AutoCAD DevBlog

DWG Inspector for AutoCAD 2012 and AutoCAD 2013

By Fenton Webb

I just updated the C++ Inspector App to run on AutoCAD 2012/2013 and figured that, you know what, I may as well wrap this up as my very own Exchange Store App! That way you can install and use it as a ready built App, and/or install it and check out the code - so I did it. Of course, posting how I did it should help you work out how to create your own Apps for the Exchange Store too…

Here’s how I did it:

First of all, I created a folder structure that looks like this, notice the parent folder is suffixed with .bundle “Autodesk DWG Inspector.bundle”

Inside the Contents folder I have a Resources folder, and a Win32 and Win64 folder.

The Resources folder contains the Inspector Html readme with accompanying support files, check out that HTML file because if you create your own Autodesk Exchange App then you will want to derive your help from it as a template.

The Resources folder also contains a folder called DWGInspectorSource which houses the Inspector Visual Studio 2010 project. I made this project compile Debug versions of the ARX module in 32bit 2012/2013 and 64bit 2012/2013, in turn, these ARX modules are written to the Contents\Win32\Debug2008 which contains the 32bit VS 2008 AutoCAD 2012 ARX, Contents\Win32\Debug2010 which contains the 32bit VS 2010 AutoCAD 2013 ARX. Obviously, the Win64 folders contain the mirror of the 32bit except the ARX’s contained in there run for 64bit AutoCAD only.

Next, I created a PackageContents.xml file in the Autodesk DWG Inspector.bundle folder. This XML describes to the AutoCAD AppAutoloader what to load and how to load it…. This is what it looks like (I’ve commented the lines in the XML to explain what they do):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<!-- The ApplicationPackage element contains the Application properties -->

<!-- You need to generate your own ProductCode and UpgradeCode guids -->

<!-- If you update the product, the ProductCode needs to be regenerated, the UpgradeCode stays the same -->

<ApplicationPackage SchemaVersion="1.0" AutodeskProduct="AutoCAD" ProductType="Application" 

          Name="DWG Inspector" AppVersion="1.0.0" Description="Debugging tools for AutoCAD - Inspector" 

          Author="Fenton Webb" 

          Icon="./Contents/Resources/resource/Inspector.jpg" 

          AppNameSpace="adn.exchange.autodesk.com" 

          OnlineDocumentation=" www.autodesk.com/developautocad" 

          HelpFile="./Contents/Resources/helpfile.html" 

          ProductCode="{56A544B1-A092-480D-8DEA-B07051DDBFAF}" UpgradeCode="{A36C0A9E-9970-400A-B598-8880ECD50875}">

  <!-- Information about your Company -->          

  <CompanyDetails Name="Autodesk" Phone=" " Url=" www.autodesk.com/developautocad" Email="devtech@autodesk.com" />

  <!-- Overview specification describing what OS, Autodesk product, version this entire set of components describes  -->          

  <RuntimeRequirements OS="Win32|Win64" Platform="AutoCAD*|AutoCAD" SeriesMin="R18.2" SeriesMax="R19.0" />

  <!-- A logical set of components, this Components section describes the 32bit AutoCAD 2012 version -->

  <Components Description="AutoCAD 2012/VS2008">

    <RuntimeRequirements OS="Win32" SeriesMin="R18.2" SeriesMax="R18.2" />

    <ComponentEntry AppName="DWGInspector" Version="1.0.0" 

                    ModuleName="./Contents/Resources/DWGInspectorSource/Win32/Debug2008/AdskInspector.arx" 

                    AppDescription="AutoCAD 2012/VS2008" 

                    LoadOnAutoCADStartup="True" />

  </Components>

  <!-- A logical set of components, this Components section describes the 32bit AutoCAD 2013 version -->

  <Components Description="AutoCAD 2013/VS2010">

    <RuntimeRequirements OS="Win32" SeriesMin="R19.0" SeriesMax="R19.0" />

    <ComponentEntry AppName="DWGInspector" Version="1.0.0" 

                    ModuleName="./Contents/Resources/DWGInspectorSource/Win32/Debug2010/AdskInspector.arx" 

                    AppDescription="AutoCAD 2013/VS2010" 

                    LoadOnAutoCADStartup="True" />

  </Components>

  <!-- A logical set of components, this Components section describes the 64bit AutoCAD 2012 version -->

