AutoCAD DevBlog

Formatting in Rollover tip

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

When displaying a rollover tip, AutoCAD uses the "additionalTooltipString" provided by us using the "monitorInputPoint" method to create a "TextBlock" WPF element. Assuming that the additionalTooltipString provided by us was "Hello", the textblock gets created as :

<TextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap"><![CDATA[  Hello  ]]</TextBlock>

Here is a sample tooltip string to insert formatting tags such as Bold and Italic. This will work when the ROLLOVERTIPS system variable is set to "1".

additionalTooltipString

        = ACRX_T(   "Iam]]>

                    <LineBreak/>

                    <Bold>BOLD</Bold>

                    <LineBreak/>

                <![CDATA[Iam]]>

                    <LineBreak/>

                    <Italic>Italic</Italic>

                    <LineBreak/>

                <![CDATA[Iam Normal"

                );

To try this using the AutoCAD .Net API, here is a sample code snippet :

void IExtensionApplication.Initialize()

{

    Document activeDoc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    activeDoc.Editor.PointMonitor += new PointMonitorEventHandler(Editor_PointMonitor);

}

 

void Editor_PointMonitor(object sender, PointMonitorEventArgs e)

{

    if (e.Context.GetPickedEntities().Length > 0)

    {

        e.AppendToolTipText(

                        "Iam]]><LineBreak/>

                        <Bold>BOLD</Bold><LineBreak/>

                        <![CDATA[Iam]]><LineBreak/>

                        <Italic>Italic</Italic><LineBreak/>

                        <![CDATA[Iam Normal");

    }

}

 

void IExtensionApplication.Terminate()

{

    Document activeDoc

                = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    if (activeDoc != null)

    {

        activeDoc.Editor.PointMonitor

            -= new PointMonitorEventHandler(Editor_PointMonitor);

    }

}

The rollover tooltip will then appear as :

Converting slide to WMF / BMP format

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Slides can be converted to WMF / BMP format which is often useful if you want to display it in a picturebox control. To do this conversion, the SlideLibrary COM object comes very handy.

This COM object is available for use after you have registered the slide.ocx from the AutoCAD Utilities.

To register the control, open the command prompt and type :

regsvr32 /c "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ADNUtilities2013_X64\AutoCADControls\Slide.ocx"

Use of late-binding calls will avoid the need for any additional references in our project.

Here is a sample code in C# and VB.Net that makes late-bound calls to the SlideLibrary COM object :

1) C# code using the "InvokeMember" :

//using System.Reflection;

try

{

    const string progID = "AutoCAD.SlideLib";

 

    Type slideLibType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID(progID);

    object slidLibObj = Activator.CreateInstance(slideLibType, true);

 

    if (slidLibObj != null)

    {

        object[] dataArry1 = new object[1];

        dataArry1[0] = @"C:\Temp\Solids.sld";

        slidLibObj.GetType().InvokeMember(

                                            "Append",

                                            BindingFlags.InvokeMethod,

                                            null,

                                            slidLibObj,

                                            dataArry1

                                         );

 

        object[] dataArry2 = new object[2];

 

        // Index to the slide in the slide library

        dataArry2[0] = 0;

        // Path of the bitmap to generate

        dataArry2[1] = @"C:\Temp\MySlideImage.bmp";

 

        slidLibObj.GetType().InvokeMember(

                                            "SaveToBmp",

                                            BindingFlags.InvokeMethod,

                                            null,

                                            slidLibObj,

                                            dataArry2

                                         );

    }

}

catch (System.Exception ex)

{

    System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);

}

2) C# code using the "dynamic" keyword (available in .Net 4.0 onwards) :

// Using the .Net 4.0 dynamic keyword, it is easier

// to make late-bound calls to COM objects

try

{

    const string progID = "AutoCAD.SlideLib";

    Type slideLibType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID(progID);

    dynamic slidLibObj = Activator.CreateInstance(slideLibType, true);

    slidLibObj.Append(@"C:\Temp\Solids.sld");

    slidLibObj.SaveToBmp(0, @"C:\Temp\MySlideImage.bmp");

}

catch (System.Exception ex)

{

    System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);

}

3) VB.Net code :

Try

Dim slb As Object

    slb = CreateObject("AutoCAD.SlideLib")

    slb.Append("C:\Temp\Solids.sld")

    slb.SaveToBmp(0, "C:\Temp\MySlideImage.bmp")

Catch ex As System.Exception

    System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)

End Try

The slidelibrary object also provides a method to convert it to a WMF format. For this, please use "SaveToWmf" instead of the "SaveToBmp" in the above code.

