AutoCAD DevBlog

How to embed a property inspector control into a palette

By Madhukar Moogala

This is old SDK Sample I have resurrected for better reach, the code is migrated to work with AutoCAD 2023.

This sample demonstrates deriving from CAdUiPalette and CAdUiPaletteSet.

· How to persist palette data into an XML file, and to re-establish the palette set when newly created.

· How to embed a property inspector control into a palette.

· How to create a custom property editor ActiveX control (CDWGPreview).

Source :

https://github.com/MadhukarMoogala/CustPalette

How to Exit from AutoCAD or AutoCAD OEM

By Madhukar Moogala

There may be a situation where your Arx application needs to exit AutoCAD if the license check or some other business logic fails

When aborting, use AcDbHostApplicationServices::fatalError()

Or, acrx_abort() instead of a direct or indirect call to exit().This will allow AutoCAD and other ObjectARX applications to recover as much work as possible. Always use API calls rather than system calls.

It is highly desirable for the RealDWG host application to override this method, and do whatever needs to be done for a clean and graceful shutdown. For example, allowing the user to save some portion of the work in progress, cleaning up memory allocations, and so on are all things that should be done upon a fatal error.

extern "C" AcRx::AppRetCode
acrxEntryPoint(AcRx::AppMsgCode msg, void* pkt)
{
	AcRx::AppRetCode retVal = AcRx::kRetOK;
	switch (msg)
	{
	case AcRx::kInitAppMsg:
		//acrxDynamicLinker->unlockApplication(pkt);
		//acrxRegisterAppMDIAware(pkt);
		//initApp();

		// perform license check
		retVal = checkLicense();
		if (retVal == AcRx::kRetOK)
		{
			acrxDynamicLinker->unlockApplication(pkt);
			acrxRegisterAppMDIAware(pkt);
			initApp();
		}
		else
		{
			MessageBox(adsw_acadMainWnd(),
			L"Application should not be allowed to load.", L"Start-up Error", MB_OK + MB_ICONWARNING);
			acrx_abort(L"Invalid License: Application Quits Now");
			//or
			//acdbHostApplicationServices()->fatalError(_T("Application is Quitting Now"));					
			return AcRx::kRetError;
		}
		break;
	case AcRx::kUnloadAppMsg:
		unloadApp();
		break;
	default:
		break;

	}

	//return AcRx::kRetOK;
	return retVal;

}

How to Create a Custom Toggle Button

By Madhukar Moogala

Here in this blog I have shown how to create a Ribbon Toggle Button using AutoCAD Ribbon Runtime API.

https://adndevblog.typepad.com/autocad/2015/03/how-to-use-toggle-button-ribbon-api.html

This code sample shows how can we register a custom ribbon control on AutoCAD Ribbon bar, to illustrate I created a simple toggle button, but however this logic can be extended to any other fancy controls.

Logic:

• Create a ResourceDictionary to hold resources and controls in XAML

• Implement the binding logic to manage the state of ToggleButton.

  • Create a SystemVariable to hold the state of ToggleButton

      public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
          {
              return IsChecked(value);
          }
      public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
          {
              bool isOn = (bool)value;
              if (isOn && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(OnMacro))
                  RunMacro(OnMacro);
              else if (!isOn && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(OffMacro))
                  RunMacro(OffMacro);
              return DataBindings.DoNothing;
          }
  
      

• Load this XAML in to AutoCAD Runtime, so this custom dictionary gets merged in to the AutoCAD main resource dictionary and you will see a unfied UX.