  <Components Description="AutoCAD 2012/VS2008">

    <RuntimeRequirements OS="Win64" SeriesMin="R18.2" SeriesMax="R18.2" />

    <ComponentEntry AppName="DWGInspector" Version="1.0.0" 

                    ModuleName="./Contents/Resources/DWGInspectorSource/x64/Debug2008/AdskInspector.arx" 

                    AppDescription="AutoCAD 2012/VS2008" 

                    LoadOnAutoCADStartup="True" />

  </Components>

  <!-- A logical set of components, this Components section describes the 64bit AutoCAD 2013 version -->

  <Components Description="AutoCAD 2013/VS2010">

    <RuntimeRequirements OS="Win64" SeriesMin="R19.0" SeriesMax="R19.0" />

    <ComponentEntry AppName="DWGInspector" Version="1.0.0" 

                    ModuleName="./Contents/Resources/DWGInspectorSource/x64/Debug2010/AdskInspector.arx" 

                    AppDescription="AutoCAD 2013/VS2010" 

                    LoadOnAutoCADStartup="True" />

  </Components>

</ApplicationPackage>

Finally, I sent the bundle to the Autodesk AppStore team and they sent me back my very own installer – super cool. Here’s the zip file containing the App installer.

Autodesk DWG Inspector App

Converting Paper Space point to Model Space using AutoCAD.NET

By Fenton Webb

Recently I tried to find some information on how to convert a Paper Space point to a Model Space point, and was shocked to find there was no simple to use sample code!!! Perhaps I missed something obvious, nevertheless, I opted to create my own and share it with you.

The code below utilizes the acedTrans() (which has been around since the R11 ADS days) using PInvoke, it’s very simple to use when you know how.

To run and test the code out:

1. Run AutoCAD and load the code below
2. Switch to Paper Space, either click the Layout tab or set TILEMODE=0
3. Create a VPort
4. Make sure you have TILEMODE=0
5. Run my “ps2ms” command and click somewhere over the MS VPort. You will see a DBPoint appear directly under your cursor, but in Model space.
6. If you can’t see the DBPoint, simply set PDSIZE=10 and PDMODE=98

Hope you like it.

    // convert a PS point to MS and then add a DBPoint to MS to show where we picked

    // by Fenton Webb, DevTech, Autodesk, 20/Aug/2012

#if NOTACAD2013

  [DllImport("acad.exe", CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl, EntryPoint="acedTrans")]

#else

    [DllImport("accore.dll", CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl, EntryPoint = "acedTrans")]

#endif

    static extern int acedTrans(double[] point, IntPtr fromRb, IntPtr toRb, int disp, double[] result);

    [CommandMethod("ps2ms", CommandFlags.NoTileMode)]

    static public void ps2ms()

    {

      Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

      // pick some point in PS

      PromptPointResult res = ed.GetPoint("Pick Model Space Point");

      if (res.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

      {

        // now to make sure this works for all viewpoints

        ResultBuffer psdcs = new ResultBuffer(new TypedValue(5003, 3));

        ResultBuffer dcs = new ResultBuffer(new TypedValue(5003, 2));

        ResultBuffer wcs = new ResultBuffer(new TypedValue(5003, 0));

        double[] retPoint = new double[] { 0, 0, 0 };

 

        // translate from the DCS of Paper Space (PSDCS) RTSHORT=3 to

        // the DCS of the current model space viewport RTSHORT=2

        acedTrans(retPoint, psdcs.UnmanagedObject, dcs.UnmanagedObject, 0, retPoint);

        //translate the DCS of the current model space viewport RTSHORT=2

        //to the WCS RTSHORT=0

        acedTrans(retPoint, dcs.UnmanagedObject, wcs.UnmanagedObject, 0, retPoint);

 

        ObjectId btId = ed.Document.Database.BlockTableId;

        // create a new DBPoint and add it to model space to show where we picked

        using (DBPoint pnt = new DBPoint(new Point3d(retPoint[0], retPoint[1], retPoint[2])))

        using (BlockTable bt = btId.Open(OpenMode.ForRead) as BlockTable)

        using (BlockTableRecord ms = bt[BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace].Open(OpenMode.ForWrite)

                        as BlockTableRecord)

          ms.AppendEntity(pnt);

      }

    }

Using AutoCAD WPF Data binding collection properties to export to Excel in VB.NET

By Fenton Webb

I recently saw Kean’s blog posting on Getting the list of hatch patterns available in the current AutoCAD drawing using .NET and wondered if I should try to use the AutoCAD WPF data binding UIBindings.Collections class to do something similar.