2D vs 3D graphics engine - request for information

By Stephen Preston

Kean Walmsley has posted a request for feedback from developers who are using graphics intensive AutoCAD applications. Basically, he wants to hear from you if your plug-in checks whether AutoCAD is running its 2D or 3D graphics engine and then makes use of that information.

Reading between the lines, this might make you think that the AutoCAD engineering team are considering some interesting things to do with the AutoCAD graphics engine, but I couldn't possibly comment on that :-).

Read Kean's request here.

extract information about the viewport dependent UCS's from vlisp

By Xiaodong Liang

Issue
When I use the following code in a drawing that has several model space  viewports where each viewport has a different UCS, the name of the UCS that was set in the active viewport at the time the function was invoked always displays. How can I get information about the viewport-dependent UCS's using Visual LISP?

(defun c:vp_ucs (/)
 (foreach elem (vports)
   (setvar "cvport" (car elem))
   (princ "\n")
   (princ (getvar "UCSNAME"))
 )
)

Solution
This is a known problem.You can work around this by using the following ActiveX functions in Visual LISP as shown in the following sample code. To run it, make sure the drawing have some named UCS and the view ports apply the UCS.

(defun c:Test ()
 (vl-load-com) ;Enable ActiveX functions
 (setq a_app (VLAX-GET-ACAD-OBJECT) ;Pointer to Acad Application
    a_doc (VLA-GET-ACTIVEDOCUMENT a_app) ;Pointer to ActiveDocument
    oldvar (getvar "cmdecho")
 )
(setvar "cmdecho" 0)
;Iterate through the various viewports by setting them active and then extracting the UCS name.
 (foreach itm (vports)
   (setvar "CVPORT" (car itm))
   (command ".redraw") ;Force a command interaction with acad application to obtain the UCSNAME
   (setq oUCS (vla-get-activeucs a_doc))
   (print (vla-get-name oUCS))
 )
(setvar "cmdecho" oldvar) ;reset cmdecho setvar back to its original state
(princ)
)

Plant SDK: How to programmatically change the “Status” property of a Butt Weld?

By Marat Mirgaleev

Issue

I managed to find all the butt welds in the drawing, they are kept inside the Autodesk.ProcessPower.PnP3dObjects.Connector class. But I can’t find the “Status” property in these objects. How can I access this property and change its value?

Solution

The “Status” property and many others are stored in a SubPart of the Connector object. So, what we need to do is to iterate through these SubParts and find one of the WeldSubPart type. Here is a sample (some error checking is omitted for brevity):

[CommandMethod("UpSt", CommandFlags.UsePickSet)]

public void UpdateStatus_ShortVersion()

{

  try

  {

    // Make sure you pre-selected a Connector of Weld type!

    PromptSelectionResult selResult = acApp.DocumentManager.

                          MdiActiveDocument.Editor.SelectImplied();

    SelectionSet selSet = selResult.Value;

    ObjectId[] objIds = selSet.GetObjectIds();

    ObjectId weldObjID = objIds[0];

 

    Database db =acApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;

    using (Transaction tr =

                          db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

    {

      PnP3D.Connector wld = tr.GetObject( weldObjID,

                OpenMode.ForRead, false, true) as PnP3D.Connector;

 

      DataLinksManager dlm = PlantApplication.CurrentProject.

                          ProjectParts["Piping"].DataLinksManager;

      PartsRepository projectParts = DataLinksManager3d.