• If you are preparing CUIX using CUI editor, make sure, the key of ToggleButton should be same as the Id of ToggleButton in CUI. For example "XyzToggleButton"

	    string menuName = (string)Application.GetSystemVariable("MENUNAME");           
            CustomizationSection cs = new CustomizationSection(menuName + ".cuix");
            var ribbonRoot = cs.MenuGroup.RibbonRoot;
            var homeTab = ribbonRoot.FindTab("ID_TabHome");
            var elementId = "ID_TogglePanel";
            var ribbonPanelSourceReference = homeTab.Find(elementId);
            if(ribbonPanelSourceReference is null)
            {
                var panel = homeTab.AddNewPanel(elementId, "TogglePanel");
                var row = panel.AddNewRibbonRow();
                row.AddNewToggleButton("XyzToggleButton", "XYZSTATE\nToggle", null, RibbonButtonStyle.LargeWithText);
                cs.Save();
            }

<adw:RibbonToggleButton 
        x:Uid="RibbonToggleButton-Xyz" 
        x:Key="XyzToggleButton"
        Name="XYZ Toggle"
        Tag="XYZSTATE">
        <adw:RibbonToggleButton.IsCheckedBinding>
            <Binding Source="{x:Static acmgd:Application.UIBindings}" Path="SystemVariables[XYZSTATE].Value" Converter="{StaticResource XyzToggleButtonConverter}"/>
        </adw:RibbonToggleButton.IsCheckedBinding>
        <adw:RibbonToggleButton.Image>
            <BitmapImage x:Uid="BitmapImage_1" UriSource="Resources/Toggle.bmp" />
        </adw:RibbonToggleButton.Image>
        <adw:RibbonToggleButton.LargeImage>
            <BitmapImage x:Uid="BitmapImage_2" UriSource="Resources/Toggle.bmp"/>
        </adw:RibbonToggleButton.LargeImage>
    </adw:RibbonToggleButton>

Complete sample with source code is available at Github : SimpleToggleButton

BlockView Sample Refactored

By Madhukar Moogala

BlockView is an ObjectARX graphics sample which use to be shipped with ObjectARX in previous year

I've recently recieved a request from an ADN partner

The problem

If we are running in 2022 or 2023 and we have Hardware Acceleration turned ON. We get some graphics not showing up in our CGsPreviewCtrl. Specifically the void CGsPreviewCtrl::RubberRectangle(CPoint startPt, CPoint endPt) will not display on the view. Again, this only occurs in AutoCAD 2022 & 20223, on Windows 11 with Hardware Acceleration turned ON. If we turn OFF hardware acceleration it works, or if we run on Windows 10 or if on AutoCAD 2021 and before it appears to work.

Reason

We start to support DX12 from AutoCAD 2022. DX12 uses flip mode but GDI uses blit mode. The issue happens because the below code attempt to use GDI to draw over a Window used by DX12.

void CGsPreviewCtrl::RubberRectangle(CPoint startPt, CPoint endPt) 
{
  // get the device context for the client area
  CDC *cdc = this->GetDC();
  // if ok
  if (cdc != NULL)
  {
    HDC hdc = cdc->GetSafeHdc();
    // Create a black pen with a dotted style to draw the border of the rectangle.
    HPEN gdiPen = CreatePen(PS_DOT, 1, RGB(0,0,0));
    // Set the ROP cdrawint mode to XOR.
    SetROP2(hdc, R2_XORPEN);

    // Select the pen into the device context.
    HGDIOBJ oldPen = SelectObject(hdc, gdiPen);

    // Create a stock NULL_BRUSH brush and select it into the device
    // context so that the rectangle isn't filled.
    HGDIOBJ oldBrush = SelectObject(hdc, GetStockObject(NULL_BRUSH) );

    // Now XOR the hollow rectangle on the Graphics object with
    // a dotted outline.
    Rectangle(hdc, startPt.x, startPt.y, endPt.x, endPt.y);

    // Put the old stuff back where it was.
    SelectObject(hdc, oldBrush); // no need to delete a stock object
    SelectObject(hdc, oldPen);
    DeleteObject(gdiPen);		// but we do need to delete the pen

    // Return the device context to Windows.
    this->ReleaseDC(cdc);
  }
}

It is highly recommended to move away from GDI API

In case you can't invest in upgrading the code, you can use following workaround to set GFXDX12=0 and close AutoCAD, it will switch to DX11

We updated the old Arx sample to work effectively without switching to DX11 in AutoCAD 2022 and later version.

