AutoCAD DevBlog

AutoCAD 2019 Migration Steps : NET & ObjectARX

By Madhukar Moogala

By now most of the developers might have got chance to peek into AutoCAD 2019.

Unfortunately some users experienced issues with License Management and Downloading.

The problem is being pursued rigorously by our Installation and Deployment teams.

Please find the video tutorial which demonstrates about VS 2017 toolset requirements and other basic migration issues.

 

Pattern generation of linetype with text on polyline entity

By Deepak Nadig

Generating linetype with text on a Polyline entity could result in linetype pattern generated continuously across all vertices as below image. This is because the linetype generation property of Polyline is ON              

Interactively this can be changed by issuing PEDIT command, setting Ltype gen as Off.

Command: PEDIT
Enter an option [Open/Join/Width/Edit vertex/Fit/Spline/Decurve/Ltype gen/Reverse/Undo]: L
Enter polyline linetype generation option [ON/OFF] <On>: OFF

 

 

Via .NET API, Polyline entity has no property to change this. Thanks to Polyline2d.LinetypeGenerationOn property, we can convert the Polyline entity to Polyline2d and set this property false. Code sample shown below with the output image.  

 

// code modified from the link 
//http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interface/2008/01/creating-a-comp.html
[CommandMethod("CCL")]
public void CreateComplexLinetype()
{
    Document doc =
        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
    Database db = doc.Database;
    Editor ed = doc.Editor;
    Transaction tr =
        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();
    using (tr)
    {
        TextStyleTable tt =
            (TextStyleTable)tr.GetObject(
            db.TextStyleTableId,
            OpenMode.ForRead
            );
        LinetypeTable lt =
            (LinetypeTable)tr.GetObject(
            db.LinetypeTableId,
            OpenMode.ForWrite
            );
        LinetypeTableRecord ltr =
            new LinetypeTableRecord();

        ltr.Name = "COLD_WATER_SUPPLY";
        ltr.AsciiDescription =
            "Cold water supply ---- CW ---- CW ---- CW ----";
        ltr.PatternLength = 0.9;
        ltr.NumDashes = 3;
        // Dash #1
        ltr.SetDashLengthAt(0, 0.5);
        // Dash #2
        ltr.SetDashLengthAt(1,-0.2);
        ltr.SetShapeStyleAt(1, tt["Standard"]);
        ltr.SetShapeNumberAt(1, 0);
        ltr.SetShapeScaleAt(1, 0.1);
        ltr.SetTextAt(1, "CW");
        ltr.SetShapeRotationAt(1, 0);
        ltr.SetShapeOffsetAt(1, new Vector2d(0, -0.05));
        // Dash #3
        ltr.SetDashLengthAt(2, -0.2);

        // Add the new linetype to the linetype table
        ObjectId ltId = lt.Add(ltr);                
        tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(ltr, true);
        // Create a test line with this linetype
        BlockTable bt =
            (BlockTable)tr.GetObject(
            db.BlockTableId,
            OpenMode.ForRead
            );
        BlockTableRecord btr =
            (BlockTableRecord)tr.GetObject(
            bt[BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace],
    OpenMode.ForWrite
    );

        using (Polyline acPoly = new Polyline())
        {
            acPoly.SetDatabaseDefaults(db);
            acPoly.AddVertexAt(0, new Point2d(0, 0), 0, 0, 0);
            acPoly.AddVertexAt(1, new Point2d(0, 2), 0, 0, 0);
            acPoly.AddVertexAt(2, new Point2d(2, 2), 0, 0, 0);
            acPoly.AddVertexAt(3, new Point2d(2, 0), 0, 0, 0);
            acPoly.Closed = true;
            btr.AppendEntity(acPoly);
            tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(acPoly, false);
            Polyline2d poly2 = acPoly.ConvertTo(true);
            poly2.LinetypeGenerationOn = false;
            poly2.LinetypeId = ltId;
            tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(poly2, true);
        }
        tr.Commit();
    }
}

Result :

How to Detect CenterLine and CenterMark Entities

By Madhukar Moogala

CenterLine and CenterMark are two new entities based on AcDbBlockReferenes introduced in AutoCAD 2017, they are basically unnamed blockreference catering different purpose.

For more information on these two entities – CenterLine & CenterMark

In this post we will look at how to identifying if the underlying entities is a CenterLine or CenterMark objects, unfortunately there isn’t a public API to get to know what is the type of the Entity.

