Pluggable PaletteSet

In ObjectARX .NET API, AutoCAD.Windows.PaletteSet class makes creating dockable floating winidow in AutoCAD a pretty easy thing to do. Many AutoCAD programmers use PaletteSet as a UI container to host a series of Palettes (Windows Form User Controls, usually).

Prior to AutoCAD 2009, PaletteSet is sealed class, e.g. it cannot be inherited as a base class to derive your own custom PaletteSet. Since AutoCAD 2009, PaletteSet class is not sealed any more. This opens a possiblity for our AutoCAD programmer to create a custom, generic PaletteSet UI container once, and develop pluggable palette based on business need and plug into the PaletteSet when needed (without any code change to the PaletteSet).

In this article, I'll show how to use interface to define a pluggable PaletteSet. Interface is commonly used to define a set operations/properties for different classes to implement. It is one of the OO programming basic concept and used in .NET programming very often. However, there are many AutoCAD programmers who may not be a professional software developers and may too focused on AutoCAD API itself and did not explore some "advanced" programming technique enough, such as using "Interface" to simplify development tasks.

For this article, I demonstrate how to use Interface to create a pluggable PaletteSet. In Visual Stadio 2008, I started a class library project called MyPaletteSet, which includes 3 code files.

First code file is a interface that defines Palette that will be hosted in the pluggable PaletteSet: IThePalette. Later, when creating a Win Form UserControl as Palette, the UserControl will implement the interface. This, no matter how do you design your UserControls and how different they would be, to the hosting PaletteSet, they all are IThePalette. That is, the hosting PaletteSet does not have knowledge of each individual UserControl it hosts, as long as the UserControl is an IThePalette.

Here is the code:

Code Snippet

1. namespace MyPaletteSet
2. {
3.     public interface IThePalette
4.     {
5.         ThePaletteSet PaletteSet { set; get; }
6.         string PaletteName { get; }
7.         void Close();
8.         void ClosePaletteSet();
9.     }
10. }

Second code file is the custom PaletteSet, derived from Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows.PaletteSet. As aforementioned, it is only possible when you use AutoCAD 2009 or later.

Here is the code:

Code Snippet

1. using System;
2. using System.Drawing;
3. using System.Collections.Generic;
4.  
5. using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows;
6. using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
7.  
8. namespace MyPaletteSet
9. {
10.     public class ThePaletteSet : PaletteSet
11.     {
12.         private static Guid _guid =
13.             new Guid("B9169E25-3EC1-442F-B518-46B2DA174A2F");
14.         private DocumentCollection _dwgManager = null;
15.         private List<IThePalette> _paltettes = new List<IThePalette>();
16.  
17.         public event DocumentCollectionEventHandler DwgBecameCurrent;
18.  
19.         public ThePaletteSet()
20.             : base("ThePaletteSet",null, _guid)
21.         {
22.             this.Style = PaletteSetStyles.ShowAutoHideButton |
23.                 PaletteSetStyles.ShowCloseButton |
24.                 PaletteSetStyles.Snappable;
25.  
26.             this.Opacity = 100;
27.             this.Dock = DockSides.None;
28.             this.DockEnabled = DockSides.None;
29.  
30.             this.Size = new Size(500, 400);
31.             this.MinimumSize = new Size(250, 200);
32.  
33.             _dwgManager = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices
34.                 .Application.DocumentManager;
35.  
36.           //Handle DocumentCollection events to bubble up the event for IThePalette
37.             _dwgManager.DocumentBecameCurrent +=
38.                 new DocumentCollectionEventHandler(_dwgManager_DocumentBecameCurrent);
39.         }
40.  
41.         private void _dwgManager_DocumentBecameCurrent(
42.             object sender, DocumentCollectionEventArgs e)
43.         {
44.             if (DwgBecameCurrent != null)
45.             {
46.                 DwgBecameCurrent(this, e);
47.             }
48.         }
49.  
50.         public void AddPalette(IThePalette palette)
51.         {
52.             bool exists = false;
53.             foreach (IThePalette plt in _paltettes)
54.             {
55.                 if (plt.PaletteName.ToUpper() == palette.PaletteName.ToUpper())
56.                 {
57.                     exists = true;
58.                     break;
59.                 }
60.             }
61.  
62.             if (!exists)
63.             {
64.                 System.Windows.Forms.Control ctl =
65.                     palette as System.Windows.Forms.Control;
66.  
67.                 //Add to paletteset
68.                 this.Add(palette.PaletteName, ctl);
69.  
70.                 _paltettes.Add(palette);
71.                 palette.PaletteSet = this;
72.             }
73.         }
74.  
75.         public void RemovePalette(string paletteName)
76.         {
77.             if (_paltettes.Count == 0) return;
78.  
79.             for (int i = 0; i < _paltettes.Count; i++)
80.             {
81.                 if (_paltettes[i].PaletteName.ToUpper() == paletteName.ToUpper())
82.                 {
83.                     System.Windows.Forms.Control ctl =
84.                         _paltettes[i] as System.Windows.Forms.Control;
85.  
86.                     this.Remove(i);
87.                     _paltettes.RemoveAt(i);
88.  
89.                     ctl.Dispose();
90.  
91.                     if (_paltettes.Count == 0) this.Visible = false;
92.  
93.                     return;
94.                 }
95.             }
96.         }
97.  
98.         public void ActivatePalette(string paletteName)
99.         {
100.             if (_paltettes.Count == 0) return;
101.  
102.             for (int i = 0; i < _paltettes.Count; i++)
103.             {
104.                 if (_paltettes[i].PaletteName.ToUpper() == paletteName.ToUpper())
105.                 {
106.                     this.Activate(i);
107.                     return;
108.                 }
109.             }
110.         }
111.     }
112. }