                          Get3dManager(dlm).ProjectPartsRepository;

 

      PnP3D.SubPartCollection subPartColl = wld.AllSubParts;

      int index = 1; // NOTE: We start from 1, not from 0!

      foreach (PnP3D.SubPart sp in subPartColl)

      {

        if (sp is PnP3D.WeldSubPart)

        {

          int rowId = dlm.FindAcPpRowId( dlm.MakeAcPpObjectId(

                                              weldObjID, index ));

          Autodesk.ProcessPower.PartsRepository.Part partWld =

                                      projectParts.FindPart(rowId);

 

          // To set properties we need to call BeginEdit()

          //   and EndEdit()

          partWld.BeginEdit();

          partWld["Status"] = "Existing";

          partWld.EndEdit();

        }

        index++;

      } // foreach subpart

      dlm.AcceptChanges();

      tr.Commit();

    } // using

  }

  catch (System.Exception e)

  {

    acApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor.WriteMessage(

                                                    e.ToString());

  }

} // UpdateStatus_ShortVersion()

increase the buffer of the AutoCAD text window

By Xiaodong Liang

To begin with, I’d recommend the other post on Kean’s blog

Increasing the size of AutoCAD’s command line history

you will know how to increase the size of command line history manually. At API side, there are two ways to access the Text Window buffer size, expressed in numbers of history lines: the
CmdHistLines environment variable, and the AutoCAD.AcadPreferencesDisplay.HistoryLines Automation property.

Here is how to set the environment variable from AutoLISP:

(setenv "CmdHistLines" "2048")

Here is how to set the Automation property from AutoLISP:

(vl-load-com)
(vla-put-historylines (vla-get-display (vla-get-preferences
(vlax-get-acad-object))) 2048)

Note: The value has to be between 25 and 2048.

Using an ARX ActiveX server to update the block description from LISP

By Xiaodong Liang

Issue
How can I update the Description Field in the Block Definition using lisp ? Using the Lisp entmod function does not seem to work.

Solution
The only way to do this at present is to use the ActiveX server exposed in the adskUnSupp arx utility, the latest utility for AutoCAD 2013 is available at

ADN AutoCAD Utilities

With that ARX, and the following lisp code which loads the ARX module, connects to the ActiveX interface from adskUnSupp ARX, and loads it's type library to enable the Block Description Property to be set directly via a lisp function call.

;assume the utilities are installed at
; C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ADNUtilities2013_X64\AutoCADControls\

(defun RunAcadUnSupp (/ rtn )
 (if (null (setq rtn (member "AsdkUnsupp2013.arx" (arx)))) (setq rtn (arxload
"asdkunsupp2007.arx")))
 (if (null rtn)
   (progn
     (princ "\nAsdkUnsupp2013.arx Not Loaded, Exiting.")
     (exit)
   )
 )
 (vl-load-com)
 (setq AcadApp (vlax-get-acad-object))
;;; Change the Path to adskUnSupp2007 here ->
 (setq unSupp_ARXPath "C:\\Program Files\\Autodesk\\ADNUtilities2013_X64\\AutoCADControls\\\")
 (if (null unsupM-AddAnonymousGroup)
    (if (findfile (strcat unSupp_ARXPath "AsdkUnsupp2013.arx"))
    (vlax-import-type-library
     :tlb-filename
     (strcat unSupp_ARXPath "AsdkUnsupp2013.arx")
     :methods-prefix
     "unsupM-"
     :properties-prefix
     "unsupP-"
     :constants-prefix
     "unsupC-"
    )
   (progn
     (alert (strcat "Exiting - Can't find \"" unSupp_ARXPath
"asdkunsupp2007.arx" "\""))
     (exit)
   )
 )
)
 (setq unSuppX (vla-GetInterfaceObject acadApp "Asdkunsupp2007.Application.1"))
 (setq AcadDoc (vla-Get-ActiveDocument AcadApp))
 (setq UtilObj (vla-Get-Utility AcadDoc))
 (setq Blocks (vla-Get-Blocks AcadDoc))
 (vla-GetEntity UtilObj 'BlockRefObj 'selPt "\nSelect a Inserted Block: ")
 (if (equal
    (setq ObjType (vla-Get-ObjectName BlockRefObj))
    "AcDbBlockReference"
     )
      (progn
     (setq BlkName (vla-Get-Name BlockRefObj))
     (setq BlkObject (vla-Item Blocks BlkName))
     (setq exBlkDescriptn (unsupP-Get-BlockDescription unSuppX BlkObject))
     (setq aNewDescriptn (getString T (strcat "\nEnter New Block
Description<" exBlkDescriptn ">:")))
     (if (and aNewDescriptn (not (equal aNewDescriptn "")))
        (unsupP-Put-BlockDescription unSuppX BlkObject aNewDescriptn)
     ) 
      )
   )
   (CleanUpOnExit)
)