However through using Non-Com property system we can figure out if the entity is whether a CenterLine or CenterMark.

void testIt() {
       
       ads_name ename;
       ads_point pt;
       AcDbObjectId objId = AcDbObjectId::kNull;
       AcDbEntity* pEnt = nullptr;
       if (RTNORM != acedEntSel(_T(""), ename, pt)) return; 
       if (!eOkVerify(acdbGetObjectId(objId, ename))) return;
       if (!eOkVerify(acdbOpenAcDbEntity(pEnt, objId, AcDb::kForRead))) return;
       isCenterLineOrNot(pEnt);
       
}

Utils

void getAttInfo(const AcRxAttribute * att,
const AcRxObject * member, 
AcString & attInfo)
{
       if (att->isA() == AcRxCOMAttribute::desc())
       {
             AcRxCOMAttribute * a = AcRxCOMAttribute::cast(att);
             attInfo.format(_T("\n%s - %s"), att->isA()->name(), a->name());
       }
       else if (att->isA() == AcRxUiPlacementAttribute::desc())
       {
             AcRxUiPlacementAttribute* a = AcRxUiPlacementAttribute::cast(att);
             attInfo.format(
                    _T("\n%s - %s - %f"),
                    att->isA()->name(),
                    a->getCategory(member),
                    a->getWeight(member));
       }
       else
       {
             if (att->isA() != nullptr)
             {
                    attInfo.format(_T("\n%s"),
		    att->isA()->name());
             }
       }
}
 
void printValues(AcRxObject * entity, 
const AcRxMember * member, 
Adesk::Boolean& isCenterLine)
{
       Acad::ErrorStatus err = Acad::eOk;
 
       AcString strValue;
       AcRxProperty * prop = AcRxProperty::cast(member);
       if (prop != NULL)
       {
             AcRxValue value;
 
             if ((err = prop->getValue(entity, value)) == Acad::eOk)
             {
                    ACHAR * szValue = NULL;
 
                    int buffSize = value.toString(NULL, 0);
                    if (buffSize > 0)
                    {
                           buffSize++;
                           szValue = new ACHAR[buffSize];
                           value.toString(szValue, buffSize);
                    }
 
                    
                    strValue.format(_T("%s = %s"),
		    value.type().name(),
		    (szValue == NULL) ? _T("none") : szValue);
 
                    if (szValue)
                           delete szValue;
             }
             else
             {
                    strValue.format(_T("Error Code = %d"), err);
             }
       }
 
       AcString str;
       str.format(_T("\n%s - %s [%s]"), member->isA()->name(),
		  member->name(), strValue.kACharPtr());
       AcString memberName;
       memberName.format(_T("%s"), member->name());
       if (0 == memberName.collateNoCase(_T("IsCenterLine")))
       {
             AcString isTrue(strValue.kACharPtr());
             if (isTrue.find(_T("1")) > 0) {
                    isCenterLine = Adesk::kTrue;
             }
 
       }
       acutPrintf(str);
 
       const AcRxAttributeCollection & atts = member->attributes();
 
       for (int i = 0; i < atts.count(); i++)
       {
             const AcRxAttribute * att = atts.getAt(i);
             AcString attInfo;
             getAttInfo(att, member, attInfo);
             acutPrintf(attInfo);
       }
       
       if (member->children() != NULL)
       {
             for (int i = 0; i < member->children()->length(); i++)
             {
                    const AcRxMember * subMember = 
                    member->children()->at(i);
                    printValues(entity, subMember, isCenterLine);
             }
       }
}
Adesk::Boolean isCenterLineOrNot(AcDbEntity* pEnt)
{
       AcRxMemberIterator * iter = 
       AcRxMemberQueryEngine::theEngine()->newMemberIterator(pEnt);
       Adesk::Boolean isCenterLine = Adesk::kFalse;
       for (; !iter->done(); iter->next())
       {
             printValues(pEnt, iter->current(), isCenterLine);
       }
       return isCenterLine;
}

Update:

Thanks to Engineering Colleague Huyau Liu for this tip

enum CenterType
{
	CenterMark = 0,
	CenterLine
};
AcString SmartCenters[] = { L"CenterMark", L"CenterLine" };

