What is Instancing

The Instancing Framework works with object instances that can be edited, that is, copied, inserted, or deleted. For example, it enables inserting objects, such as typing text onto a page, pasting from a clipboard, or dropping a circuit element onto a canvas. This framework allows making copies or clones of objects and deleting instances.

In ATF, such instancing is done through the IInstancingContext interface, which provides methods to determine if objects can be edited and to perform editing operations. Most ATF editing applications should implement IInstancingContext.

Because selected objects are the ones edited with IInstancingContext, an editing application needs to have a selection mechanism. It can do this by creating a context class that derives from EditingContext or SelectionContext, or implements ISelectionContext. For more general information on contexts, see ATF Contexts.

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