(defun CleanUpOnExit ()

(if BlockRefObj (progn (vlax-Release-Object BlockRefObj) (setq BlockRefObj
nil)))
(if Blocks (progn (vlax-Release-Object Blocks) (setq Blocks nil)))
(if UtilObj (progn (vlax-Release-Object UtilObj) (setq UtilObj nil)))
(if AcadDoc (progn (vlax-Release-Object AcadDoc) (setq AcadDoc nil)))
(if unSuppX (progn (vlax-Release-Object unSuppX) (setq unSuppX nil)))
(if AcadApp (progn (vlax-Release-Object AcadApp) (setq AcadApp nil)))
(princ)
)

(princ "\nRunAcadUnSupp, CleanUpOnExit loaded, type (RunAcadUnSupp), or
(CleanUpOnExit) to run.")
(princ)

AcDb::ePermanentlyErased when open cloned object during wblock-entire DWG

By Xiaodong Liang

Issue
Is it possible to open cloned objects in AcEditorReactor::beginDeepCloneXlation() or
AcEditorReactor::endDeepClone()
callbacks when WBLOCK - entire database is performed?

Trying to open them in
AcEditorReactor::beginDeepCloneXlation() or endDeepClone(),
results in getting "ePermanentlyErased" return code. We need to access them in kForWrite mode to make some processing.

  Solution
The problem is that in the context of doing a wblock on the entire database, AutoCAD does a fast wblock operation, which means that AutoCAD does not really clone the objects but simulates doing it because the goal is to save the 'clones' to a file. In order to prevent other users from modifying the clone objects (since the clone and original object are the same object in memory),
AutoCAD returns "ePermanentlyErased" error code when an application tries to open and modify a clone.

 

You have two options for opening the clone object:
The first one is to open the original object instead of the clone, and to read information from it. But if you want to modify the object, be aware that both the original and the clone will be affected.

The second option is to disable the fast wblock mechanism by calling AcDbDatabase::forceWblockDatabaseCopy(). Doing this will force AutoCAD to create real clones of the objects. You will then be able to open and modify the clone objects and only them. See the ObjectARX online help for forceWblockDatabaseCopy() usage instructions.

Creating a Mixed Mode RealDWG Application

by Fenton Webb

If you are a seasoned RealDWG developer, you will have probably noticed that the .NET version of the RealDWG SDK’s HostApplicationServices object does not implement all of the virtual functions that are exposed by its unmanaged ObjectDBX counterpart, AcDbHostApplicationServices.

For the most part, this is a good idea because it simplifies your RealDWG application immensely.

The problem is that sometimes, just sometimes, you really need the full power of the SDK. If you do need that power from .NET then you are going to need to implement a Mixed Mode RealDWG app – one that implements both an underlying unmanaged AcDbHostApplicationServices derived class and a managed HostApplicationServices class that feeds off of it.

So in this example, I simply want to override AcDbHostApplicationServices::fatalError() with my own implementation. This is because the default implementation simply calls Exit( 0 ) which in my case is bad because I want to process many DWG files without failure. If I did not override this function, my RealDWG app would simply exit out and not finish.

Here’s the RealDWG .NET code I want to use… Ok, it’s not scanning lots of DWG files but you get the idea… Remember, I want an exception to be thrown when RealDWG encounters a corrupted DWG file rather than calling Exit( 0 )…

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices

Imports System.Windows.Forms

 

' by Fenton Webb, DevTech, Autodesk 30/04/2010

Public Class SimpleSampleDBXEngine

  Shared Sub Main()

    ' init the undelying CLI C++ HostApplication

    Using app As AdskDBXEngine = New AdskDBXEngine

 

      For i As Integer = 0 To 100

        Try

          ' new the database making sure to dispose it once we are finished, using/end using

          Using db As New Database(False, True)

            ' read some drawing tile

            db.ReadDwgFile("d:\wutemp\fatal.dwg", FileOpenMode.OpenForReadAndAllShare, False, Nothing)

            ' set the working database via our DbxExtender

            DevTech.DbxExtender.Utils.SetWorkingDatabase(db)

 

          End Using

        Catch ex As Exception

 

          MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)

 

        End Try

      Next

 

    End Using

  End Sub 

End Class

 