Pay attention to this line of code:

public event DocumentCollectionEventHandler DwgBecameCurrent;

and this line of code:

_dwgManager.DocumentBecameCurrent += new .......

Some of your Palettes may be designed to handle drawing based data. Since PaletteSet is a floating/modeless window, when current drawing changed in AutoCAD, the data shown in certain palette should be refreshed because of current drawing change (like AutoCAD's "Properties" window). Therefore, the this type of palette must be able to handle various events originally raised by DocumentCollection. So, here I simply handle the DocumentCollection events in the custom PaletteSet and bubble the events up. It is up to the individual Palette to subscribe the events when necessary. To simplfy the example, I only handle and raise the DocumentBecameCurrent event. In real production code, we could bubble up all the DocumentCollection events. The third code file is contains a static help method to create an instance of the custom PaletteSet. Here is the code:

Code Snippet

1. using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
2.  
3. [assembly: ExtensionApplication(typeof(MyPaletteSet.ThePaletteSetInitializer))]
4.  
5. namespace MyPaletteSet
6. {
7.     public class ThePaletteSetInitializer : IExtensionApplication
8.     {
9.         private static ThePaletteSet _paletteSet = null;
10.  
11.         public void Initialize()
12.         {
13.             //If necessary, add some code
14.         }
15.  
16.         public void Terminate()
17.         {
18.             if (_paletteSet != null) _paletteSet.Dispose();
19.         }
20.  
21.         public static ThePaletteSet CreateThePaltetteSet(IThePalette palette)
22.         {
23.             if (_paletteSet == null)
24.             {
25.                 _paletteSet = new ThePaletteSet();
26.             }
27.  
28.             //Add palette to the PaletteSet
29.             _paletteSet.AddPalette(palette);
30.  
31.             return _paletteSet;
32.         }
33.  
34.         public static ThePaletteSet CreateThePaltetteSet()
35.         {
36.             if (_paletteSet == null)
37.             {
38.                 _paletteSet = new ThePaletteSet();
39.             }
40.  
41.             return _paletteSet;
42.         }
43.     }
44. }

That's it. Now we have a generic, pluggable PaletteSet. Build the project. From now on, when you want to build a suite of your own tools that have UI to be hosted in a PaletteSet, you can focus to the development of the Palette (Win Form UserControl) and never need to update the PaletteSet host and redeploy it. Let's see a couple of sample palettes. Sample 1: FirstPalette. Start a new class library command. It can be in the same solution as the "MyPaletteSet". But to better understand the "pluggable" nature, it is recommended to do this project in different solution. This will show that you can really focus on developing your Palette without having to update the PaletteSet at all. Once the project created, set reference to the DLL generated in "MyPaletteSet" project (MyPaletteSet.dll). Add a Win Form UserControl, called FirstPalette. It looks like:

