AutoCAD DevBlog

WPF Databinding to the CommandLine Colors

by Fenton Webb

Using WPF databinding, you can actually bind your WPF colors to the CommandLine color settings.

This can be achieved using the Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows.Data.DataBindings.ColorSettings ObserveableCollection.

The possible color settings property names are:

• CommandLineForeground
• CommandLineBackground

CommandLineHistoryForeground

CommandLineHistoryBackground

CommandLineTempPromptForeground

CommandLineTempPromptBackground

CommandLineKeywordHighlight

CommandLineKeywordBackground

CommandLineKeywordHover

If you want a good example of how to use the Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows.Data.DataBindings collections then check out this blog http://adndevblog.typepad.com/autocad/2012/03/using-autocad-wpf-data-binding-collection-properties-to-export-to-excel-in-vbnet.html and my Autodesk University class on WPF http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=material&session_material_id=5576

Webinar announcement

By Stephen Preston

Register and mark your calendars now for this upcoming webcast on making the most of the Autodesk Exchange Apps store ...

"How developers can ride and profit from the adoption wave of Autodesk Exchange Apps"

The Autodesk Exchange Apps stores (currently there are 15 stores) are a huge opportunity for developers to gain direct access to the growing number of Autodesk customers using Exchange Apps.  In just one year there’s been over one million visits and over 250,000 downloads. With comments like “one of my most useful tools”, “love this app, saved me hours of work” there’s no doubt that Exchange Apps has become a resource that Autodesk customers rely on to find useful apps of all types.    

If you develop apps and want to reach more customers quickly, easily and inexpensively but haven’t yet put your toe in the water with Exchange Apps, the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) team is ready to help you.  You’re invited to attend a webinar on June 13^th hosted by Jim Quanci and Stephen Preston to learn how you can catch the wave and accelerating growth of Exchange Apps.

You’ll learn the tricks of the trade when publishing on Exchange Apps, get ideas on how to be successful and learn about the ability to publish localized apps. Here’s what you need to know:

Webinar details:

Date: Thursday, June 13^th, 2013
Time: 8 a.m. PDT (4 p.m. BST; 5 p.m. CET; 11 a.m. EDT)
Duration: Approximately one hour

Open to anyone interested in publishing apps on Autodesk Exchange Apps (i.e. ADN membership is not required :-).

Registration: Reserve your place by June 11 by sending an email to [email protected] with Exchange Apps webinar as the subject. Please make sure you include your full name, company name and email address.

And visit www.autodesk.com/developapps now if you want a head start in learning how to publish apps.

 

Update June 24th 2013:

Here is the download link for the webinar recording. Its a WMV format - fast forward to 1 min 44 seconds for the start.

Linking from one off-page connector to the other in Plant3d P&ID

by Fenton Webb

If you want to obtain an id or reference to an off-page connector that is linked to a given off-page connector using the API then…

For the 2013 Plant3d SDK

Use the DataLinksManager.GetRelatedAcPpObjectIds(), GetRelatedRowIds() using “ConnectorsRelationship” as the relationship name and “Connector1”, “Connector2” as the role names. Relationships of this nature have to be checked using both roles.

For the 2014 Plant3d SDK

Use the OffpageConnectionManager. If has methods such as: IsConnected(), GetConnectedPpId(), GetConnectedRowId().

AutoCAD Developer Portal Update

by Fenton Webb

In an effort to further improve the experience our users and developers have with the AutoCAD developer documentation, an update to the AutoCAD Developer Center has been made to make it easier for people to locate the various developer documentation that is available to them.  This action item originated as a result of the Developer Documentation Survey that was completed by 400+ respondents during the month of March. The survey pointed out that certain documentation was unknown to many of our customers and/or it was hard to discover where we placed it, among a few other items that we are working on improving.

The updates are under the Documentation section on the following page:

http://www.autodesk.com/developautocad

Refresh the Plant3d Project Manager Window using .NET

by Fenton Webb

The best way to force a refresh of the Plant3d Project Manager window is to invoke the command _.REFRESHPMESW

You can invoke this command synchronously using the notes found here http://adndevblog.typepad.com/autocad/2012/04/synchronously-send-and-wait-for-commands-in-autocad-using-c-net.html

AutoCAD API Wishlist Survey 2013

By Virupaksha Aithal

It is my pleasure to announce the launch of the AutoCAD API wishlist survey for 2013. I hope you’ll be willing to give 5-10 minutes of your time to take the survey – the results will be used to guide the efforts of our engineering team.