You may have already started using WPF inside of AutoCAD and in your travels hooked your WPF UI data binding into the Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.UIBindings.Collections namespace. If you haven’t, it’s definitely time to check it out. What it provides is a list of commonly used AutoCAD data type collections, primarily used by the AutoCAD Ribbon. These collections can be very easily bound to your own UI using WPF data binding making UI programming amazingly beautiful to create and work with, and super easy (once you have climbed over the fairly large learning curve )

 

Just as a WPF background task for you, here are my Using Windows Presentation Foundation in AutoCAD and the Part 2 from Autodesk University which talk about  WPF inside of AutoCAD and also binding your own UI to UIBindings.Collections.

 

Anyway, I figured this UIBindings.Collections layer could be utilized in the same way that Kean did for his Hatch patterns listing, but this time, for a little utility which exports to Microsoft Excel. I got the idea from a recent case submitted to our ADN DevHelp online system, in VB.NET though so as I’m a C kind of guy please excuse any VB.NET inefficiencies

Now I think you may find that it’s not quite as easy as you’d think to explore these name spaces by hand, a fairly deep understanding of the underlying interfaces is needed, so let me try and explain by looking at UIBindings.Collections.Layers.

We’re going to try and loop all of the Layers in the current drawing in order to extract the Layer Name property from them, how can we do this. So, the Layers property is of type Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows.Data.DataItemCollection. This contains an array of System.ComponentModel.ICustomTypeDescriptor. Next is where exploring with IntelliSense may become a little tricky, what you need to do is from your ICustomTypeDescriptor is, you need to get all the properties from it, find the property name that you want the value of, and then extract the value…

Here’s how it’s done with code:

' get all of the Layer Names in the current DWG

For Each desc As System.ComponentModel.ICustomTypeDescriptor In dataItemCollection

  ' extract the layer table record property we want

  Dim propertyValue = desc.GetProperties()("Name").GetValue(desc)

 

As you can see, it’s super simple when you know how, and with just two lines of code – very cool!

So onto the exporting of the data held in the UIBindings.Collections namespace to Excel. To connect my little AutoCAD VB.NET application to a currently running Excel application, or if one does not exist, to then start one up I use this code:

Try

  If Process.GetProcessesByName("Excel").Length > 0 Then

    app = CType(GetObject(, "Excel.Application"), Excel.Application)

    ' Else createObject

  Else

    app = New Excel.Application

  End If

  app.Visible = True

  workbook = app.Workbooks.Add(1)

  worksheet = DirectCast(workbook.Sheets(1), Excel.Worksheet)

  Catch e As Exception

    Console.Write("Error")

  Finally

End Try

 

Actually, I have to confess, as always I managed to find some sample code online which really helped developing this App. I’ve used it in my project as an Excel Helper class, modifying it to suit my needs. As usual CodeProject and this link on CodeProject.com was a perfect template even though it was in C# (I simply converted it to VB.NET using this tool)

So now finally, to the completed project source code… First of all, here’s my ExcelHelper.vb source file which provides the Excel functionality

Imports Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel

Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop

 

Public Class ExcelHelper

 

  Class CreateExcelDoc

    Private app As Excel.Application = Nothing

    Private workbook As Excel.Workbook = Nothing

    Private worksheet As Excel.Worksheet = Nothing

    Private workSheet_range As Excel.Range = Nothing

    Public Sub New()

      createDoc()

    End Sub

    Public Sub createDoc()

      Try

        If Process.GetProcessesByName("Excel").Length > 0 Then

          app = CType(GetObject(, "Excel.Application"), Excel.Application)

          ' Else createObject

        Else

          app = New Excel.Application

        End If

        app.Visible = True

        workbook = app.Workbooks.Add(1)

        worksheet = DirectCast(workbook.Sheets(1), Excel.Worksheet)

      Catch e As Exception

        Console.Write("Error")

      Finally

      End Try

    End Sub

 

    Public Sub createHeaders(row As Integer, col As Integer, htext As String, cell1 As String, cell2 As String, mergeColumns As Integer, _

