AutoCAD DevBlog

Register an application in a database for xdata access

By Virupaksha Aithal

Registered applications are stored in the AcDbRegAppTable. You may create a new
AcDbRegAppTableRecord with your application name and add it to the AcDbRegAppTable. Below code shows the procedure to add the AcDbRegAppTableRecord to AcDbRegAppTable. Note, below code takes a database as input, which could be a side database too (database which is not opened in AutoCAD editor)

Acad::ErrorStatus registerApp(AcDbDatabase* pDb,

                                    const ACHAR * pAppName)

{

    AcDbRegAppTable* pAppTable = NULL;

    Acad::ErrorStatus es;

 

    // get the RegAppTable

    if((es = pDb->getRegAppTable(pAppTable,

                            AcDb::kForRead)) != Acad::eOk)

        return es;

 

    // if RegAppTable has application already - fine

    if(pAppTable->has(pAppName))

    {

        pAppTable->close();

        return Acad::eOk;

    }

 

    AcDbRegAppTableRecord* pAppTableRecord =

                                new AcDbRegAppTableRecord();

    pAppTableRecord->setName(pAppName);

 

    pAppTable->upgradeOpen();

    if((es = pAppTable->add(pAppTableRecord)) != Acad::eOk)

    {

        delete pAppTableRecord;

        pAppTable->close();

        return es;

    }

 

    pAppTableRecord->close();

    pAppTable->close();

    return es;

}

Drag Drop into AutoCAD from an external application

If you have a WinForm application with a ListBox displaying the drawing file paths and you wish to perform a drag and drop of those ListBox items into AutoCAD, then here is a code snippet to ensure that AutoCAD takes appropriate action on those dropped items.

Step 1)

Handle the MouseMove event of the ListBox. As an example, if the ListBox is named "fileNamesListBox" then you would add the event handler as :

this.fileNamesListBox.MouseMove

    += new System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventHandler(this.fileNamesListBox_MouseMove);

Step 2)

Inside the MouseMove event handler of the ListBox, call the DoDragDrop with the appropriate parameters. In this case the list of drawing file paths that were selected in the ListBox.

private void fileNamesListBox_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)

{

    if (System.Windows.Forms.Control.MouseButtons

                    == System.Windows.Forms.MouseButtons.Left)

    {

        System.Windows.Forms.DataObject myDataObject

                        = new System.Windows.Forms.DataObject();

 

        System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection dwgFileNames

            = new System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection();

 

        foreach (Object so in fileNamesListBox.SelectedItems)

        {

            dwgFileNames.Add(so.ToString());

        }

 

        if (dwgFileNames.Count > 0)

        {

            myDataObject.SetFileDropList(dwgFileNames);

 

            System.Windows.Forms.DragDropEffects dropEffect

                = fileNamesListBox.DoDragDrop

                            (

                                myDataObject,

                                System.Windows.Forms.DragDropEffects.Copy

                            );

        }

    }

}

If you now select multiple items (drawing file paths) from the ListBox and drop it inside the AutoCAD command window, the drawings from those file paths should get opened in the AutoCAD Editor.

Resetting current color when a different layer is set as current

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Setting the current color using the CECOLOR system variable helps create entities with a certain color irrespective of the color of the current layer. But when you set a different layer as current, you may want to the layer color to take effect.

So, How do I automatically change the current color to BYLAYER if the user changes the layer?

The current color can be set by AcDbDatabase::setCecolor(). You will be notified of system variable changes if you plant your own AcEditorReactor and override the member function sysVarChanged(). The system variable for the current layer is CLAYER.

class MyEditorReactor : public AcEditorReactor

{

    public:

       void sysVarChanged(const ACHAR* varName, Adesk::Boolean success);

};

 

MyEditorReactor *pReactor = NULL;

 

/*

* Set the current color

*/

void setCurColor(int index)

{

   AcCmColor color;

   color.setColorIndex(index);

   acdbHostApplicationServices()->workingDatabase()->setCecolor(color);

}

 

/*

* System variable changed

*/

void MyEditorReactor::sysVarChanged(const ACHAR* varName, Adesk::Boolean

success)

{

   if(success)

   {

    // change the current color to "ByLayer" if the layer

    // was changed

    if(!_tcscmp(L"CLAYER",varName))

        setCurColor(256);

   }

}

 

void initApp()

{

    pReactor  = new MyEditorReactor;

    if(pReactor)

        acedEditor->addReactor(pReactor);

}

 

void unloadApp()

{

    if(pReactor)

        acedEditor->removeReactor(pReactor);

}

Setting plot configuration to "none"

By Virupaksha Aithal

Below code shows the procedure to set the plot configuration to "none". Code sets the model space plot configuration to “none”.

