Simple MSelectionList question

[60degrees]

I'm having trouble retrieving a list of individual component names within the API. In Mel I can use the commands ls -sl -flatten; or filterExpand -ex true to list each component individually even if they where selected with a marque box. But the MSelectionList and MItSelectionList classes do not seem to give me that option.

For example. If I select all cvs on a sphere with a marque box and execute:
string $selection[] = ls -sl - fl;
I would get...
// Result: spher.cv[0] [0] spher.cv[0] [1] spher.cv[0] [2] spher.cv[0] [3] spher.cv[0] [4] spher.cv[1] [0] and so on...

With the same selection in the API:
MStringArray components;
MSelectionList selection;
MItSelectionList iter (selection, MFn::kComponents, &stat );

iter.getStrings(components);//inserts the names of selections into MStringArray

int size = components.length();// equals 1: sphere.cv[0:4] [0:5];

How do I iterate through each component with "sphere.cv[0:4] [0:5]"? Please don't say I have to parse the string.

60

[threediva]

Hi 60degrees,
I would use one of the component iterator classes (MItGeometry...I think for if you want points/CV/vertices, or if you want just that specific component type MItSurfaceCV) then loop over each selected object and deal with the compoents for them separately) Something like this

MDagPath node;
MObject components;
MSelectionList selectionCVs;
MGlobal::getActiveSelectionList(selectionCVs);
MItSelectionList iterCVs(selectionCVs, MFn::kSurfaceCVComponent);

//For each selected object
for ( ;!iterCVs.isDone();iterCVs.next() )
{
iterCVs.getDagPath(node, components );

//use appropriate iterator for component type
MItSurfaceCV nurbsCVs(node, components);

for (nurbsCVs.reset() ;!nurbsCVs.isDone();nurbsCVs.next())

{
//operate on each component
}

}

[60degrees]

hi ThreeDiva, thank you for your reply.

I think your code works great if I was going to apply a function to every component on a surface. What I need to do is access only those components selected in Maya UI. Here in lies the problem. If I select the components one at a time, my code works fine. If I use the selection tool with a marque box to select a limited number of cvs, or if the cvs selected are consecutive they will show up as only one element in the MSelectionList or MItSelectionList - and their names will be concactenated to something like this, "sphere.cv[0] [0:4]".

If I were to use Mel and call the command: move -r 0 1 0 sphere.cv[0] [0:4];, Maya would move every cv in row zero and column zero to four. But this isn't a problem with Mel because I can get the command: ls -sl -fl; to display the selection list as individual components, which would look something like this: //sphere.cv[0] [0] sphere.cv[0] [1] sphere.cv[0] [1] sphere.cv[0] [2] sphere.cv[3] [4] and then apply a function to work on components on an individual basis.

I can't seem to do this in the API. How would I iterate through each individual cv that lies in the same row as the other cvs selected if their dagpaths are concatenated to "sphere.cv[0] [0:4] " and there is only one element in the MSelectionList instance?

60

[threediva]

60,
Perhaps I am still misunderstanding your question.....Do you specifically need row info, or just want your components singly? The above code iterates singly thru only the selected components...not thru all components on the object. Is there a reason that you use the getStrings() method instead of pulling the selected components thru MObjects?

3

[60degrees]

hi ThreeDiva,
"Do you specifically need row info, or just want your components singly?" I want each component singly regardless if it was selected with a marque box or one at a time.

"Is there a reason that you use the getStrings() method instead of pulling the selected components thru MObjects? " - I used getStrings() to print out the name of the current selection. I used it to simply give me an idea of what was going on internally, which I think is what threw me off.

If I select 3 cvs with a marque box, get the string of current element in MSelectionList, maya would displayInfo "sphere.cv[0] [0:3]". This confused me because I thought I wouldn't get access to the individual components but rather to all 3 cvs as one.

I will give your code a try. Please let me know if I am missing anything. I appreciate your help.

60

[milodc]

MStringArray selected;
MGlobal::executeCommand("ls -selection -flatten", selected);