                             cellColor As System.Drawing.Color, isBold As Boolean, columnWidth As Integer, fontSize As Integer, fontColor As System.Drawing.Color)

      worksheet.Cells(row, col) = htext

      workSheet_range = worksheet.Range(cell1, cell2)

      workSheet_range.Merge(mergeColumns)

      workSheet_range.Interior.Color = cellColor

      workSheet_range.Font.Bold = isBold

      workSheet_range.Font.Size = fontSize

      workSheet_range.ColumnWidth = columnWidth

      workSheet_range.Font.Color = fontColor

    End Sub

 

    Public Sub addData(row As Integer, col As Integer, data As String, cell1 As String, cell2 As String, format As String)

      worksheet.Cells(row, col) = data

      workSheet_range = worksheet.Range(cell1, cell2)

      workSheet_range.Borders.Color = System.Drawing.Color.Black.ToArgb()

      workSheet_range.NumberFormat = format

    End Sub

  End Class

 

End Class

 

and then, the AutoCAD code, which contains the command “ExcelExample”, that actually extracts the data from the UIBindings

Imports System

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput

 

' This line is not mandatory, but improves loading performances

<Assembly: CommandClass(GetType(ExcelSample.MyCommands))>

 

Namespace ExcelSample

 

  Public Class MyCommands

 

    ' command to show how to fill an excel work book with data from the currently active DWG inside of AutoCAD

    <CommandMethod("FentonWebbDevTechAutodesk", "ExcelExample", "ExcelExample", CommandFlags.Modal)> _

    Public Sub MyCommand()

 

      Dim ed As Editor = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor

 

      ' create or get existing Excel app

      Dim excelHelper As ExcelHelper.CreateExcelDoc = New ExcelHelper.CreateExcelDoc()

      ' create dwg file details header

      excelHelper.createHeaders(1, 1, "Overview Data for AutoCAD Drawing: " _

                                + Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Name, "A1", "Z1", _

                                2, System.Drawing.Color.LightBlue, True, 80, 16, _

                                System.Drawing.Color.Black)

 

      ' create the hatches header

      excelHelper.createHeaders(2, 1, "Hatch Patterns", "A2", "A2", _

                                2, System.Drawing.Color.LightGray, True, 40, 12, _

                                System.Drawing.Color.Black)

      ' export all of the Hatch patterns using Kean's way, cool

      Dim y As Integer = 3

      Dim str As String

      For Each str In Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows.Data.HatchPatterns.Instance.AllPatterns

        excelHelper.addData(y, 1, str, "A" + y.ToString(), "A" + y.ToString(), "")

        y = y + 1

      Next

 

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 2, "B", "Layers", Application.UIBindings.Collections.Layers, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 3, "C", "Layer States", Application.UIBindings.Collections.LayerStates, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 4, "D", "Layer Filters", Application.UIBindings.Collections.LayerFilters, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 5, "E", "Line Types", Application.UIBindings.Collections.Linetypes, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 6, "F", "MLeader Styles", Application.UIBindings.Collections.MleaderStyles, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 7, "G", "Dimension Styles", Application.UIBindings.Collections.DimensionStyles, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 8, "H", "Plot Styles", Application.UIBindings.Collections.PlotStyles, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 9, "I", "Visual Styles", Application.UIBindings.Collections.VisualStyles, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 10, "J", "Ucs Planes", Application.UIBindings.Collections.UcsPlanes, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 11, "K", "Text Styles", Application.UIBindings.Collections.TextStyles, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 12, "L", "Table Styles", Application.UIBindings.Collections.TableStyles, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 13, "M", "Render Presets", Application.UIBindings.Collections.RenderPresets, "Name")

      AddDataBoundEntry(excelHelper, 2, 14, "N", "Named Views", Application.UIBindings.Collections.NamedViews, "Name")

 

    End Sub

 

    Private Sub AddDataBoundEntry( _

                  excelHelper As ExcelHelper.CreateExcelDoc, _

                  row As Integer, col As Integer, colStr As String, headerName As String, _

                  dataItemCollection As Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows.Data.DataItemCollection, _

                  propertyName As String)

 

      ' create the Layers dump

      excelHelper.createHeaders(row, col, headerName, _

                                colStr + row.ToString(), colStr + row.ToString(), _

                                2, System.Drawing.Color.LightGray, True, 40, 12, _

                                System.Drawing.Color.Black)

