AutoCAD DevBlog

Updated HLR modules for AutoCAD 2008/2009/2010 - 64 bit

By Virupaksha Aithal

There were issues with 64 bit version of HLR API in AutoCAD 2008/2009/2010. below are the updated modules.

HLR for AutoCAD 2008

HLR for AutoCAD 2009

HLR for AutoCAD 2010

Run PlantPipeSupportConvert command using acedCmd

By Wayne Brill

There is not an API to convert an AutoCAD object to a Plant 3D pipe support like the PlantPipeSupportConvert command does. You can run the command from your code however. This c# example creates a command that has the user select the pipe and an AutoCAD entity to be used as the support. The location of the support is the mid point of the selected pipe. The Plant 3D API is used to get the length of the pipe from the database and it is used to calculate the mid point. The PlantPipeSuportConvert command takes a point for the pipe. (It uses an an input point monitor to get the pipe at that point). 

  Download Plant_3D_PipeSupportConvert

Note: Put the Plant_3D_Test_wB.dll in the PLNT3D folder to avoid errors about missing references. (this issue has been reported to Plant 3D engineering)

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2014\PLNT3D

 

Here is the command:

[CommandMethod("PipeSupConvert")]

public void myPlantPipeSuppportConvert()

{

    Document docDocument =

       AcadApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Database dbDatabase = docDocument.Database;

    Editor ed = docDocument.Editor;

    PromptEntityOptions pmtEntOpts =

        new PromptEntityOptions

("\nSelect a Pipe to connect to new Support : ");

    PromptEntityResult pmtEntRes =

                        ed.GetEntity(pmtEntOpts);

 

    if (pmtEntRes.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

    {

        Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.

            TransactionManager tmTranMan =

                  dbDatabase.TransactionManager;

        Transaction trans = null;

        ObjectId oidPipeId = pmtEntRes.ObjectId;

        try

        {

            Project currentProject =

                PlantApp.CurrentProject.

                         ProjectParts["Piping"];

            DataLinksManager dlm =

                currentProject.DataLinksManager;

            PnPDatabase pnpdb =

                           dlm.GetPnPDatabase();

 

            // will use this with acedCmd to

            // send the command

            ResultBuffer rb = new ResultBuffer();

 

            trans = tmTranMan.StartTransaction();

            Pipe supP3DPipe = trans.GetObject

           (oidPipeId, OpenMode.ForRead) as Pipe;

            if (supP3DPipe == null)

            {

                ed.WriteMessage

("\n   Selected entity is not a Plant 3D Pipe");

            }

            else

            {

                // Output the ObjectId of the

                //Pipe for check purposes

                //  ed.WriteMessage

 //("\n   ObjectId of the Pipe : {0}", oidPipeId);

 

                // Get Matrix3d of the selected

                // pipe to extract its Xaxis

                Matrix3d suppM3D =

                        ((Entity)supP3DPipe).Ecs;

 

                // Get the RowId of the Pipe in

                // the Plant 3D project database

                int iPipeRowId =

                    dlm.FindAcPpRowId(oidPipeId);

 

                // Get the corresponding PnPRow

                // of the Pipe

                PnPRow ppRow =

                         pnpdb.GetRow(iPipeRowId);

 

                // Get the insertion point of

                // the selected Pipe

                Point3d p3dPipePosition =

                    new Point3d(

            Convert.ToDouble(ppRow["Position X"]),

            Convert.ToDouble(ppRow["Position Y"]),

           Convert.ToDouble(ppRow["Position Z"]));

 

                // Get the Pipe length from the

                // Plant 3D project database

                double dPipeLength =

               Convert.ToDouble(ppRow["Length"]);

 

                // Get the position of the

                // middle of the selected Pipe

                Point3d p3dSupportInsertionPoint =

                    new Point3d(

                 p3dPipePosition.X + dPipeLength *

             suppM3D.CoordinateSystem3d.Xaxis.X / 2,

                 p3dPipePosition.Y + dPipeLength *

             suppM3D.CoordinateSystem3d.Xaxis.Y / 2,

                 p3dPipePosition.Z + dPipeLength *

            suppM3D.CoordinateSystem3d.Xaxis.Z / 2);

