note: If you do not see the type library on the list, click the Browse button and then navigate to the …\Agilent Technologies\VWorks folder.

e

Click OK.

6	In the code window, add the interface declaration to the class at the end of the class declaration in the following format:

: Interfacename.Interfacemember

Right-click the Interfacemember and select Implement Interface > Implement Interface.

Visual Studio automatically creates empty method bodies for each method defined in the interface.

The following example shows the interface declaration for the IWorksDriver interface:

 

7	Add your code to implement the interface’s methods.

Loading your plugin into VWorks software

To load your plugin into VWorks software for testing:

1	Compile your plugin and copy the appropriate *.dll files into the …\Agilent Technologies\VWorks\Plugins folder as follows:

•	For Visual Basic, copy the project *.dll and TLB files

•	For C#, copy the project *.dll, TLB, and interop *.dll files

2	Now you can test your plugin using the IWorksTest utility and VWorks software. For more information about the IWorksTest utility, see “Testing and debugging” .

Related information

 

For information about...	See...
Defining the XML metadata for your plugin	“Information exchange”
Testing your VWorks software plugin	“Testing and debugging”