AutoCAD DevBlog

Unable to find AecbmapTagToEnum for enum AecbEnums...

By Barbara Han

In several places, I found some people said that they got “Unable to find AecbmapTagToEnum for enum AecbEnums...” error when opening some dwg file and didn’t know how to resolve this problem, so I posted the answer here to help.

The AecbMapTagToEnum is probably defined by AutoCAD MEP. If the MEP Object Enablers are installed on your machine, and you call CoInitialize() at the beginning of the program considering the fact that MEP OEs need COM support, then this problem would be gone.

The latest version of RealDWG SDK have included almost all of Autodesk vertical OEs. If you are using older versions of RealDWG SDK and those OEs are not included in RealDWG SDK installation package, you can install those OEs manually. They are downloadable from:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=2753223&linkID=9240618

acdbModelerStart() should be called as well to prevent some other problems.

The following is a code sample that you can refer to:

// MEP drawings have issues without this
::CoInitialize(NULL);

acdbSetHostApplicationServices(&gDumpDwgHostApp);
long lcid = 0x00000409; // English
acdbValidateSetup(lcid);

// Could also be useful to call this, though things
// seem to work even without it
acdbModelerStart();

Wait for oemmakewizard.exe to finish when used from a batch file

By Adam Nagy

I migrated my project from OEM 2008 to 2011 and now my batch file that builds these projects do not work properly. In case of OEM 2008 when I started the wizard the execution in the batch file stopped and only continued once the OEM Make Wizard finished. This is important for me because in the batch file I want to further process the built project. However with OEM 2011 the execution continues and does not wait for the Wizard to finish, so the additional parts in the batch file fail because the project is not created yet. I also tried using the START /WAIT function in the batch file but that did not help either. What could I do?

Solution

It does seem to be the case that when calling oemmakewizard.exe from a batch file the execution continues straight away.

One solution would be to keep checking the oemmakewizard.exe process among the running tasks, and only continue once it finished. This can be done using batch commands. To poll the system less about the list of runing processes we can wait a second in the loop. Since Windows does not have a SLEEP function we would need to use something else, e.g. CHOICE or PING

@echo off

echo.Starting build

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD OEM 2011\Toolkit\oemmakewizard.exe" OemTest 013260521 /BALL

:wait
choice /t 1 /d Y > nul:
tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq oemmakewizard.exe" | find /I "oemmakewizard.exe" > nul:
if not errorlevel 1 goto wait

echo.Build finished

Solids created with booleanOper() may crash AutoCAD on some PC's

By Adam Nagy

I'm using booleanOper() to merge some solids in the drawing. It seems to work fine, however, on some PC's the created solids may crash AutoCAD when the user moves them.

Solution

Looking at your code I can see that you are not deleting the input solid from the database.

You should delete it, because booleanOper() removes the geometry of the input solid and you should not leave degenerate solids in the database:

static void ArxTestMyCommand1(void)

{

  AcDbDatabase * pDb =
    acdbHostApplicationServices()->workingDatabase();

  ads_name name;

  ads_point pt;

  AcDbObjectId id;

  AcDbObjectPointer<AcDb3dSolid> solids[2];

 

  for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++)

  {

    if (RTNORM != acedEntSel(L"\nSelect a solid", name, pt))

      return;

 

    acdbGetObjectId(id, name);

    solids[i].open(id, AcDb::kForWrite);  

  }

 

  // This will merge the geometry of the input solid (solids[1])

  // into the geometry of solids[0] and then erase the geometry of

  // the input solid (solids[1])

  solids[0]->booleanOper(AcDb::kBoolUnite, solids[1]);  

 

  // We should delete solids[1] otherwise we leave a solid with

  // degenerate geometry (i.e. zero geometry) in the database

  // and that could cause issues

  solids[1]->erase();

}

Filtering does not work for MoveGripPointsAt

By Adam Nagy

We are using several overrules and we found that MoveGripPointsAt is not being called continuously as the grip point is being dragged. It turned out to happen only when we have two overrules using MoveGripPointsAt but filtering for different entities. It seems that filtering does not work for this event and the last registered overrule's MoveGripPointsAt is being called instead of the one that should be called based on the filtering. However, filtering works fine with GetGripPoints.