 

                // Commit the transaction have

                // all the data now

                trans.Commit();

 

                pmtEntOpts = new PromptEntityOptions

     ("\nSelect AutoCad entity to be converted : ");

                pmtEntRes = ed.GetEntity(pmtEntOpts);

                if (pmtEntRes.Status ==

                                    PromptStatus.OK)

                {

 

                    ObjectId oidEntityId =

                                 pmtEntRes.ObjectId;

                    // Add the command to the ResBuf

                    rb.Add(new TypedValue

                 (5005, "_PlantPipeSupportConvert"));

 

                    // Add the selected

                    // entity ObjectId

                    rb.Add(new TypedValue

                                (5006, oidEntityId));

                    // return on the command line

                    rb.Add(new TypedValue(5005, ""));

 

                    // mid point of the selected pipe

                    rb.Add(new TypedValue

                   (5009, p3dSupportInsertionPoint));

 

                    acedCmd(rb.UnmanagedObject);

 

                }

            }

        }

        catch

        {

            if (trans != null)

            {

                trans.Abort();

                trans.Dispose();

            }

        }

    }

}

AutoLISP Documentation Updates - Windows and Mac

By Virupaksha Aithal

Our documentation team has made number of changes as part of the AutoLISP documentation. For details refer blog post http://hyperpics.blogs.com/beyond_the_ui/2013/10/autolisp-documentation-updates-windows-and-mac.html

In-place edit of external reference drawing files

By Virupaksha Aithal

Below code shows the procedure to edit of external reference drawing file. for this purposes, code uses “XrefFileLock” class which handles the management of Xref file locking.

[CommandMethod("editexref")]

static public void editexref()

{

 

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Database database = doc.Database;

    XrefGraph mXRefTree = database.GetHostDwgXrefGraph(false);

 

    Database xrefDatatbase = null;

    XrefGraphNode xgn = null;

 

    for (int i = 0; i < mXRefTree.HostDrawing.NumOut; i++)

    {

        xgn = mXRefTree.HostDrawing.Out(i) as XrefGraphNode;

 

        //find the name of xref to edit

        if (string.Compare(xgn.Name, "TEST", true) == 0)

        {

            xrefDatatbase = xgn.Database;

            break;

        }

    }

 

    if (xrefDatatbase == null)

        return;

 

    //edit the app

    int nCtlType =

            XrefFileLock.GetXloadCtlType(xrefDatatbase.XrefBlockId);

    using (XrefFileLock Filelock =

                    XrefFileLock.LockFile(xrefDatatbase.XrefBlockId))

    {

        xrefDatatbase.RestoreOriginalXrefSymbols();

 

        //add a line

        Line line =

            new Line(new Point3d(0, 0, 0), new Point3d(10, 10, 0));

 

        using (Transaction tr =

                xrefDatatbase.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

        {

            BlockTable bt =

                (BlockTable)tr.GetObject(xrefDatatbase.BlockTableId,

                                                    OpenMode.ForRead);

            BlockTableRecord ms = (BlockTableRecord)tr.GetObject(

                                    bt[BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace],

                                                  OpenMode.ForWrite);

 

            ms.AppendEntity(line);

            tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(line, true);

            tr.Commit();

 

        }

        xrefDatatbase.RestoreForwardingXrefSymbols();

    }

 

}

Remove vertices from 3d Polyline

By Virupaksha Aithal

Below code shows the procedure to remove the user specified vertex of AutoCAD 3d Polyline. Code, first traverse through the vertices of the user selected 3d Polyline and prepares a list of vertexes to be erased.