Click here to take survey

The survey will remain open until 21^st of June 2013.

Obtain the RGB color value from an AcDbEntity using ObjectARX and RealDWG

by Fenton Webb

Here’s how to obtain the RGB value from an already AcDb::kOpenForRead AcDbEntity.

static COLORREF GetRGBFromEntity( AcDbEntity *ent )

{

  COLORREF colorRef = RGB(255, 255, 255);

  AcCmColor Color = ent->color();

  AcCmEntityColor::ColorMethod ColorMethod = Color.colorMethod();

 

  switch(ColorMethod)

  {

  case AcCmEntityColor::kByACI:

    {         

      long acirgb, r,g,b;

      acirgb = AcCmEntityColor::lookUpRGB(Color.colorIndex());

 

      b = ( acirgb & 0xff00L );

      g = ( acirgb & 0xff00L ) >> 8;

      r = acirgb >> 16;

 

      colorRef = RGB( r, g, b); 

      break;

 

    }

  }

  return colorRef;

}

 

How to display my custom web page in AutoCAD Help Dialog while pressing F1 during command

By Philippe Leefsma

There is one particular whitelist in AutoCAD concerning online help. Only the domains on the list will be accepted by help browser, and the others will be forwarded to system default browser.

This white list is hardcoded in 2013, but in the 2014, developers can now create below registry key to add their own domain into it. The default value of this key is “autodesk.com”.

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\RXX.X\ACAD-XXX:XXX\SupportedUrls = "autodesk.com, mycustomdomain.com"

 

 

Here is the VB.Net code:

<CommandMethod("MyHelp",

   "InvokeHelpWeb",

   Nothing,

   CommandFlags.Transparent,

   Nothing,

   "http://adndevblog.typepad.com/autocad/",

   "")> _

Public Shared Sub InvokeHelpWeb2()

    Dim doc As Document =

Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument

 

    'Press F1 while prompted to input value

    doc.Editor.GetDouble("Get Double:")

 

End Sub

-

Change the background mask property of AcDbMText object programmatically using ObjectARX

by Fenton Webb

Issue

I need to create (or set) an AcDbMText object with the background mask turned on. How can I do so programmatically?

Solution

We can do this both in ObjectARX and LISP.

In ObjectARX, we can use setBackgroundFill() member function of class AcDbMText to do the job. Please find the following code which toggles the background mask property of an MText entity.

void test_setBackgroundFill_MText()

{

  ads_name ename;

  ads_point p;

  // select the entity

  int res = acedEntSel(_T("Please pick an MText entity: "), ename, p );

  // if ok

  if (res == RTNORM)

  {

    AcDbObjectId oId;

    acdbGetObjectId( oId, ename );

    AcDbObjectPointer<AcDbMText> pMText(oId, AcDb::kForWrite);

 

    if(pMText.openStatus() == Acad::eOk)

    {

      AcCmColor color;

      if(pMText->backgroundFillOn())

      {

        pMText->setUseBackgroundColor(false);

        pMText->setBackgroundFill(false);

      }

      else

      {

        pMText->setBackgroundFill(true);

        color.setColorIndex(1);

        pMText->setBackgroundFillColor(color);

        pMText->setUseBackgroundColor(false);

      }

    }

    else

      acutPrintf(_T("\nError - you need to select an MText entity..."));

  }

}

 

In LISP, we can add group code 90 and set it as 1 to turn on the background mask. If we want to use a different color than the one used last time we can add group code 63 such as (63 . 1) - RED color - as well. We can turn off the mask by removing group code 90 and all related ones such as 63, 45, 441 and 421 (if applicable). A small tip here, we can substitute the original sub list of group code 90 with (90 . 2) to turn the mask off successfully and do not need to care about other related group codes. The following LISP code demonstrates how to do so…

 