      ' export all of the Hatch patterns

      Dim y As Integer = 3

      ' loop all of the entries

      For Each desc As System.ComponentModel.ICustomTypeDescriptor In dataItemCollection

        ' extract the layer table record property we want

        Dim propertyValue = desc.GetProperties()(propertyName).GetValue(desc)

        ' add it to the sheet

        excelHelper.addData(y, col, propertyValue, colStr + y.ToString(), colStr + y.ToString(), "")

        y = y + 1

      Next

 

    End Sub

 

 

  End Class

 

End Namespace

 

and finally, the output seen in Excel

 

Until the next time

Fenton

Reading/writing DWG files from a standalone application

By Stephen Preston

A commonly asked question via ADN support and on our public forums is how to read or write DWG files from a standalone executable without having to install AutoCAD on the same machine.

This can be done by licensing the Autodesk RealDWG SDK. This SDK allows you to build DWG capability into your own application without having to install AutoCAD on the same machine and automate it from your executable. RealDWG is essentially the DatabaseServices part of the AutoCAD .NET API (or AcDb part of ObjectARX), along with supporting namespaces.

RealDWG doesn’t include AutoCAD ‘editor’ APIs, and so you can’t easily use it for viewing and plotting DWG files (unless you do a lot of work implementing your own graphics/plotting engine). If your customer won’t buy AutoCAD for that, but they need viewing and plotting with the same fidelity that AutoCAD provides, then consider AutoCAD OEM. AutoCAD OEM is a customizable AutoCAD that you can ‘brand’ as your own application, and from which you can expose a subset of the full AutoCAD functionality, and also add your own additional functionality.  AutoCAD LT and DWG TrueView are examples of Autodesk products built using AutoCAD OEM.

Both RealDWG and AutoCAD OEM are licensed technologies. You can find out more from the Tech Soft 3D website. (Tech Soft 3D are  our global distributor for RealDWG and AutoCAD OEM).

Here’s a video on RealDWG programming basics, recorded by DevTech’s Adam Nagy.

How to reload the line type in AutoCAD using AutoCAD.NET API

By Virupaksha Aithal

Below AutoCAD.NET command shows the procedure to reload the line type in AutoCAD using .NET API. The command runs in “Session” mode so that “SendCommand” can work synchronously. Also, code uses AutoCAD ActiveX API using late binding technique to avoid adding reference to AutoCAD ActiveX interops.

[CommandMethod("relaodLinetype", CommandFlags.Session)]

public void relaodLinetype()

{

    DocumentCollection docManager =

            Application.DocumentManager;

    Database db =

        docManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;

    Transaction trans =

        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();

    bool bReload = false;

 

    using (trans)

    {

        LinetypeTable table =

            trans.GetObject(

            db.LinetypeTableId,

            OpenMode.ForRead) as LinetypeTable;

 

        if (table.Has("CENTER"))

            bReload = true;

    }

 

    System.Int16 fileDia = (System.Int16)

        Application.GetSystemVariable("FILEDIA");

    Application.SetSystemVariable("FILEDIA", 0);

 

    //reload using linetype command...

    Object acadObject = Application.AcadApplication;

    object ActiveDocument =

        acadObject.GetType().InvokeMember(

            "ActiveDocument",

            System.Reflection.BindingFlags.GetProperty,

            null,

            acadObject,

            null);

 

    object[] dataArry = new object[1];

 

    if (bReload)

    {

        dataArry[0] =

            "-linetype Load CENTER\nacad.lin\nYes\n ";

    }

    else

    {

        dataArry[0] =

            "-linetype Load CENTER\nacad.lin\n ";

    }

 

    ActiveDocument.GetType().InvokeMember(

                "SendCommand",

                System.Reflection.BindingFlags.InvokeMethod,

                null,

                ActiveDocument,

                dataArry);

 

    Application.SetSystemVariable("FILEDIA", fileDia);

}

 

Getting material name associated with a face

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

In AutoCAD, each face of a solid can be assigned a material. To get the material name of a face, you will first need to traverse the faces of the Solid3D. Here is a sample code :

Document activeDoc =

        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

 

Database db = activeDoc.Database;

Editor ed = activeDoc.Editor;

 

PromptEntityOptions peo =

        new PromptEntityOptions("\nSelect a Solid3d : ");

peo.SetRejectMessage("\nPlease select a Solid3d...");

peo.AddAllowedClass(typeof(Solid3d), true);