[CommandMethod("Remove3DVertex")]

static public void RemoveVertex()

{

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Database db = doc.Database;

    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

    using (Transaction oTr =

                        db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

    {

        ObjectIdCollection ids = new ObjectIdCollection();

 

        PromptEntityOptions options =

                   new PromptEntityOptions("\nPick a 3DPolyline:");

        options.SetRejectMessage("Select 3DPolyline only" + "\n");

        options.AddAllowedClass(typeof(Polyline3d), true);

        PromptEntityResult result = ed.GetEntity(options);

 

        if (result.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

            return;

 

        Polyline3d oEnt = oTr.GetObject(result.ObjectId,

                                    OpenMode.ForRead) as Polyline3d;

 

 

        foreach (ObjectId oVtId in  oEnt)

        {

            PolylineVertex3d oVt = oTr.GetObject(oVtId,

                            OpenMode.ForRead) as PolylineVertex3d;

            PromptKeywordOptions oPko =

             new PromptKeywordOptions("\nWant to remove vertex at "

                                 + oVt.Position.ToString() + "?");

 

            oPko.AllowNone = false;

            oPko.Keywords.Add("Yes");

            oPko.Keywords.Add("No");

            oPko.Keywords.Default = "No";

            PromptResult oPkr = ed.GetKeywords(oPko);

 

            if (oPkr.Status == PromptStatus.OK

                                && oPkr.StringResult == "Yes")

            {

                ids.Add(oVtId);

            }

        }

 

        foreach (ObjectId oVtId in ids)

        {

            PolylineVertex3d oVt = oTr.GetObject(oVtId,

                        OpenMode.ForWrite) as PolylineVertex3d;

            oVt.Erase();

        }

 

        if (ids.Count != 0)

        {

            oEnt.UpgradeOpen();

            oEnt.RecordGraphicsModified(true);

        }

 

        oTr.Commit();

    }

}

Accessing extension dictionary of an overruled entity while dragging

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

When an entity that is being overruled is dragged, AutoCAD only creates a shallow copy of it. For this reason, the extension dictionary of the cloned entity is inaccessible from within the overrule class. One way to ensure that we get access to the extension dictionary is to drag the original entity and not its clone using the "TransformOverrule::CloneMeForDragging" and return false. Using this technique is not suggested as it is only meant for use with complex entities that can cause performance issues when cloned for dragging purposes. 

The workaround is to override the "TransformOverrule::CloneMeForDragging" and continue to return "true" and use the original entity which is a parameter to this method to access the extension dictionary.

Here is a sample code to demonstrate this.

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsInterface;

 

public class HelperClass

{

    const String _extDictName = "myExtDict";

    const String _XRecName = "myXRec";

    List<TypedValue> _data = new List<TypedValue>();

 

    public List<TypedValue> Data

    {

        get { return _data; }

    }

 

    private static HelperClass _instance;

    public String DictionaryName

    {

        get { return _extDictName; }

    }

 

    public String XRecordName

    {

        get { return _XRecName; }

    }

 

    protected HelperClass()

    {

    }

 

    public static HelperClass GetSingleton

    {

        get

        {

            if (_instance == null)

            {

                _instance = new HelperClass();

            }

            return _instance;

        }

    }

 

    public void CaptureXRecordData(DBObject obj)

    {

        Xrecord xRec = null;

        ObjectId id = obj.ExtensionDictionary;

 

        _data.Clear();

        if (! id.IsValid)

            return;

 

        Database db

        = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;

        using (Transaction tr

            = db.TransactionManager.StartOpenCloseTransaction())

        {

            DBDictionary extDict = tr.GetObject(

                                    id,

                                    OpenMode.ForRead,

                                    false) as DBDictionary;

            if (extDict.Contains(DictionaryName))

            {

                ObjectId dictId = extDict.GetAt(DictionaryName);

                DBDictionary myDict = tr.GetObject(

                                    dictId,

                                    OpenMode.ForRead,

                                    false) as DBDictionary;

                xRec = tr.GetObject(

                                    myDict.GetAt(XRecordName),

                                    OpenMode.ForRead,

                                    false) as Xrecord;

 

                if (xRec != null)