Acad::ErrorStatus getTypeOfSmartCenterObject(const AcDbObjectId& blockRefObjId , CenterType& type)
{
	AcDbSmartObjectPointer pCenter(blockRefObjId, AcDb::kForRead, true);
	if (pCenter.openStatus() != Acad::eOk)
		return Acad::eNullEntityPointer;

	AcDbObjectIdArray actionIds;
	Acad::ErrorStatus err = AcDbAssocAction::getActionsDependentOnObject(pCenter, false, true, actionIds);
	if (!eOkVerify(err))
		return err;

	for (int i = 0; i < actionIds.length(); i++)
	{
		AcDbObjectId actionBody = AcDbAssocAction::actionBody(actionIds[i]);
		auto objClass = actionBody.objectClass();
		AcString objClassName = objClass->name();

		if (objClassName == L"AcDbCenterMarkActionBody") {
			type = CenterType::CenterMark; 
			return Acad::eOk;
		}
		else if (objClassName == L"AcDbCenterLineActionBody") {
			type = CenterType::CenterLine;
			return Acad::eOk;
		}
		else;
	}

	return Acad::eNotApplicable;

}

  CenterType type;
  if (eOkVerify(getTypeOfSmartCenterObject(objId, type)))
  {
   acutPrintf(_T("CenterType : %s"), SmartCenters[type].kACharPtr());
  }		

.NET Port courtesy Alexander Rivilis, Thank you :)

public void TestCenter()
{
Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
if (doc == null) return;
Editor ed = doc.Editor;
Database db = doc.Database;
PromptEntityOptions prOpt = new PromptEntityOptions("Select block: ");
prOpt.SetRejectMessage("Not a block!");
prOpt.AddAllowedClass(typeof(BlockReference), true);
PromptEntityResult prRes = ed.GetEntity(prOpt);
if (prRes.Status != PromptStatus.OK) return;
using (Transaction tr = doc.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
{
    var br = 
    tr.GetObject(prRes.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead) as BlockReference;
    try
    {
        var idCols = AssocAction.GetActionsDependentOnObject(br, false, true);
        if (idCols.Count > 0)
        {
            foreach (ObjectId id in idCols)
            {
                ObjectId idAct = AssocAction.GetActionBody(id);
                if (idAct.ObjectClass.Name == "AcDbCenterMarkActionBody")
                {
                    ed.WriteMessage("\nIt is CenterMark");
                    break;
                }
                if (idAct.ObjectClass.Name == "AcDbCenterLineActionBody")
                { 
                    ed.WriteMessage("\nIt is CenterLine");
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
    }
    catch { };
    tr.Commit();
}

}

Creating a RealDWG Installer with Wix Toolset

By Madhukar Moogala

This post contains a video demonstration using Wix toolset to create RealDWG installer.

Though video targets to RealDWG 2019 using Visual Studio 2017 and Wix Toolset 3.11, the presentation is suitable for all previous versions with minor tweaks about release version numbers.

Source of project is hosted in Github

Identify Mechanical Desktop file(MDT) using .NET

By Deepak Nadig

Recently, we had a customer query regarding distinguishing an AutoCAD Mechanical desktop file among a set of drawing files.

Answer:
Mechanical desktop should have entry named AmdtFileType with a value of 84 in the Custom tab of DWGPROPS(image)

One of the ways to distinguish a Autodesk Mechanical desktop file could be to retrieve and check for the custom property as below.
Note : File to be checked is read as a side database in the code below. 

[CommandMethod("testMdtFile")]
public static void testMdtFile()
{
    Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
    try
    {
        using (Database db = new Database(false, true))
        {
            db.ReadDwgFile(@"c:\temp\testMDT.dwg", FileOpenMode.OpenForReadAndAllShare, false, null);
            db.CloseInput(true);
            string val = GetCustomProperty(db, "AmdtFileType");
            System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Value of AmdtFileType is " + val);
        }
    }
    catch (System.Exception ex)
    {
        ed.WriteMessage(ex.ToString());
    }
}
public static string GetCustomProperty(Database db, string key)
{
    DatabaseSummaryInfoBuilder sumInfo = new DatabaseSummaryInfoBuilder(db.SummaryInfo);
    IDictionary custProps = sumInfo.CustomPropertyTable;
    return (string)custProps[key];
}

Set origin while creating a hatch using .NET

By Deepak Nadig

We had an issue raised by a customer regarding setting origin(image) during hatch creation.