Solution

MoveGripPointsAt does not honor filtering as that only works on database resident entities and the instance being used by MoveGripPointsAt is an in-memory shallow copy of the entity whose grip point is being dragged. On the other hand GetGripPoints works with database resident entities so filtering works fine with it.

The solution is to do the filtering yourself inside the MoveGripPointsAt function. Since you already add XData to the entities you want to filter on - and XData is copied with the entity even in case of a shallow copy like the one being used by MoveGripPointsAt - therefore you can use that.

public class TestingOverrule : GripOverrule

{

  public const string kAppName = "TestProject";

 

  public static TestingOverrule theOverrule =

      new TestingOverrule();

 

  public override void MoveGripPointsAt

      (Entity entity,

        GripDataCollection grips,

        Vector3d offset,

        MoveGripPointsFlags bitFlags)

  {

    using (ResultBuffer rb = entity.GetXDataForApplication(kAppName))

    {

      // If it does not have the XData, then just

      // call base class and return

      if (rb == null)

      {

        base.MoveGripPointsAt(entity, grips, offset, bitFlags);

        return;

      }

    }

 

    // ...

  }

}

Using ActiveX API GetBoundingBox in .NET

By Virupaksha Aithal

Below code shows the procedure to use activeX API GetBoundingBox in AutoCAD.NET. As GetBoundingBox returns the points, we need to "InvokeMember" member with "ParameterModifier" parameters.

[CommandMethod("GetBoundingBox")]

static public void GetBoundingBox()

{

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Database db = doc.Database;

    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

    PromptEntityOptions options =

          new PromptEntityOptions("\nSelect an entity");

 

    PromptEntityResult acSSPrompt = ed.GetEntity(options);

    if (acSSPrompt.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

    return;

    // obtain transaction manager

    using (Transaction Tx = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

    {

        Entity text = Tx.GetObject(acSSPrompt.ObjectId,

                                         OpenMode.ForRead) as Entity;

 

        object oAcadObjpl1 = text.AcadObject;

 

        object[] argspl1 = new object[2];

        argspl1[0] = new VariantWrapper(0);

        argspl1[1] = new VariantWrapper(0);

        ParameterModifier pmpl1 = new ParameterModifier(2);

        pmpl1[0] = true;

        pmpl1[1] = true;

 

        ParameterModifier[] modifierspl1 =

            new ParameterModifier[] { pmpl1 };

        oAcadObjpl1.GetType().InvokeMember("GetBoundingBox",

               BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, oAcadObjpl1, argspl1,

               modifierspl1, null, null);

        Point3d pt1 =

            new Point3d((double[])argspl1[0]);

        Point3d pt2 =

            new Point3d((double[])argspl1[1]);

        ed.WriteMessage("\n");

        ed.WriteMessage(pt1.X + "," + pt1.Y + "," + pt1.Z + "\n");

        ed.WriteMessage(pt2.X + "," + pt2.Y + "," + pt2.Z + "\n");

 

        Tx.Commit();

    }

}

Forcing the GC to run on the Main Thread

by Fenton Webb

Recently I posted this blog entry on Performance, as you can see at the bottom it drove a lot of comments.

One question that came up was when to call Dispose(). The thing is that all of our .NET code wraps ObjectARX, in turn, all of our ObjectARX code is single threaded and the .NET Garbage Collector runs on a background thread... What this means is, if you don't call Dispose() on our AutoCAD .NET objects (the ones you create in your code) you run the high risk of the GC garbage collecting our objects on a background thread, which in turn may cause AutoCAD to crash.

That said, a crash happening really does depend on what the AutoCAD implementation of the Dispose code does under the hood. If the Dispose() simply does a memory free for which any destructors do nothing, then you’re probably going to be fine. However, if the dispose does other things like fire events, update UI, etc etc, then you are most likely looking at a crash. Therefore, I recommend you Dispose() all AutoCAD .NET objects (the ones you create in your code) using the .NET 'using' statement – that way you are not relying on the GC to clean up after yourself.