I’m going to implement my own unmanaged AcDbHostApplicationServices, but I still need to create .NET HostApplicationServices class which my .NET code can use… it’s implemented but not Initialize()’d – basically it’s a dummy HostApplicationServices object…

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry

 

' by Fenton Webb, DevTech, Autodesk 30/04/2010

'this host app should never be called. It will be replaced by DevTech.DbxExtender.Utils.Initialize()

Public Class DummyHost

  Inherits HostApplicationServices

 

  Public Overrides Function FindFile(ByVal fileName As String, ByVal database As Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Database, ByVal hint As Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.FindFileHint) As String

    FindFile = Nothing

  End Function

End Class

 

Public Class AdskDBXEngine

  Implements IDisposable

 

  Public Sub New()

 

    ' create a new database

    Try

      Dim host As New DummyHost

      RuntimeSystem.Initialize(host, 1033)

      GC.KeepAlive(host)

      DevTech.DbxExtender.Utils.Initialize()

 

    Catch ex As Exception

      Throw New Exception("Error creating new database")

    End Try

  End Sub

 

  Public Sub Dispose() Implements IDisposable.Dispose

    DevTech.DbxExtender.Utils.Terminate()

  End Sub

End Class

 

Now into an unmanaged C++ DBX module… Here’s my C++ implementation of my custom AcDbHostApplicationServices object…

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// by Fenton Webb, DevTech, Autodesk 30/04/2010

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

//----- HostApplicationServices.cpp

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

#include "StdAfx.h"

#include "HostApplicationServices.h"

#include "Wininet.h"

#include "Shlwapi.h"

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#pragma unmanaged

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

HostApplication::HostApplication()   

{

}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

HostApplication::~HostApplication()

{

 CString local,url;

 for (POSITION pos = m_localToUrl.GetStartPosition();pos!=NULL;)

{

  m_localToUrl.GetNextAssoc(pos,local,url);

  DeleteUrlCacheEntry(url);

}

}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// Return the Install directory for customizable files

Acad::ErrorStatus HostApplication::getRoamableRootFolder(const ACHAR*& folder)

{

 Acad::ErrorStatus ret = Acad::eOk;

 static ACHAR buf[MAX_PATH] = _T("\0"); //MDI SAFE

 if (buf[0]==0)

  if (GetModuleFileName(NULL, buf, MAX_PATH) != 0)

   ret = Acad::eRegistryAccessError;

 folder = buf;

 return ret;

}

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// Return the Install directory for customizable files

Acad::ErrorStatus HostApplication::getLocalRootFolder(const ACHAR*& folder)

{

 Acad::ErrorStatus ret = Acad::eOk;

 static ACHAR buf[MAX_PATH] = _T("\0"); //MDI SAFE

 if (buf[0]==0)

  if (GetModuleFileName(NULL, buf, MAX_PATH) != 0)

   ret = Acad::eRegistryAccessError;

 folder = buf;

 return ret;

}

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Acad::ErrorStatus HostApplication::findFile(ACHAR* pcFullPathOut, int nBufferLength,

          const ACHAR* pcFilename, AcDbDatabase* pDb,

          AcDbHostApplicationServices::FindFileHint hint)

{

  ACHAR pExtension[5];

  switch (hint)

  {

  case kCompiledShapeFile:

    _tcscpy(pExtension, _T(".shx"));

    break;

  case kTrueTypeFontFile:

    _tcscpy(pExtension, _T(".ttf"));

    break;

  case kPatternFile:

    _tcscpy(pExtension, _T(".pat"));

    break;

  case kARXApplication:

    _tcscpy(pExtension, _T(".dbx"));

    break;

  case kFontMapFile:

    _tcscpy(pExtension, _T(".fmp"));

    break;

  case kXRefDrawing:

    _tcscpy(pExtension, _T(".dwg"));

    break;

  case kFontFile:                // Fall through.  These could have

  case kEmbeddedImageFile:       // various extensions

  default:

    pExtension[0] = _T('\0');

    break;

  }

  ACHAR* filePart;

  DWORD result;

  ACHAR path[MAX_PATH];

  GetModuleFileName(NULL, path, MAX_PATH);

  PathRemoveFileSpec(path);

  _tcscat(path, _T("\\AutoCADImages"));

 

  result = SearchPath(path,

    pcFilename, pExtension, nBufferLength, pcFullPathOut, &filePart);