[CommandMethod("setNonePlotConfig")]

static public void setNonePlotConfig()

{

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Database db = doc.Database;

 

    PlotSettingsValidator psv = PlotSettingsValidator.Current;

    LayoutManager layoutMgr = LayoutManager.Current;

 

    ObjectId layoutId = layoutMgr.GetLayoutId("Model");

 

    using (Transaction Tx =

                        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

    {

        Layout layout =

            Tx.GetObject(layoutId, OpenMode.ForWrite) as Layout;

        psv.SetPlotConfigurationName(layout,

                                     "None", "none_user_media");

        Tx.Commit();

    }

}

Get raster image variables

By Augusto Goncalves

Is it possible to access, from AutoLISP, the raster image variables IMAGEFRAME and IMAGEQUALITY? It seems there are no 'real' AutoCAD variables and that I am not able to access them via (getvar) and (setvar).

The ImageEngine stores these variables in an AutoCAD dictionary. The dictionary has the name "ACAD_IMAGE_VARS". To access this dictionary, you have to get the named object dictionary with (namedobjdict).

The following function gets the "ACAD_IMAGE_VARS" dictionary:

(defun GetImageVarsDict () 
  (setq dict (dictsearch (namedobjdict) "ACAD_IMAGE_VARS")) 
)

Group code 70 contains the value of IMAGEFRAME. If it is '0', the frames are off, if it is '1', the frames are on. Group code 71 contains the value of IMAGEQUALITY. If it is '0', the quality is <draft>, if it is '1', the quality is <high>.

To get the current settings, you can use the following:

(defun GetImageFrame () 
  (setq frames (cdr (assoc 70 (GetImageVarsDict)))) 
)

(defun GetImageQuality () 
  (setq quality (cdr (assoc 71 (GetImageVarsDict)))) 
)

To change the settings, use the following code:

(defun SetImageFrame (flag) 
  (entmod (subst (cons 70 flag)
  (assoc 70 (GetImageVarsDict)) (GetImageVarsDict))) 
  (princ) 
)

(defun SetImageQuality (flag) 
  (entmod (subst (cons 71 flag)
  (assoc 71 (GetImageVarsDict)) (GetImageVarsDict))) 
  (princ) 
)

NOTE: You have to update the AutoCAD display list if you change IMAGEFRAME. You can do this with a REGEN, or you can select all images with (ssget) and update the single raster images with (entupd).

Creating an MText with numbered list

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Here is a sample code to create an MText that has its content set to a numbered list.

[CommandMethod("MTextNumberedList")]

public void CreateMTextNumberedList()

{

    Database db = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;

 

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

    {

        BlockTableRecord ms = tr.GetObject

            (

                SymbolUtilityServices.GetBlockModelSpaceId(db),

                OpenMode.ForWrite

            ) as BlockTableRecord;

 

        MText mText = new MText();

        mText.SetDatabaseDefaults();

 

        String rtfContents = @"{\pntext\f0 1.\tab}First Line\par{\pntext\f0 2.\tab}Second Line\par}";

        mText.SetContentsRtf(rtfContents);

        mText.Location = Point3d.Origin;

 

        ms.AppendEntity(mText);

        tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(mText, true);

 

        tr.Commit();

    }

}

Determine if the user makes an empty selection set

By Augusto Goncalves

The "+B:S" option with acedSSGet() allow the user to make a single
selection with a pick, window, or polygon. Is there a way to distinguish when
a user presses the Return key or when a user makes an empty selection set with
the mouse?

In both cases, acedSSGet() return RTERROR, but it’s possible check the AutoCAD variable ERRNO if acedSSGet() returns RTERROR.