 

PromptEntityResult per = ed.GetEntity(peo);

if (per.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

    return;

 

using (Transaction tr =

        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

{

    Solid3d solid3d = tr.GetObject(

          per.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForWrite) as Solid3d;

 

    ObjectId[] ids = new ObjectId[] { solid3d.ObjectId };

    FullSubentityPath path =

        new FullSubentityPath(ids,

                    new SubentityId(SubentityType.Null,

                     IntPtr.Zero));

 

    using (Brep brep = new Brep(path))

    {

        foreach

        (

            Autodesk.AutoCAD.BoundaryRepresentation.Face

            face in brep.Faces

        )

        try

        {

            ObjectId materialId

                = solid3d.GetSubentityMaterial(

                        face.SubentityPath.SubentId);

                Material material =

                        tr.GetObject(materialId,

                        OpenMode.ForRead) as Material;

 

             ed.WriteMessage("\n" + material.Name);

         }

         catch (System.Exception ex)

         {

             ed.WriteMessage(ex.Message);

         }

    }

    tr.Commit();

}

Creating a solid from a set of “water-tight” surfaces

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

A collection of surfaces that together form a closed volume and which do not have gaps, overlaps, such surfaces can be used to create a solid. Here is a sample code to do this using the "createSculptedSolid" method of the "AcDb3dSolid" class.

// surfaceOids :

// A collection of the objectId of the surfaces that

// form the bounds of the solid

 

Acad::ErrorStatus es;

 

AcDb3dSolid *pSolid = new AcDb3dSolid();

pSolid->setDatabaseDefaults();

 

AcArray<AcDbEntity*> surfacesArray;

AcGeIntArray limits;

AcDbEntity *pSurfaceEnt;

 

for(int surfCnt = 0;

        surfCnt < surfaceOids.size(); surfCnt++)

{

    es = acdbOpenAcDbEntity(

                pSurfaceEnt, surfaceOids[surfCnt],

                AcDb::kForRead);

 

    if ( es == Acad::eOk &&

         pSurfaceEnt->isKindOf(AcDbSurface::desc()))

    {

        surfacesArray.append(pSurfaceEnt);

    }

}

 

es = pSolid->createSculptedSolid(surfacesArray, limits);

if(es == Acad::eOk)

{

    AcDbObjectId solidOid = AcDbObjectId::kNull;

    Add2Db(pSolid, solidOid);

 

    // To show the newly created solid away

    // from the surfaces, we transform it..

    AcDbEntity *pSolidEnt;

    es = acdbOpenAcDbEntity(

            pSolidEnt, solidOid, AcDb::kForWrite);

    if  (es == Acad::eOk &&

            pSolidEnt->isKindOf(AcDb3dSolid::desc()))

    {

        AcGeVector3d vec(15.0, 15.0, 0.0);

        AcGeMatrix3d transform =

                    transform.setToTranslation(vec);

        es = pSolidEnt->transformBy(transform);

        pSolidEnt->close();

        acutPrintf(ACRX_T(

                    "Solid3d created from surfaces !"));

    }

    else

    {

        acutPrintf(ACRX_T("Solid3d creation failed !"));

    }

}

else

{

    acutPrintf(ACRX_T("Solid3d creation failed !"));

    delete pSolid;

}

 

// Close the surfaces

int surfCnt = 0;

for(; surfCnt < surfacesArray.length(); surfCnt++)

{

    pSurfaceEnt = surfacesArray[surfCnt];

    pSurfaceEnt->close();

}

Changing Visual Style

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Here is a code snippet to change the visual style using the AutoCAD .Net API :

[CommandMethod("ChangeVisualStyle")]

public static void changeVisualStyleMethod()

{

    Document activeDoc =

        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Database db = activeDoc.Database;

    Editor ed = activeDoc.Editor;

    String visualStyleName = "Realistic";

    try

    {

        using(Transaction tr =

           db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

        {

            ViewportTable vt = tr.GetObject(

              db.ViewportTableId,

              OpenMode.ForRead)as ViewportTable;

            ViewportTableRecord vtr =

              tr.GetObject(vt["*Active"],

              OpenMode.ForWrite)as ViewportTableRecord;

            DBDictionary dict = tr.GetObject(

                        db.VisualStyleDictionaryId,

                        OpenMode.ForRead) as DBDictionary;