 

  if (result && result < (DWORD)nBufferLength)

    return Acad::eOk;

  else

 

    return Acad::eFileNotFound;

}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Adesk::Boolean HostApplication::isURL(const ACHAR* pszURL) const

{

 return PathIsURL(pszURL);

}

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Adesk::Boolean HostApplication::isRemoteFile(const ACHAR* pszLocalFile, ACHAR* pszURL) const

{

 CString value;

 if (m_localToUrl.Lookup(pszLocalFile,value))

{

  _tcscpy(pszURL,value);

  return TRUE;

}

 return FALSE;

}

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Acad::ErrorStatus HostApplication::getRemoteFile(const ACHAR* pszURL, ACHAR* pszLocalFile, Adesk::Boolean bIgnoreCache) const

{

 DWORD err = ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND;

 if (!bIgnoreCache)

{

  DWORD size = 0;

  if (GetUrlCacheEntryInfo(pszURL,NULL,&size))

   return Acad::eInetFileGenericError; //this shouldn't succeed

  err = GetLastError();

  if (err == ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER)

  {

   INTERNET_CACHE_ENTRY_INFO* pCacheEntry = (INTERNET_CACHE_ENTRY_INFO*)malloc(size);

   if (GetUrlCacheEntryInfo(pszURL,pCacheEntry,&size))

   {

    _tcscpy(pszLocalFile,pCacheEntry->lpszLocalFileName);

    m_localToUrl.SetAt(pszLocalFile,pszURL);

    free(pCacheEntry);

    return Acad::eInetOk;

   }

   err = GetLastError();

  }

}

 if (err == ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)

{

  if (SUCCEEDED(URLDownloadToCacheFile(NULL,pszURL,pszLocalFile,_MAX_PATH,0,NULL)))

  {

   m_localToUrl.SetAt(pszLocalFile,pszURL);

   return Acad::eInetOk;

  }

}

 return Acad::eInetFileGenericError;

}

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

ACHAR * HostApplication::getAlternateFontName() const

{

  return _T("txt.shx"); //findFile will be called again with this name

}

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

void HostApplication::fatalError(const ACHAR *format, ...)

{

  throw Acad::eFileInternalErr;

} 

// Called when an unhandled exception occurs in an arx command or message.

// The EXCEPTION_POINTERS pointer is obtained from the win32 api:

// GetExceptionInformation().

//

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

void HostApplication::reportUnhandledArxException(const _EXCEPTION_POINTERS *pExcPtrs,

                                         const ACHAR *pAppName)

{

  // might want to send your minidump file back to your company for processing

}

 

// The equivalent of ads_usrbrk()

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Adesk::Boolean HostApplication::userBreak(bool updCtrlsWhenEnteringIdle) const

{

  throw Acad::eUserBreak;

}

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Now my Mixed Mode acrxEntryPoint()…

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// by Fenton Webb, DevTech, Autodesk 30/04/2010

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

//----- acrxEntryPoint.cpp

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

#include "StdAfx.h"

#include "resource.h"

 

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

#define szRDS _RXST("asdk")

 

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

//----- ObjectARX EntryPoint

class CDBXExtensionDotNetWrapperApp : public AcRxDbxApp {

 

public:

 CDBXExtensionDotNetWrapperApp () : AcRxDbxApp () {}

 

 virtual AcRx::AppRetCode On_kInitAppMsg (void *pkt) {

  // TODO: Load dependencies here

 

  // You *must* call On_kInitAppMsg here

  AcRx::AppRetCode retCode =AcRxDbxApp::On_kInitAppMsg (pkt) ;

 

  return (retCode) ;

}

 

 virtual AcRx::AppRetCode On_kUnloadAppMsg (void *pkt) {

  // TODO: Add your code here

 

  // You *must* call On_kUnloadAppMsg here

  AcRx::AppRetCode retCode =AcRxDbxApp::On_kUnloadAppMsg (pkt) ;

 

  return (retCode) ;

}

 

 virtual void RegisterServerComponents () {

}

 

} ;

 

#pragma unmanaged

#include "HostApplicationServices.h"

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// native C++ unmanaged set working database handler

Acad::ErrorStatus native_setWorkingDatabase(AcDbDatabase* dwg)

{

 Acad::ErrorStatus es = Acad::eOk;

 

