Blocks and Scripts

Scripting
,
1

I’m trying to figure out how I might be able to work with blocks in scripts and I’m not clear on what can and cannot be done.

I know I can issue a BlockEdit, but is there some way I can change to one of the nested blocks with a script?

Is there any way to close the BlockEdit, same as hitting the X on the BlockEdit dialog?

How about saving the block, same as hitting OK in the BlockEdit dialog?

Can I extract something like a surface from a nested block without doing a BlockEdit? I’ve noticed that in Rhino (not with a script) I can do things like Offset curve to a surface edge from a surface that is in a block… even in a nested block… most of the time, but not all the time. Other things like OffsetSrf also let me select things from inside the block and they work just fine… as long as DeleteInput=No. These things working seem to indicate that geometry inside the block is accessible without editing or exploding the block.

2

In my opinion/experience blocks in Rhino might be somehow confusing, as far as we only look at them in Rhino and in rhinoscriptsyntax.
To better undertand how they really work, I’d suggest to browse RhinoCommon and its samples:

e.g.

InstanceDefinitionTable Class (rhino3d.com)

ObjectTable Class (rhino3d.com)

InstanceObject Class (rhino3d.com)

InstanceDefinitionGeometry Class (rhino3d.com)

etc.