It was found that origin of hatch has to be set in a transaction other than the one in which it is created for it to work correctly.
Below code can be used for testing : 

[CommandMethod("setOrginHatch")]
public void setOriginHatch()
{
    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
    Database db = doc.Database;
    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

    ObjectId mHatchId;
    Hatch mHatch = new Hatch();
    using (Transaction tr1 = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
    {
        BlockTable bt = (BlockTable)tr1.GetObject(doc.Database.BlockTableId, OpenMode.ForRead);
        BlockTableRecord btr = (BlockTableRecord)tr1.GetObject(db.CurrentSpaceId, OpenMode.ForWrite);

        Point2d pt = new Point2d(0, 0);
        Polyline mPolyline = new Polyline(4);
        mPolyline.AddVertexAt(0, pt, 0.0, -1.0, -1.0);
        mPolyline.Normal = Vector3d.ZAxis;
        mPolyline.AddVertexAt(1, new Point2d(pt.X + 10, pt.Y), 0.0, -1.0, -1.0);
        mPolyline.AddVertexAt(2, new Point2d(pt.X + 10, pt.Y + 5), 0.0, -1.0, -1.0);
        mPolyline.AddVertexAt(3, new Point2d(pt.X, pt.Y + 5), 0.0, -1.0, -1.0);
        mPolyline.Closed = true;

        ObjectId mPlineId;
        mPlineId = btr.AppendEntity(mPolyline);
        tr1.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(mPolyline, true);

        ObjectIdCollection ObjIds = new ObjectIdCollection();
        ObjIds.Add(mPlineId);

        Vector3d normal = new Vector3d(0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
        mHatch.Normal = normal;
        mHatch.Elevation = 0.0;
        mHatch.PatternScale = 2.0;
        mHatch.SetHatchPattern(HatchPatternType.PreDefined, "NET");
        mHatch.ColorIndex = 1;
        mHatch.PatternAngle = 2;

        //trying to set origin here does not work 
        //Point2d setOrigin = new Point2d(6.698, 2.78);
        //mHatch.Origin = setOrigin;

        btr.AppendEntity(mHatch);
        tr1.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(mHatch, true);

        mHatch.Associative = true;
        mHatch.AppendLoop(HatchLoopTypes.Outermost, ObjIds);
        mHatch.EvaluateHatch(true);

        //get the ObjectId of hatch 
        mHatchId = mHatch.ObjectId;

        tr1.Commit();
    }
    //to set the origin use another transaction 
    using (Transaction tr2 = doc.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
    {
        Entity ent = (Entity)tr2.GetObject(mHatchId, OpenMode.ForWrite);
        if (ent != null)
        {
            Hatch nHatch = ent as Hatch;
            String hatchName = nHatch.PatternName;
            Point2d setOrigin = new Point2d(6.698, 2.78);
            nHatch.Origin = setOrigin;
            nHatch.SetHatchPattern(HatchPatternType.PreDefined, hatchName);
            nHatch.EvaluateHatch(true);
            nHatch.Draw();
        }
        tr2.Commit();
    }
}

Running OEMMAKEWIZARD from Command Line

By Madhukar Moogala

This is small batch script may be useful for OEM Developers.

Once you have created your project, you can run the AutoCAD OEM Make Wizard from the command line to automate building your product. In this mode, you can use any of the build options available on the Build Your Product page of the AutoCAD OEM Make Wizard. Enter the following command to display a Help screen describing the command-line options for the AutoCAD OEM Make Wizard:

oemmakewizard /? 

Build Options:

Path Options  
   /PA:  Specifies the path for AutoCAD OEM location  
   /PB:  Specifies the path for bitmap location  
Import Options  
   /IC:  Specifies a file for enabling\disabling AutoCAD commands  
   /IAS:  Specifies a file for adding your commands  
   /IRS:  Specifies a file that allows you to remove user specified commands or setvars  
Build Options  
   /BALL  Builds all (does not include the files executed by /BT command)  
   /BA  Binds ObjectARX/Core ObjectARX applications  
   /BB  Binds managed applications  
   /BBA  Binds managed ObjectARX applications  
   /BL  Binds AutoLISP applications  
   /BD  Binds DLL modules  
   /BV  Bind DVB macros  
   /BC  Copies files  
   /BT  Builds type libraries and registry files  
   /BT+  Registers associated registry files  
   /BI  Change icons  
   /BR  Rebuilds resources  
   /BR+  Rebuilds resources and uses settings with AutoCAD OEM  
   /BR-  Rebuilds resources, but does not bind the DLLs  
   /STOP  Interrupts batch mode when errors are encountered  
   /?  Displays the Help screen for all command options

Viewing LineType Appearance

By Madhukar Moogala

I have recieved this query, user would like to get appearance of LineTypeRecord or LineTypes through API.