Now, say you are at a customer site where they are experiencing random crashes with your app, or you are running behind schedule and just can’t seem to find the place where the random crash is happening then here’s a quick fix for you – try forcing the GC to run on the Main Thread…

There is a setting that can be applied to the acad.exe.config file called gcConCurrent. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yhwwzef8.aspx

An example of this being implemented in the acad.exe.config file is shown thus:

<configuration>

  <startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true">

    <supportedRuntime version="v4.0"/>

  </startup>

 

<!--All assemblies in AutoCAD are fully trusted so there's no point generating publisher evidence-->

   <runtime>       

       <generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false"/>   

       <gcConcurrent enabled="false" />

   </runtime>

</configuration>

 

UNDO removes updated dictionary entry

By Adam Nagy

I have the following command which either adds a new Xrecord to the Named Objects Dictionary or updates the value of the existing one.

The problem is that if I run this command twice (the second time the entry already exists and so we just update its value) and then run UNDO, then instead of reverting the NOD entry's value back, it will remove it.

using System;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;

using acApp = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;

 

namespace CsMgdAcad1

{

  public class AEN1Commands

  {

    [CommandMethod("UpdateXrecord")]

    static public void UpdateXrecord()

    {

      const string kMyData = "MYDATA";

 

      Editor ed = acApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

 

      Database db = HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase;

      using (Transaction tr =

        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

      {

        DBDictionary nod =

          (DBDictionary)tr.GetObject(

            db.NamedObjectsDictionaryId, OpenMode.ForRead);

 

        if (nod.Contains(kMyData))

        {

          // Update data

          Xrecord xrec =

            (Xrecord)tr.GetObject(

              nod.GetAt(kMyData), OpenMode.ForRead);

 

          int val = (int)xrec.Data.AsArray()[0].Value;

          Xrecord newXrec = new Xrecord();

          newXrec.Data = new ResultBuffer(

            new TypedValue[]

            {

              new TypedValue((int)LispDataType.Int32, val + 1)

            });

          nod.UpgradeOpen();

          nod.SetAt(kMyData, newXrec);

          tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(newXrec, true);

          ed.WriteMessage(

            "Updated data with " + (val + 1).ToString());

        }

        else

        {

          // Initialize data

          Xrecord xrec = new Xrecord();

          xrec.Data = new ResultBuffer(

            new TypedValue[]

            {

              new TypedValue((int)LispDataType.Int32, 1)

            });

          nod.UpgradeOpen();

          nod.SetAt(kMyData, xrec);

          ed.WriteMessage("Initialized data with 1");

        }

 

        tr.Commit();

      }

    }

  }

}

Solution

There are two ways to solve the issue:

a) When you are updating the dictionary entry, then keep using the existing Xrecord and simpy update its data:

Xrecord xrec =

  (Xrecord)tr.GetObject(nod.GetAt(kMyData), OpenMode.ForWrite);

int val = (int)xrec.Data.AsArray()[0].Value;

xrec.Data = new ResultBuffer(

  new TypedValue[]

  {

    new TypedValue((int)LispDataType.Int32, val + 1)

  });

ed.WriteMessage("Updated data with " + (val + 1).ToString());

b) When you are updating the dictionary entry, then before updating it with the new Xrecord, remove the existing entry:

Xrecord xrec =

  (Xrecord)tr.GetObject(nod.GetAt(kMyData), OpenMode.ForRead);

int val = (int)xrec.Data.AsArray()[0].Value;

Xrecord newXrec = new Xrecord();

newXrec.Data = new ResultBuffer(

  new TypedValue[]

  {

    new TypedValue((int)LispDataType.Int32, val + 1)

  });

nod.UpgradeOpen();

// First remove existing entry

nod.Remove(kMyData);

nod.SetAt(kMyData, newXrec);

tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(newXrec, true);

ed.WriteMessage("Updated data with " + (val + 1).ToString());

Disable osnap points for entities residing in block drawn by custom entity

By Adam Nagy

We have a custom entity derived from AcDbEntity that draws a given block table record:

Adesk::Boolean MyBlockEnt::subWorldDraw (AcGiWorldDraw *mode)

{

  assertReadEnabled();

 

  if (!m_blockId.isNull())