(defun toggleBackgroundMaskOfAMText (en / ed)
  (setq ed (entget en))   ; Sets ed to the entity data
  (setq atom90 (assoc 90 ed))
  (if (= atom90 nil)
    ;; no 90 groud code at all
    (progn
      (setq lst90 (cons 90 1))
      (setq atom63 (cons 63 1))
      (setq ed (append ed (list atom63 lst90)))
      ;; Add the 63 group code to set the background color as 1 (RED)
    )
    (progn
      (setq maskProp (cdr atom90))
      (if (= (boole 1 maskProp 1) 1)
(setq new90 (cons 90 2))
(setq new90 (cons 90 1))
      )
      (setq ed
      (subst new90
      (assoc 90 ed) ; Toggle the value of 90 group in ed.
      ed
      )
      )
    )
  )

  (entmod ed)
  (princ)
)

(defun c:testBGMask ()
  (toggleBackgroundMaskOfAMText
    (car (entsel))
  )
)

 

Here is some information about the DXF group codes related to Background Mask of MTEXT entities.

** Group code 90: Bit flags for background Mask

The possible values can be:

        kFillTextBox            = 0x1
        kFillTextBoxBackground  = 0x2
        kUseWordBreak           = 0x4
        kCheckedForUseWordBreak = 0x8

In the Background Mask dialog UI (while in the text editor or double click on the text --> right click context menu -->  [Background Mask..]), we can check the 'Use background mask' option to set the kFillTextBox bit and 'Use drawing background color' option in the 'Fill Color' group to set the kFillTextBoxBackground bit. In ARX API, We can use AcDbMText::backgroundFillOn() AcDbMText::setBackgroundFill() to get and set the kFillTextBoxBackground bit.

** Group code 63:  Fill Color

Specifies the color for the background. If it is a true color, Group code 63 gives the ACI color value and the corresponding Group code 421 gives the AcCmColor’s value.

We can specify the background color of the MTEXT in the Background Mask dialog UI. In ARX API, we can use AcDbMText::getBackgroundFillColor and AcDbMText::setBackgroundFillColor to get and read the value.

** Group code 45:  Border Offset Factor

Specifies the margin around the text for the opaque background. The value is based on the text height. A factor of 1.0 exactly fits the multiline text object. A factor of 1.5 extends the background by 0.5 times the text height.

In the Background Mask dialog UI, we can specify it in the 'Border offset factor' field. In ARX API, We can use AcDbMText::getBackgroundScaleFactor and AcDbMText::setBackgroundScaleFactor to get and set the value.

** Group code 441: Transparency color. 

The corresponding data member is of AcCmTransparency Type. This can not be controlled by the Background Mask dialog UI. But we can get or set this value using AcDbMText::getBackgroundTransparency and AcDbMText::setBackgroundTransparency methods.

Autodesk Exchange Apps - App Submission Process Overview

By Virupaksha Aithal

Please read through this information before and while submitting your first app to the Exchange store. It explains the basic workflow and provides some additional information to make publishing your app as easy as possible.

Submitting an app

Before submitting your app, we recommend you collect the information you’ll need. Use the App submissions – required information document as a template and checklist.

To start your app submission, click on the link displayed on the Exchange storefront:

 

 

 

 

You will then be taken to a page showing some publishing information and a publisher agreement. Make sure you read this information carefully and click to accept the agreement. Then click the Continue button to move to the publish workflow. (You will be asked to login using your Autodesk Single-Sign-On account if you’re not already logged in):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Publisher Contact Information is the email address we will use to send you automated email notifications when your app is downloaded, and where we will contact you for any additional information we need while reviewing your app.

If your App is a paid App then you will have to add a PayPal email address. You should have either a PayPal Business Account or a Premier Account. Refer to this additional documentation for PayPal account settings required for the Exchange store.

The Publisher Contact Information and PayPal Email for Payments apply to all apps you publish. If you edit this in one app, it will change for all of them.

Save Publisher profile and click ‘Publish a New Product’ to proceed.

App Submission Form

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enter information for your app in the textboxes on the form

The App Description textbox allows long descriptions (i.e. 4000 characters). This is where you should include a detailed description of your app. Customers will read this section to see if your App is worth buying/downloading. If your app is a trial version you must include information here on the type of trial or limitations of the trial.