We can use Comments API to gets the Linetype appearance in the form of ascii string.

Code:

public static void LineTypeAppearance()
        {
            Database database = HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase;
            var ed = AcCore.Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
            using (Transaction t = database.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
            {
                var symTable = (SymbolTable)t.GetObject(database.LinetypeTableId,
                                                        OpenMode.ForRead);
                foreach (ObjectId id in symTable)
                {
                    var symbol = (LinetypeTableRecord)t.GetObject(id, OpenMode.ForRead);
                    ed.WriteMessage(string.Format("\nName: {0}\t Appearance: {1}",
                                                    symbol.Name, symbol.Comments));
                }

                t.Commit();
            }
        }

Output

Name: BYBLOCK   Desc:
Name: BYLAYER   Desc:
Name: CONTINUOUS      Desc: Solid line
Name: Wall Base|CENTER     Desc: Center ____ _ ____ _ ____ _ ____ _ ____ _ ____
Name: Wall Base|DASHED     Desc: Dashed __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _

Determine the radius and center of circular cone base using .NET

By Deepak Nadig

We can make use of Brep support to determine the radius and center of a cone( properties shown up in  the image image) with circular base.    

 Below .NET code snippet can be used : 

[CommandMethod("circularConeRadiusAndCenter")]
public void circularConeRadiusAndCenter()
{
    Document doc = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
    Database db = doc.Database;
    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

    // Ask the user to select a solid
    PromptEntityOptions peo = new PromptEntityOptions("Select a 3D solid");
    peo.SetRejectMessage("\nA 3D solid must be selected.");
    peo.AddAllowedClass(typeof(Solid3d), true);
    PromptEntityResult per = ed.GetEntity(peo);

    if (per.Status != PromptStatus.OK)
        return;

    Transaction tr = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();
    using (tr)
    {
        Solid3d sol = tr.GetObject(per.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead) as Solid3d;
        using (Brep brep = new Brep(sol))
        {
            //check if base is a circular. If yes, then determine the center and radius
            foreach (Complex cmp in brep.Complexes)
            {
                int edgeCnt = 1;
                foreach (Edge edge in brep.Edges)
                {
                    ed.WriteMessage("\n --> Edge : {0}", edgeCnt++);
                    Curve3d edgeCurve = edge.Curve;
                    if (edgeCurve is ExternalCurve3d)
                    {
                        ed.WriteMessage("\n Edge type : {0}", "ExternalCurve3d");
                        ExternalCurve3d extCurve3d = edgeCurve as ExternalCurve3d;
                        Curve3d nativeCurve = extCurve3d.NativeCurve;
                        if (nativeCurve is CircularArc3d)
                        {
                            ed.WriteMessage("\n Native curve type : {0}", "CircularArc3d");
                            CircularArc3d circArc3d = nativeCurve as CircularArc3d;
                            ed.WriteMessage("\n radius is " + circArc3d.Radius.ToString());                                    
                            ed.WriteMessage("\n center is " + PointToStr(circArc3d.Center));
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            ed.WriteMessage("\n Native curve type of cone is not Circular");
                            return;
                        }

                    }

                }
            }
        }
    }
}
private string PointToStr(Point3d point)
{
    return "[" +
        point.X.ToString("F2") + ", " +
        point.Y.ToString("F2") + ", " +
        point.Z.ToString("F2")
        + "]";
}

Forge NextGen webinars!

Are you ready to learn about the new technologies that will become available on the Forge platform? 
Then you should not miss these webinars :)

Date : 26th April 2018
Time : 8.00 AM PST
Duration : 90 minutes
Title : The Future of Making Things on Forge: Sneak Peek at Forge NextGen (HFDM & App Framework)
Registration Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8209398405782333955
Presenter:  Lior Gerling, Sr. Product Manager Forge Platform
 
Date : May 9th 2018
Time : 8.00 AM PST
Duration : 90 minutes
Title : A technical introduction to Forge High Frequency Data Management (HFDM) SDK and Forge App Framework
Registration Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3624195224359611394  
Presenter:  Kai Schroeder, Engineering Manager, Forge Platform