  {

    AcDbBlockTableRecordPointer ptrMB(m_blockId, AcDb::kForRead);

    mode->geometry().draw(ptrMB);

  }

 

  return (Adesk::kTrue);

}

We also implement the subGetOsnapPoints function to provide our own snap points:

Acad::ErrorStatus MyBlockEnt::subGetOsnapPoints(

  AcDb::OsnapMode osnapMode, Adesk::GsMarker gsSelectionMark,

  const AcGePoint3d& pickPoint, const AcGePoint3d& lastPoint,

  const AcGeMatrix3d& viewXform, AcGePoint3dArray& snapPoints,

  AcDbIntArray& geomIds, const AcGeMatrix3d& insertionMat) const

{

  snapPoints.append(m_snapPoint);

 

  return Acad::eOk;

}

In 2d Wireframe mode only the point we provide can be snapped to, which is the behaviour we'd like to see in the other modes like Shaded view as well. However, there the osnap points of the entities residing in the block our entity is drawing can also be snapped to. How could we avoid that?

Solution

Your entity should also implement the AcDbEntity::subIsContentSnappable like so:

bool MyBlockEnt::subIsContentSnappable() const

{

  return false;

}

Call LISP function based on its name

By Adam Nagy

I have a variable which contains the name of a LISP function, but I do not know how to use that in order to call the function.

Solution

You can use (read) to get the function from the name then (mapcar) or (apply) to invoke it. Here are two functions that we will be calling knowing their names. One has an input parameter, the other one does not.

(defun myfunc1 ( / )
  (alert "myfunc1 called")
)

(defun c:callmyfunc1 ( / funcname)
  (setq funcname "myfunc1")
  (apply
    (read funcname)
    nil
  )
)

(defun myfunc2 (param / )
  (alert (strcat "myfunc2 called with param=" param))
)

(defun c:callmyfunc2 ( / funcname)
 (setq funcname "myfunc2")
  (apply
    (read funcname)
    '("testparam")
  )
)

Hatch using the AutoCAD .NET API

By Virupaksha Aithal

Below code shows the procedure to create associative hatch using .NET. Before making the hatch "Associative", hatch object is added to database.

[CommandMethod("testHatch")]

static public void testHatch()

{

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Database db = doc.Database;

    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

    using (Transaction Tx = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

    {

        ObjectId ModelSpaceId =

                SymbolUtilityServices.GetBlockModelSpaceId(db);

 

        BlockTableRecord btr = Tx.GetObject(ModelSpaceId,

                          OpenMode.ForWrite) as BlockTableRecord;

 

        Point2d pt = new Point2d(0.0, 0.0);

        Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Polyline plBox =

                  new Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Polyline(4);

 

        plBox.Normal = Vector3d.ZAxis;

        plBox.AddVertexAt(0, pt, 0.0, -1.0, -1.0);

        plBox.AddVertexAt(1,

                     new Point2d(pt.X + 10, pt.Y), 0.0, -1.0, -1.0);

        plBox.AddVertexAt(2,

                  new Point2d(pt.X + 10, pt.Y + 5), 0.0, -1.0, -1.0);

        plBox.AddVertexAt(3,

                      new Point2d(pt.X, pt.Y + 5), 0.0, -1.0, -1.0);

        plBox.Closed = true;

 

        ObjectId pLineId;

        pLineId = btr.AppendEntity(plBox);

        Tx.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(plBox, true);

 

        ObjectIdCollection ObjIds = new ObjectIdCollection();

        ObjIds.Add(pLineId);

 

        Hatch oHatch = new Hatch();

        Vector3d normal = new Vector3d(0.0, 0.0, 1.0);

        oHatch.Normal = normal;

        oHatch.Elevation = 0.0;

        oHatch.PatternScale = 2.0;

        oHatch.SetHatchPattern(HatchPatternType.PreDefined, "ZIGZAG");

        oHatch.ColorIndex = 1;

 

        btr.AppendEntity(oHatch);

        Tx.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(oHatch, true);

        //this works ok  

        oHatch.Associative = true;

        oHatch.AppendLoop((int)HatchLoopTypes.Default, ObjIds);

        oHatch.EvaluateHatch(true);

 

        Tx.Commit();

    }

 

}