Github - BlockView

How to Find if Drawing is a TrustedDWG

By Madhukar Moogala

TrustedDWG is a key function of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT that analyses DWG files as they are being opened. The function checks to see if the DWG file was last saved with an Autodesk product or by a software developer who is licensed to use the RealDWG toolkit. If the file does not pass the TrustedDWG analysis, it will inform you in various ways that the DWG file may not be compatible, nor guarantee its integrity when used with AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT.

The visibility of these warnings is controlled by the DWGCHECK system variable. DWGCHECK is an integer variable, and is saved in the registry

When a drawing is not a TrustedDWG, and you open the drawing in AutoCAD or LT, you get this message or pop dialog.

Non Autodesk DWG. This DWG file was saved by a software application that was not developed or licensed by Autodesk. Autodesk cannot guarantee the application compatibility or integrity of this file.

Using API DwgFileWasSavedByAutodeskSoftware

        public void IsTrustedDWG()
        {
            Document doc = CoreApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
            if (doc == null) return;
            Editor ed = doc.Editor;
            var presult = ed.GetString(new PromptStringOptions("Enter Drawing File Path"));
            if (presult.Status != PromptStatus.OK) return;
            var db = HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase;
            Database sideDb = new Database(false, true);
            sideDb.ReadDwgFile(presult.StringResult, System.IO.FileShare.Read, true, null);
            HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase = sideDb;
            bool isTrustedDWG = sideDb.DwgFileWasSavedByAutodeskSoftware;
            if (isTrustedDWG)
            {
                ed.WriteMessage("Is Trusted DWG\n");
            }
            HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase = db;

        }

AUTOCAD OEM 2023–Product Doesn’t Start

By Madhukar Moogala

We have moved to new installation tech called ODIS – On Demand Installation Services, this change is good in many aspects as its purpose is to create an installation, deployment, and update experience that's fast, easy, predictable, and painless for customers, as well as for the teams who develop and deliver Autodesk products.

First and foremost refer to this blog                     

If this doesn't solve or fix the problem.

Next, request these files from the target user -

    %localappdata%\Autodesk\ODIS
    %temp%\*.log

Check for \ODIS\DDA.log, see if you find any errors, this should give some clue for you.

If this didn't solve the problem, contact A D N support and send those files, one of us can research this for you.

Help Autodesk elevate the API experience at AU 2022

By Madhukar Moogala

When you are building automations, workflows, plugins, add-ons, and cloud-services, how do YOU design YOUR APIs? What guides and tools do you use? And what would you love to have to make your process better?

Who we're looking for:

Software developers working with Autodesk APIs and SDKs, in the AEC, PDM and M&E industries

My colleague Michelangelo Capraro, is hosting a workshop which is geared towards API users and developers - any of our customers developing tools using any of our SDKs or APIs - and trying to find out if there are things Autodesk can provide to make their work easier.

How To Send Reproducible Test Project to A D N

By Madhukar Moogala

This is small utility file to create a zip file that ignores temporary, .vs and packages files. This can be applied to any VS project.
create a bat file with below contents and name it mkzip.bat
Replace this with attached file C:\UtilStuff\bin\vsExclude.txt

or you download the zip package containing mkzip.bat and vsExclude.txt

Note: make sure you have 7z on your path

The Github project - https://github.com/MadhukarMoogala/mkzip

We are Hiring- Developer Advocate

By Madhukar Moogala

The DAS (erstwhile ADN)  team is hiring a AutoCAD Developer Advocate based in our Bengaluru office.

Please spread the word. Experience with AutoCAD APIs - or any other Autodesk technology - is not required (but would be a bonus).

https://autodesk.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/Ext/job/Bengaluru-IND/Developer-Advocate_22WD61274-1?src=JB-10065

Autodesk is hiring  Developer Advocate!  If you’re a software engineer who’s enthusiastic about new technologies, enjoys interacting with others and sharing this enthusiasm, and loves to evangelize code –then this is the job for you!

As a member of the Developer Advocacy and Support (DAS) group, the Developer Consultant will deliver direct application programming evangelism to developers of third-party applications, based on Autodesk products, who are part of the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) program and Forge platform.