If the user presses the Return key, ERRNO contains '52'; if the user makes an
empty selection set with the mouse, ERRNO contains '0'.

ads_name ss;

int res; 

res = acedSSGet(L"+B:S", NULL, NULL, NULL, ss);

if (res == RTERROR) {

  // Nothing selected or <RETURN>?

  resbuf rb;

  rb.restype = RTSHORT;

  acedGetVar(L"ERRNO", &rb);

  if (rb.resval.rint == 52)

    acutPrintf(L"\n<Enter>");

  else

    acutPrintf(L"\nEmpty selection");

  return;

} 

acutPrintf(L"\nSomething selected.");

acedSSFree(ss);

Getting all available plotter names

By Virupaksha Aithal

You can use plot configuration manager "PlotConfigManager" to get all the plotter devices available for AutoCAD. “PlotConfigManager” has a property called “Devices”, which provides the access to all the devices.  Below code shows the procedure.

[CommandMethod("ListPlotDevices")]

static public void ListPlotDevices()

{

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

    PlotConfigInfoCollection devices = PlotConfigManager.Devices;

    foreach(PlotConfigInfo info in devices)

    {

        ed.WriteMessage(info.DeviceName + "\n");

    }

}

Getting current plotter name

By Virupaksha Aithal

You can use plot configuration manager "PlotConfigManager" to get the current plotter device used by AutoCAD. Below code shows the procedure.

[CommandMethod("CurrentPlotDevice")]

static public void CurrentPlotDevice()

{

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

    try

    {

        PlotConfig config = PlotConfigManager.CurrentConfig;

        ed.WriteMessage("Current plot device :"

                                            + config.DeviceName);

    }

    catch

    {

        ed.WriteMessage("Unable to get the" +

                                    "current plot comfigartion\n");

    }

}

Developing a ‘CRX’ app

By Stephen Preston

We’ve received a few common questions recently from developers using AcCoreConsole (which Balaji blogged about here, and Kean here). Here are the two questions (and answers kindly provided by a member of our AutoCAD development team) …

 

Q1: What ObjectARX libraries can I link to for my DLL to load in to AcCoreConsole (or other ‘AcCore enabled’ product that Autodesk may ship in the future)?

A1: Here’s the list of libs that you can link with when you are developing an ARX, CRX or DBX app -

LIBRARY	OK in DBX	OK in CRX	OK in ARX
ac1st19.lib	YES	YES	YES
acdb19.lib	YES	YES	YES
acdbmgd.lib	YES	YES	YES
AcDbPointCloudObj.lib	YES	YES	YES
acge19.lib	YES	YES	YES
acgiapi.lib	YES	YES	YES
acismobj19.lib	YES	YES	YES
AcMPolygonObj19.lib	YES	YES	YES
AcSceneOE.lib	YES	YES	YES
axdb.lib	YES	YES	YES
rxapi.lib	YES	YES	YES
acbr19.lib	YES	YES	YES
acgex19.lib	YES	YES	YES
AdImaging.lib	YES	YES	YES
AdIntImgServices.lib	YES	YES	YES
AecModeler.lib	YES	YES	YES
AsdkHlrApi19.lib	YES	YES	YES
acapp_crx.lib	NO	YES	YES
AcCamera.lib	NO	YES	YES
accore.lib	NO	YES	YES
AcFdEval.lib	NO	YES	YES
AcPublish_crx.lib	NO	YES	YES
acad.lib	NO	NO	YES
acapp.lib	NO	NO	YES
AcFdUi.lib	NO	NO	YES
acModelDocObj.lib	NO	NO	YES
AcTc.lib	NO	NO	YES
AcTcUi.lib	NO	NO	YES
acui19.lib	NO	NO	YES
AdApplicationFrame.lib	NO	NO	YES
adui19.lib	NO	NO	YES
aNav.lib	NO	NO	YES
aseapi19.lib	NO	NO	YES
asiapi19.lib	NO	NO	YES

Checking a .NET DLL is easier – you just remove the reference to AcMgd.dll.

 

Q2: How do I register my CRX app for demand loading (e.g. on command invocation)?

A2: You register them exactly as you would for an AutoCAD app. The only difference is that AcCoreConsole will not load an ObjectARX DLL with the extension ‘ARX’. You have to rename the extension to ‘CRX’.