Here is the code of the UserControl:

Code Snippet

1. using System;
2. using System.Windows.Forms;
3. using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
4. using MyPaletteSet;
5.  
6. namespace FirstPaletteTool
7. {
8.     public partial class FirstPalette : UserControl, IThePalette
9.     {
10.         private ThePaletteSet _parent = null;
11.  
12.         public FirstPalette()
13.         {
14.             InitializeComponent();
15.  
16.             Document dwg = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.
17.                 Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
18.             if (dwg != null) txtFileName.Text = dwg.Name;
19.         }
20.  
21.         #region IThePalette Members
22.  
23.         public string PaletteName
24.         {
25.             get { return "First Palette"; }
26.         }
27.  
28.         public ThePaletteSet PaletteSet
29.         {
30.             get
31.             {
32.                 return _parent;
33.             }
34.             set
35.             {
36.                 _parent = value;
37.                 _parent.DwgBecameCurrent +=
38.                     new DocumentCollectionEventHandler(
39.                         _parent_DwgBecameCurrent);
40.             }
41.         }
42.  
43.         void _parent_DwgBecameCurrent(object sender,
44.             DocumentCollectionEventArgs e)
45.         {
46.             txtFileName.Text = e.Document.Name;
47.         }
48.  
49.         public void Close()
50.         {
51.             if (_parent != null)
52.             {
53.                 _parent.RemovePalette(this.PaletteName);
54.             }
55.         }
56.  
57.         public void ClosePaletteSet()
58.         {
59.             if (_parent != null) _parent.Visible = false;
60.         }
61.  
62.         #endregion
63.  
64.         private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
65.         {
66.             this.ClosePaletteSet();
67.         }
68.  
69.         private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
70.         {
71.             this.Close();
72.         }
73.     }
74. }

Then add another class file into the project: FirstPaletteCommand. Here is the code:

Code Snippet

1. using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
2. using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
3.  
4. using MyPaletteSet;
5.  
6. [assembly: CommandClass(typeof(FirstPaletteTool.FirstPaletteCommand))]
7.  
8. namespace FirstPaletteTool
9. {
10.     public class FirstPaletteCommand
11.     {
12.         private static ThePaletteSet _pltSet;
13.  
14.         [CommandMethod("StartFirst", CommandFlags.Session)]
15.         public static void RunThisMethod()
16.         {
17.             Document dwg = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
18.  
19.             try
20.             {
21.                 FirstPalette plt = new FirstPalette();
22.  
23.                 _pltSet = MyPaletteSet.
24.                     ThePaletteSetInitializer.CreateThePaltetteSet(plt);
25.                 _pltSet.Visible = true;
26.                 _pltSet.ActivatePalette(plt.PaletteName);
27.             }
28.             catch(System.Exception ex)
29.             {
30.                 dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\nError: " + ex.Message);
31.             }
32.         }
33.     }
34. }

Since I want this palette to show per-drawing based data, thus, I make this palette subscribe event "DwgBecameCurrent" raised by the hosting PaletteSet (MyPaletteSet). As you can see, no matter what UI components you place onto this palette (UserControl) and what code logic you will let this palette to execute, you can plug the palette into a common PaletteSet easily. New, let me create another palette: SecondPalette. Start a new class library project, called "SecondPaletteTool", set reference to "MyPaletteSet.dll". Add a Win Form UserControl, which looks like:

Its code is here:

Code Snippet

1. using System;
2. using System.Windows.Forms;
3.  
4. using MyPaletteSet;
5.  
6. namespace SecondPaletteTool
7. {
8.     public partial class SecondPalette : UserControl, IThePalette
9.     {
10.         private ThePaletteSet _parent = null;
11.  
12.         public SecondPalette()
13.         {
14.             InitializeComponent();
15.         }
16.  
17.         #region IThePalette Members
18.  
19.         public ThePaletteSet PaletteSet
20.         {
21.             get
22.             {
23.                 return _parent;
24.             }
25.             set
26.             {
27.                 _parent = value;
28.             }
29.         }
30.  
31.         public string PaletteName
32.         {
33.             get { return "Second Palette"; }
34.         }
35.  
36.         public void Close()
37.         {
38.             if (_parent != null)
39.             {
40.                 _parent.RemovePalette(this.PaletteName);
41.             }
42.         }
43.  
44.         public void ClosePaletteSet()
45.         {
46.             if (_parent != null) _parent.Visible = false;
47.         }
48.  
49.         #endregion
50.  
51.         private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
52.         {
53.             this.Close();
54.         }
55.  
56.         private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
57.         {
58.             this.ClosePaletteSet();
59.         }
60.     }
61. }

Notice that this palette does not subscribe event raised by hosting PaletteSet. Add a class into the project: SecondPaletteCommand:

Code Snippet

1. using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
2. using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
3.  
4. using MyPaletteSet;
5.  
6. [assembly: CommandClass(typeof(SecondPaletteTool.SecondPaletteCommand))]
7.  
8. namespace SecondPaletteTool
9. {
10.     public class SecondPaletteCommand
11.     {
12.         private static ThePaletteSet _pltSet;
13.  
14.         [CommandMethod("StartSecond", CommandFlags.Session)]
15.         public static void RunThisMethod()
16.         {
17.             Document dwg = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
18.  
19.             try
20.             {
21.                 SecondPalette plt = new SecondPalette();
22.  
23.                 _pltSet = MyPaletteSet.
24.                     ThePaletteSetInitializer.CreateThePaltetteSet(plt);
25.                 _pltSet.Visible = true;
26.                 _pltSet.ActivatePalette(plt.PaletteName);
27.             }
28.             catch (System.Exception ex)
29.             {
30.                 dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\nError: " + ex.Message);
31.             }
32.         }
33.     }
34. }

As you can see, no matter how different the second palette from the first one, it can be plugged into MyPaletteSet in the same way, because, to MyPaletteSet, these 2 palettes are the same type: IMyPalette.

Now, start AutoCAD and "NETLOAD" the 2 palette projects (e.g. load FirstPaletteTool.dll and SecondPaletteTool.dll separately, as if the 2 DLLs are deployed and loaded separately). Enter command "StartFirst" and/or "StartSecond". You can see the corresponding palette will be shown in a common PaletteSet. If you open more than one drawings in AutoCAD and switch the active drawing, you can see the file name shown on the "First Palette" changes accordingly, because this palette handles DwgBecameCurrent event raised by the hosting PaletteSet.

From now on, whenever I want to develop a new AutoCAD tool that would have a modeless window as UI, I can go ahead to develop the UI as Win Form UserControl. Once it is done, I can simply plug it into the common hosting PaletteSet. Since the newly developed palette is in its own project, it can be deployed independently to all existing palettes, yet they are hosted in the same PaletteSet.

In the FirstPalette, I have to add "using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;" because the palette has to comsume DocumentCollectionEventArgs in the DwgBecameCurrent event handler. In real development code, it is best practice to not let the UserControl to be tied to AutoCAD's dll. In this case, it is better to define my own custom EvenArgs and my own custom EventHandler in the MyPaletteSet project and use them to bubble up the various DocumentCollection events.

Update note: due to the original posted code format, a key part of the code did not show correctly, which were the topic of the comments below. Now I updated the code posting format and show the line of code in red, which was previously shown wrong. - Norman, 2011-01-03.

Command Method: Static Or Not Static

When starting to use AutoCAD .NET API, the very first code people would be writing is the the command method in a class, e.g. a public method decorated with [CommandMethod()] attribute. However, the command method can be either "static/Shared" (C#/VB.NET) or not "static/Shared" (instance method). Also, in most smaple code one can find, there is rarely one that show the class' constructor is used.


It also puzzles some beginners if the command method is not a "static" one: why an instance method (non-static method) can be called in command without the code creating an object instance of the class?