Responsibilities:

• Working directly with third party developers to help them solve their problems using our APIs. 
• Acting as developer advocate to our internal software development teams – helping them understand the APIs our developer community needs to be successful.
• Evangelizing our new technology through conferences, hackathons, meetups, blogging, webcasts, social media, and whatever other communication channels you dream up.

To be successful you will have the following attributes:

• You’re a gifted programmer who is excited about learning new technology and teaching others. (You already know deep in your heart if you’re a natural programmer – if you don’t then you’re not).
• You have a good grounding in C++, OOPS and Algorithms & Data structures.
• You have a good grounding in, or are willing to learn new languages, such as C#, and  web platform programming technologies, such as HTML, JS and CSS.
• You’re intelligent and inquisitive, and enjoy solving problems.
• You enjoy interacting with people – including one-on-one conversations and presenting to large audiences at conferences.
• You enjoy writing – including blogging, tweeting, and other social media outlets.

How to find Circle from a given centre point

By Madhukar Moogala

Selection filters are very powerful device yet most of the times it is overlooked, using selection filters you can achieve many regular tasks of conditional selections.

In this snippet we will see, how you can leverage the selection filters to get a circle(s) from a given a centre point!

Do let me know if you have used conditional filters in any interesting scenario.

How do I prepare a conditional filter sequence ?

For example, we have a task to find all the MTEXT entities with particular background mask color fill

From the above picture, we have few MText entities with different colors, suppose if I want to get a MText with green background color fill ?

First, I would check the entity information, I can use this entity information in building a selection filter, (entget (car (entsel)))

Applying this code and pick MTEXT entity with green background mask would give me

((-1 . ) (0 . "MTEXT") (330 . ) (5 . "299") (100 . "AcDbEntity") (67 . 0) (410 . "Model") (8 . "0") (100 . "AcDbMText") (10 1495.9 1933.67 0.0) (40 . 2.5) (41 . 17.7906) (46 . 0.0) (71 . 1) (72 . 5) (1 . "AUTOCAD") (7 . "Standard") (210 0.0 0.0 1.0) (11 1.0 0.0 0.0) (42 . 16.8895) (43 . 2.58697) (50 . 0.0) (73 . 1) (44 . 1.0) (90 . 1) (63 . 3) (45 . 1.0) (441 . 0))

Now referring to MTEXT DXF reference, it is clear that DXF Code 90 is background mask on and 63 is the color when Background mask is enabled

DXF Reference

Now, to pick all MTEXT entities with background color Green

The conditional filter would be (90 . 1) (63 . 3)

This give length of entities respecting our filter

(sslength  (ssget "X"  (list  (cons 0 "MTEXT")(cons 90 1)(cons 63 3))))

Back to our topic, applying similar logic we can construct a code to filter circle based on given center point

AcDbObjectIdArray getCirclesFromAGivenPoint(AcGePoint3d centerPoint) {

    AcDbObjectIdArray idArray;
    ads_name ss, entName;
    /*Construct a filter list*/
    resbuf* filterRb = acutBuildList(RTDXF0, L"CIRCLE",
        10, asDblArray(centerPoint),
        RTNONE);    bool hasSS = false;

    /*Make selection based on filtered list*/
    if (acedSSGet(_T("_X"), NULL, NULL, filterRb, ss) == RTNORM) {
        Adesk::Int32 len;
        acedSSLength(ss, &len);
        if (len > 0) {
            hasSS = true;
            /*Collect and append the objectId to an array*/
                    for (int nEnt = 0; nEnt < len; nEnt++)
                    {
                           if (acedSSName(ss, nEnt,entName) == RTNORM)
                           {
                                 AcDbObjectId selId;
                                 if (acdbGetObjectId(selId, entName) == Acad::eOk)
                                        idArray.append(selId);
                           }
                    }
        }
        freeResbuf(&filterRb);

        if (hasSS)
            acedSSFree(ss);
    }
    return idArray;
}