 

            vtr.VisualStyleId = dict.GetAt(visualStyleName);

            tr.Commit();

        }

        ed.UpdateTiledViewportsFromDatabase();

    }

    catch (System.Exception ex)

    {

        ed.WriteMessage(ex.Message);

    }

}

 

Here is the ObjectARX equivalent of the code with minimal error checking

static void AdsProjectChangeVS(void)

{

    Acad::ErrorStatus es = Acad::eOk;

    AcDbDatabase* pDb

            = acdbHostApplicationServices()->workingDatabase();

 

    AcDbViewportTable* pVportTable = NULL;

    es = pDb->getViewportTable(pVportTable, AcDb::kForRead);

 

    AcDbViewportTableRecord *pVportTableRec = NULL;

    es = pVportTable->getAt(

                                ACRX_T("*Active"),

                                pVportTableRec,

                                AcDb::kForWrite

                            );

 

    AcDbDictionaryPointer pNOD (

                                    pDb->visualStyleDictionaryId(),

                                    AcDb::kForRead

                                ) ;

    AcDbObjectId vsId = AcDbObjectId::kNull;

    pNOD->getAt(ACRX_T("Realistic"), vsId);

    pVportTableRec->setVisualStyle(vsId);

    pVportTableRec->close ();

    pVportTable->close();

 

    es = acedVportTableRecords2Vports();

}

Merging coplanar faces of a SubDMesh

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

The faces of a SubDMesh can be merged together if they are coplanar using the "mergeFaces" method of the "AcDbSubDMesh" class. Here is sample code to demonstrated this.

// meshObjectId :

// ObjectId of the SubDMesh entity whose faces need merging

 

Acad::ErrorStatus es;

AcDbSubDMesh *pMesh = NULL;

es = acdbOpenObject(pMesh, meshObjectId, kForWrite);

if(es != Acad::eOk)

    return;

 

AcDbFullSubentPathArray subentPaths;

es = pMesh->getSubentPath(-1, kFaceSubentType, subentPaths);

 

Adesk::Int32 numOfFaces = 0;

pMesh->numOfFaces(numOfFaces);

for(int face=0; face < numOfFaces; face++)

{

    int faceIndex = 0;

    AcGePlane facePlane1;

    es = pMesh->getFacePlane(

                    subentPaths.at(faceIndex).subentId(),

                    facePlane1);

    AcGePlane facePlane2;

    es = pMesh->getFacePlane(

                    subentPaths.at(faceIndex+1).subentId(),

                    facePlane2);

    if(facePlane1.isCoplanarTo(facePlane2) == Adesk::kTrue)

    {

        AcDbFullSubentPathArray subentPathsToMerge;

        subentPathsToMerge.append(

                    subentPaths.at(faceIndex));

        subentPathsToMerge.append(

                    subentPaths.at(faceIndex+1));

        es = pMesh->mergeFaces(subentPathsToMerge);

        if(es == Acad::eOk)

            acutPrintf(ACRX_T("\n2 faces merged."));

        else

            acutPrintf(ACRX_T("\nError merging the faces."));

    }

    else

    {

        acutPrintf(ACRX_T("\nFaces are non-coplanar."));

    }

}

pMesh->close();

Control the AutoCAD SCREENSIZE environment variable in AutoCAD using .NET

By Gopinath Taget

The SCREENSIZE system variable is a read-only system variable that stores the current viewport size in pixels.

However, we might feel the need some times to adjust the SCREENSIZE. For instance, so you you might want to export the model space to WMF format at a specific size and aspect ratio.

One easy way to change the SCREENSIZE is to just change the active document size:

<CommandMethod("ChangeScreenSize")> _

    Public Sub changeScreenSize()

        Dim doc As Document = Application.DocumentManager.

        MdiActiveDocument

        Dim docWindow As Window = doc.Window

        Dim size As Size = docWindow.Size

 

        Dim ed As Editor = doc.Editor

        ed.WriteMessage(vbCrLf + "Document Size:" + vbCrLf +

          size.ToString() + vbCrLf)

 

        docWindow.WindowState = Window.State.Normal

 

        docWindow.Size = New Size(500, 500)

 

    End Sub

Please not that the document window size and the screen size are not exactly the same. the document window tends to be slightly bigger due to the additional non-editor parts of the drawing document window. So you will have to experiment with it a little bit to set it to the right screen size you need.