 // if ok

 if (dwg)

{

     acdbHostApplicationServices()->setWorkingDatabase(dwg);

}

 

 return es;

}

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// native C++ setdhost app

Acad::ErrorStatus native_acdbSetHostApplicationServices(AcDbHostApplicationServices* pHost)

{

    return acdbSetHostApplicationServices(pHost);

}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMPLEMENT_ARX_ENTRYPOINT(CDBXExtensionDotNetWrapperApp)

 

Almost there… Now for my Mixed Mode Utils header…

 

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// mgDbx.h - by Fenton Webb, DevTech, Autodesk 14/01/2005

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

#pragma once

 

using namespace System;

using namespace Autodesk::AutoCAD::DatabaseServices;

 

namespace DevTech

{

 namespace DbxExtender

{

  public ref class Utils

  {

  public:

      static void Initialize();

      static void Terminate();

   static long SetWorkingDatabase(Database ^dwg);

  };

}

}

 

Finally, my Mixed Mode utils implementation code…

 

// This is the main DLL file.

#include "stdafx.h"

 

#include "mgDbx.h"

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// by Fenton Webb, DevTech, Autodesk 30/04/2010

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// switch to using the unmanaged ODBX SDK, we must link with rcexelib.obj to avoid security problems

#pragma unmanaged

#include "HostApplicationServices.h"

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// native C++ unmanaged hatch handler

extern Acad::ErrorStatus native_setWorkingDatabase(AcDbDatabase* pDb);

// native C++ unmanaged set host app

Acad::ErrorStatus native_acdbSetHostApplicationServices(AcDbHostApplicationServices* pHost);

 

// switch back, no need really

#pragma managed

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

#pragma managed

using namespace Autodesk::AutoCAD::DatabaseServices;

using namespace Autodesk::AutoCAD::Runtime;

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// initialise the host application

AcDbHostApplicationServices* gpHostApp = NULL;

void DevTech::DbxExtender::Utils::Initialize()

{

    ASSERT(gpHostApp == NULL);

    ASSERT(acdbHostApplicationServices()!=NULL);

    //replace the host app with our own

    gpHostApp = new HostApplication();

    native_acdbSetHostApplicationServices(gpHostApp);

}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

void DevTech::DbxExtender::Utils::Terminate()

{

    ASSERT(gpHostApp != NULL);

    delete gpHostApp;

}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// set Workingdatabase Util

long DevTech::DbxExtender::Utils::SetWorkingDatabase(Database ^managedDwg)

{

 Acad::ErrorStatus es = Acad::eNullPtr;

 

 // get the unmanaged pointer

 AcDbDatabase *dwg = static_cast<AcDbDatabase*>(managedDwg->UnmanagedObject.ToPointer());

 // if ok

 if (dwg)

{

  // call the native unmanaged DxfOut

  es = native_setWorkingDatabase(dwg);

}

 return (long)es;

}

 

You should know that at the time of writing, this all needs o be done, but we should have this updated in the next few releases.

Get path of file on clipboard

By Adam Nagy

As mentioned in Kean's blog post, when you select entities in a drawing inside AutoCAD and run _COPYCLIP (Ctrl+C) then AutoCAD will WBLOCK out the selected entities into a temp DWG file. The content that's placed on the clipboard will also contain the path to that temp file. In case you would like to use that file, here is one way to find out its path:

Public Function GetClipboardFilePath() As String

  Dim dataObject As IDataObject =

    System.Windows.Clipboard.GetDataObject()

 

  ' Get the list of available formats

  Dim formats() As String = dataObject.GetFormats()

 

  For Each format As String In formats

    ' In case of AutoCAD 2013 this would be "AutoCAD.R19"

    If format.StartsWith("AutoCAD.") Then

      Using stream As MemoryStream = dataObject.GetData(format)

        ' Unicode encoding is 16 bit (2 bytes) just like ACHAR

        Using reader As TextReader =

          New StreamReader(stream, System.Text.Encoding.Unicode)

          ' 0..259 = 260

          Dim text(259) As Char

          reader.Read(text, 0, 260)

          ' There will be lots of 0 value characters in the array

          ' that we need to clean up  

          Return New String(text).TrimEnd(New Char(){Chr(0)})  

        End Using

      End Using

    End If

  Next

 

  Return Nothing

End Function