                {

                    ResultBuffer rb = xRec.Data;

                    if (rb != null)

                    {

                        TypedValue[] tvArray = rb.AsArray();

                        foreach (TypedValue tv in tvArray)

                        {

                            _data.Add(

                                    new TypedValue(

                                                   tv.TypeCode,

                                                   tv.Value

                                                  )

                                     );

                        }

                        rb.Dispose();

                    }

                }

            }

            tr.Commit();

        }

    }

}

 

public class MyCommands

{

    static CMyDrawableOverrule lineOverrule = null;

    static CMyTransformeOverrule transformOverrule = null;

 

    [CommandMethod("OT")]

    public void OverruleTest()

    {

        Editor ed

        = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

        PromptEntityResult per;

        per = ed.GetEntity("Pick a line to overrule");

        if(per.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

            return;

 

        Database db = HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase;

        using (Transaction tr

                    = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

        {

            Entity ent = (Entity)tr.GetObject(

                            per.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForWrite);

 

            RegAppTable regTable = (RegAppTable)tr.GetObject(

                    db.RegAppTableId, OpenMode.ForRead, false);

 

            if (!regTable.Has("TEST"))

            {

                regTable.UpgradeOpen();

                RegAppTableRecord app = new RegAppTableRecord();

                app.Name = "TEST";

                regTable.Add(app);

                tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(app, true);

            }

            ent.XData = new ResultBuffer(

                                new TypedValue(1001, "TEST"),

                                new TypedValue(1070, 100));

 

            string extDictName = "myExtDict";

            string xRecName = "myXRec";

 

            if (ent.ExtensionDictionary == ObjectId.Null)

            {

                ent.CreateExtensionDictionary();

            }

 

            DBDictionary xDict = tr.GetObject(

                            ent.ExtensionDictionary,

                            OpenMode.ForWrite) as DBDictionary;

 

            xDict.TreatElementsAsHard = true;

 

            if (!xDict.Contains(extDictName))

            {

                DBDictionary newDict = new DBDictionary();

                newDict.TreatElementsAsHard = true;

 

                xDict.SetAt(extDictName, newDict);

                tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(newDict, true);

 

                Xrecord xRec = new Xrecord();

 

                xRec.Data = new ResultBuffer(

                            new TypedValue((int)DxfCode.Text,

                                            "Autodesk"));

 

                newDict.SetAt(xRecName, xRec);

                tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(xRec, true);

            }

            tr.Commit();

        }

 

        if (lineOverrule == null)

        {

            transformOverrule = new CMyTransformeOverrule();

            Overrule.AddOverrule(

                RXObject.GetClass(typeof(Line)),

                transformOverrule,

                true);

 

            transformOverrule.SetXDataFilter("TEST");

 

            lineOverrule = new CMyDrawableOverrule();

            Overrule.AddOverrule(

                RXObject.GetClass(typeof(Line)),

                lineOverrule,

                true);

 

            lineOverrule.SetXDataFilter("TEST");

 

            Overrule.Overruling = true;

        }

 

        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor.Regen();

    }

}

 

public class CMyDrawableOverrule : DrawableOverrule

{

    [DllImport("acdb19.dll",

                CharSet = CharSet.Unicode,

                CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,

                EntryPoint = "?fromAcDbTextStyle@@YA?AW4ErrorStatus@Acad@@AEAVAcGiTextStyle@@AEBVAcDbObjectId@@@Z")]

 

    private static extern Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime.ErrorStatus

        fromAcDbTextStyle(System.IntPtr style, ref ObjectId id);

 

    public override bool WorldDraw(Drawable drawable, WorldDraw wd)

    {

        base.WorldDraw(drawable, wd);

 

        Line line = drawable as Line;

        if (line == null)

            return true;

 

        using (LineSegment3d seg = new LineSegment3d(

                    line.StartPoint, line.EndPoint))

        {

            if (wd.IsDragging)

            {

                wd.SubEntityTraits.Color = 1;

 