Also, in App Description textbox you can use formatting and bullets and include links to your company websites or videos. For hyperlinks, type the URL/hyperlink in Microsoft Word. Copy the url and paste it in the app description http://www.autodesk.com. If you have both a trial and paid app version in the store you can link between the pages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To upload your app files, click the Choose File button and select your file in the dialog that appears.

Your App File is your installer, your zipped app files, or PDF files.

If we have already provided you with an MSI installer file for your app, please upload the MSI directly – do not zip it first.

Please also upload PDF files unzipped.

Your App Logo is the icon displayed on the store to represent your app.  Quality icons are very important.  Icons that are too small, not legible, or do not have a border/are framed will not be considered.

We recommend 80x80 pixels for your Logo.  

If you’re looking for a free icon editing tool, then you might consider GIMP, Paint.NET or something similar.

Refer to Icon Guidelines and Template for guidance and specifications.

Add up to 10 App Screenshots. Once you’ve uploaded each image, a text box will appear in which you should enter the text that will accompany the screenshot. Screenshot images will be scaled to fit the views that Exchange supports for screenshots. Recommended maximum image size and dimensions: 2000 pixels wide x 2000 pixels high, DPI: 96 or 72 pixels per inch (PPI), maximum file size 20MB.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enter the information for your app that we can use to create a standard format quick start helpfile. This will be shipped with your app and displayed on the store (not yet implemented).

If you’re using our standard installer template (i.e. we are creating the installer for you) then just write ‘standard text’ in the Installation/Uninstallation textbox, and we’ll substitute the correct text for you when we review your app.

In the Author/Company Information textbox, please include information you would like users to know about the company or people who created this product. This must include details on how a customer can contact you for support (e.g. email this email address, or visit this webpage).

Click Continue to proceed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is highly recommended that you include a web URL. Without a URL the app installer cannot be digitally signed which means the app installer will not be marked as trusted.  This could impact a customer's decision to install the app.

If you set a Price, the value you enter must be numeric only (i.e. don’t use $, £, ¥, €, etc.). All prices are in US Dollars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click on the ‘down arrow’ symbols to extend a product family list.

Select all the Autodesk products your app is compatible with.

If a product isn’t listed here, then it means that it is not supported by the store at this time. Please contact us for information on unlisted products you’re interested in.

Marking your app as compatible with a product means that:

You have tested your app with that product

You are able to support customers using your app with that product.

AutoCAD means ‘vanilla’ AutoCAD only. It does not include an AutoCAD vertical running its ‘vanilla’ profile.

A list of Categories will be displayed for each Product you have selected under the Compatibility.

Select up to 4 categories that apply to your application for each product it is compatible with, and add a custom category if needed.

Don’t spam customers by selecting Categories that are not relevant to your app.

Click Continue to proceed.

App Summary screen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a summary of the information you entered about your app.

Click the Preview Button to open a new browser tab showing how your app will look in the store.

Use the Back button to go back through the workflow to change any information that you don’t like in the Preview.

Click the Submit button if you’re happy with the Preview.

You should be contacted by an app reviewer within two weeks of submitting your app. Please email [email protected] if you have not heard from us within that time.

Editing an existing app

Go to http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/MyUploads.

You will then be prompted to log in using your Autodesk Single Sign On account.

To edit, use edit button corresponding to your application as shown below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you update an app your existing version will remain in the store until it is reviewed and replaced with the updated version. To update an app, login and go to My Uploads via the upward pointing arrow in the top right side of the screen.

Click the edit button to move to the publishing workflow.

To upload updated files:

Update only the information you wish to change.

Once the updated app is submitted for review, the app will have two versions - a "live" version and a "pending with edits" version.

Click the Remove button.

Click the Choose Files button and select your file in the dialog that appears.

More information

The ADN team is here to help you be a successful publisher on Autodesk Exchange store. We’ll do whatever we can do to help you. You are welcome to email [email protected] if you have any further questions after reviewing these guidelines and the other documentation on www.autodesk.com/developapps.

Thank you for participating on Autodesk Exchange Apps.