Here is what the AutoCAD .NET API document has to say:


[quote]
For an instance command method, the method's enclosing type is instantiated separately for each open document. This means that each document gets a private copy of the command's instance data. Thus there is no danger of overwriting document-specific data when the user switches documents. If an instance method needs to share data globally, it can do so by declaring static or Shared member variables.
For a static command method, the managed wrapper runtime module does not need to instantiate the enclosing type. A single copy of the method's data is used, regardless of the document context. Static commands normally do not use per-document data and do not require special consideration for MDI mode.
[/quote]
 
With a few lines of very simple code, we can see what the difference betweem static method and instance command method.
 
Here is the code:

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;

namespace CommandClassTest
{
    public class MyCommand
    {
        private static int _staticCount = 0;
        private int _instanceCount = 0;

        public MyCommand()
        {
            Document dwg = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.
                Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\n**************");
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\nConstructing...");
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\n**************");
        }

        [CommandMethod("StaticCommand", CommandFlags.Session)]
        public static void RunThisMethod1()
        {
            _staticCount++;
            Document dwg = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.
                Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\n----------------------------");
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\n" + dwg.Name);
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\nStatic command executed.");
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\nStatic command count: {0}", _staticCount);
        }

        [CommandMethod("InstanceCommand", CommandFlags.Session)]
        public void RunThisMethod2()
        {
            _instanceCount++;
            Document dwg = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.
                Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\n----------------------------");
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\n" + dwg.Name);
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\nInstance command executed.");
            dwg.Editor.WriteMessage("\nInstance command count: {0}", _instanceCount);
        }
    }
}

Let's run this code in AutoCAD:

1. Start AutoCAD and "NETLOAD" to DLL;
2. With current drawing "Drawing1.dwg", enter command "InstanceCommand", the command line shows:

Command: instancecommand

**************
Constructing...
**************
----------------------------
Drawing1.dwg
Instance command executed.
Instance command count: 1

As you can see, the class' constructor is called due to the instance (non-static) command method.

3. Now, run "InstanceCommand" command again with "Drawing1.dwg". We now can guess that the constructor of the class will not run again since the class instance has already been created with this drawing (Drawing1.dwg), and the count for instance command will increment to 2. Here is the command line response, as expected:

Command: instancecommand
-------------------------------
Drawing1.dwg
Instance command executed.
Instance command count: 2

4. Let's run the static command. The command line shows:
 
Command: staticcommand
--------------------------
Drawing1.dwg
Static command executed.
Static command count: 1
 
5. Now, open a new drawing in AutoCAD: Drawing2.dwg.
6. Run the static command. we would expect the static command count to increment to 2, like this:
 
Command: staticcommand

--------------------------
Drawing2.dwg
Static command executed.
Static command count: 2

7. Run instance command in Drawing2.dwg. the command shows:
 
Command: instancecommand

**************
Constructing...
**************
----------------------------
Drawing2.dwg
Instance command executed.
Instance command count: 1


As we can see, the class' constructor is called again, because the instance command runs in drawing2.dwg the first time.
 
8. Now go back to drawing1.dwg.
9. Run static command. we surely know the static command count will be 3, in spite of drawing switching:
 
Command: staticcommand

--------------------------
Drawing1.dwg
Static command executed.
Static command count: 2

10. Run instance command in drawing1.dwg, expecting that the instance command count in drawing1.dwg will be 3 and no class' constructor is called. Here is command line shows:
 
Command: instancecommand

-------------------------------
Drawing1.dwg
Instance command executed.
Instance command count: 3

Summery:
 
If your class/class method needs to manipulate data/object accross drawings in an AutoCAD session, you use static method and the data/object can be static data/object member of the class. If your static data/object member of the class has to be initialized, you cannot do it in the class' constructor. In this case, you usually delare the static data/object to a default value/null like this:
 
private static int _count=0;
 
or
 
private static MyObject _obj=null;
 
Then, in the static command method, you do:
 
if (_count==0)
{
    //Initialize to other value if necessary
}
//then use the static data accross drawings
 
or
 
if (_obj==null)
{
    _obj=new MyObject(); //instantiate the data object if it hasn't been.
}
//the use the static object accross drawings
 
If the data/object to be manipulated by the class/class method is drawing specific, for example a drawing tracking/index data object, then you can declare the data/object as the class' data/object member (non-static), and initilize it in the class' constructor. You use instance method to manipulate the data/object

Highlight AutoCAD Entity in Your Own Way with Highlight Overrule

Highlighting an AutoCAD entity is usually used as a visual hint that the entity is selected by user. Sometimes, when you develop an AutoCAD application, you may want to highlight some entities in interest in a way that is a bit different from AutoCAD does regularly, so that the entities would visually stand out to catch user's attention.

