Create nodes and a conductor

This program demonstrates how to create two nodes and connect them with a conductor. To try it, create a .NET Framework C# console application that references OpenTD, add the following code, then compile and run it.

using OpenTD;
namespace OpenTDGettingStarted
{
    class CreateNodesAndConductors
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var td = new ThermalDesktop();
            td.Connect();
            var n1 = td.CreateNode();
            n1.Submodel = "bar";
            n1.Id = 100;
            n1.Update();
            var n2 = td.CreateNode();
            n2.Submodel = "bar";
            n2.Id = 110;
            n2.Origin = new Point3d(1, 1, 0);
            n2.Update();
            var c = td.CreateConductor(n1, n2);
            c.Submodel = "bar";
            c.Value = 10;
            c.Update();
        }
    }
}

How did this program work? After starting a new instance of TD, we created two Node objects, n1 and n2, using theCreateNode() method.

When TD created each node, it set the Node.Handle property to a unique identifier, the same string you may have noticed in the TD Model Browser:

Since TD allows duplicate SINDA names for some entities, OpenTD uses AutoCAD handles to identify most entities uniquely. (See the Work with connections, handles, markers, and domains section for a detailed discussion of handles and related concepts.)

Next, we called the CreateConductor method. This method accepts two Connections representing the nodes connected to the conductor. Each Connection consists of a handle and a marker. As mentioned above, a handle is a unique identifier for a TD entity. A marker is an integer that determines how something is connected such as Top or XMAX. (See the Work with connections, handles, markers, and domains section)

When we called CreateConductor, we simply passed it our two nodes, n1 and n2. OpenTD knows how to implicitly create new Connections from Nodes by reading the Node.Handle property and assuming a default value for theConnection.Marker property, which is fine because node connections do not use markers. (See the Execute TD COM commands section for a discussion of implicit casting.)