One way to do your own entity highlighting would be to use TransientGraphics object, which I have discussed previously here.

Now, I'd like show how to customize entity highlighting with Overrule, more precisely, HighlightOverrule. Do use Overrule, you need to use AutoCAD 2010 or later.

Scenario: there are polylines drawing in default color (white). When the mouse cursor hovers on it or clicks on it, AutoCAD highlights the polyline in the same color. I'd like the color to be different when highkighted.

Here is the code:

class MyHighlightOverrule.cs

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;

namespace HighlightOverruleSample
{
    public class MyHighlightOverrule : HighlightOverrule
    {
        private int _colorIndex = 1;
        private int _oldColorIndex;

        public MyHighlightOverrule()
        {
            AddOverrule(RXClass.GetClass(typeof(Polyline)), this, true);
        }

        public int ColorIndex
        {
            set { _colorIndex = value; }
            get { return _colorIndex; }
        }

        public override void Highlight(
            Entity entity, FullSubentityPath subId, bool highlightAll)
        {
            Polyline pline = entity as Polyline;
            if (pline == null) return;

            Database db= entity.Database;
            Document dwg=Application.DocumentManager.MdiDocument;

            using (DocumentLock dl = dwg.LockDocument())
            {
                using (Transaction tran = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
                {
                    pline.UpgradeOpen();
                    _oldColorIndex = pline.ColorIndex;
                    pline.ColorIndex = _colorIndex;
                    pline.DowngradeOpen();
                }
            }

            base.Highlight(entity, subId, highlightAll);
        }

        public override void Unhighlight(
            Entity entity, FullSubentityPath subId, bool highlightAll)
        {
            Polyline pline = entity as Polyline;
            if (pline == null) return;

            Database db = entity.Database;
            Document dwg=Application.DocumentManager.MdiDocument;

            using (DocumentLock dl = _dwg.LockDocument())
            {
                using (Transaction tran = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
                {
                    pline.UpgradeOpen();
                    pline.ColorIndex = _oldColorIndex;
                    pline.DowngradeOpen();
                }
            }

            base.Unhighlight(entity, subId, highlightAll);
        }
    }
}

class Commands.cs

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;

namespace HighlightOverruleSample
{
    public class Commands
    {
        private static MyHighlightOverrule _hlOverRule = null;

        [CommandMethod("MyHLOn")]
        public void TurnOnMyHighlight()
        {
            if (_hlOverRule == null)
            {
                _hlOverRule = new MyHighlightOverrule();
            }

            MyHighlightOverrule.Overruling = true;
        }

        [CommandMethod("MyHLOff")]
        public void TurnOffMyHighlight()
        {
            if (_hlOverRule == null) return;

            MyHighlightOverrule.Overruling = false;
        }

        [CommandMethod("HLColor")]
        public void SetHighlightColor()
        {
            Document dwg = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.
                Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

            Editor ed = dwg.Editor;

            PromptIntegerOptions opt = new PromptIntegerOptions(
                "\nEnter color index (a number form 0 to 7):");

            PromptIntegerResult res = ed.GetInteger(opt);

            if (res.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
            {
                _hlOverRule.ColorIndex = res.Value;
            }
        }
    }
}

To see the custom highlight effect, click here.

Of course, you'd be very likely show custom highlight only with polylines (or whatever entities, for that matters) in interest, instead of all polylines. You can use one of the SetXXXXXXFilter() methods of the Overrule object to filter out the polylines/entities to be highlighted in customized way.

Besides changing color, you can change the polyline's other properties that have visual effect when being changed, such as thickness. Well, do remember to save the properties being changed in the overriden Highlight() method and restore them back in the overriden Unhighlight() method.