                // Retrieve the extension dictionary

                // values retrieved using helper class

                List<TypedValue> tvList

                       = HelperClass.GetSingleton.Data;

 

                foreach (TypedValue tv in tvList)

                {

                    ObjectId textStyleId =

                    Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database.Textstyle;

 

                    Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsInterface.TextStyle iStyle

                    = new Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsInterface.TextStyle();

 

                    if (fromAcDbTextStyle

                        (

                            iStyle.UnmanagedObject,

                            ref textStyleId

                        ) == Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime.ErrorStatus.OK)

                    {

                        wd.Geometry.Text(

                                        seg.MidPoint,

                                        line.Normal,

                                        Vector3d.XAxis,

                                        tv.Value.ToString(),

                                        true, iStyle);

                    }

                }

            }

            else

                wd.SubEntityTraits.Color = 2;

 

            wd.Geometry.Circle(seg.MidPoint,

                               seg.Length * 0.25,

                               line.Normal);

        }

        return true;

    }

}

 

public class CMyTransformeOverrule : TransformOverrule

{

    public override bool CloneMeForDragging(Entity entity)

    {

        // Retrieve the extension dictionary from the original

        // entity. While dragging, the clone created is a

        //shallow clone and the extension dictionary isnt accessible

        HelperClass.GetSingleton.CaptureXRecordData(entity);

 

        // Permit cloning while dragging

        return true;

    }

}

Here is a screenshot that displays the content of the extension dictionary while the entity is being dragged

Announcement: DevHelp Online and Autodesk Discussion Group Integrated!

By Virupaksha Aithal

We are pleased to announce a significant enhancement to our Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) Support service. Apart from asking questions privately through DevHelp Online, you can now also ask your questions on the Autodesk Discussion Group (Autodesk Forums). Here is the API forums list that integrated with the DevHelp Online.

• AutoCAD® .NET
• AutoCAD® ObjectARX®
• AutoCAD® Civil 3D® Customization
• Autodesk® Inventor® Customization
• Autodesk® Navisworks® API
• Autodesk® Revit® API
• Autodesk® Vault Customization
• Autodesk Media and Entertainment > Autodesk 3ds® Max® > Programming
• Autodesk Media and Entertainment > Autodesk® Maya® > Programming
• Autodesk Media and Entertainment > Autodesk® FBX® > FBX SDK
• Autodesk Media and Entertainment > Autodesk® MotionBuilder® > Python
• Autodesk Media and Entertainment > Autodesk® MotionBuilder® > Open Reality

 

Many ADN partners already make extensive use of the Autodesk discussion forums – asking API questions on the forums as well as through DevHelp Online in order to benefit from the advice of as wide a range of experts as possible. But there is a problem with relying solely on a public forum for support - sometimes you don’t get an answer to your question. We’re fixing that problem by creating tighter integration between the Autodesk API forums and DevHelp Online (the ADN support portal). 

From now on, if you ask a question on one of our managed Autodesk API public forums, you will benefit from the following enhanced support: 

-   Members of the ADN DevTech team can identify you as an ADN partner on the forum and prioritize answering your questions.

-   If your question goes unanswered, it is automatically escalated to DevHelp Online to ensure it receives the attention it deserves.

-   If you’re not happy with the answer you’ve received from one of your peers, you can escalate the question to DevHelp Online yourself.

If you’ve not used the Autodesk discussion forums before, we encourage you to give them a try. You may be surprised at the breadth and depth of knowledge freely given by the community. With these enhancements for ADN Standard and Professional partners, you no longer have to choose between asking Autodesk or asking your forum peers – now you can ask Autodesk and your forum peers in the same place. 

And while you’re visiting the forum, why not browse around and contribute to some of the discussions. 

Taking advantage of this new service is really easy. The account you already use to login to DevHelp Online will also allow you to login to the Autodesk forums. If you are an ADN member, please visit the ADN extranet for more detailed information on how to setup your forum account so that you are correctly recognized as an ADN member and benefit from this enhanced support.

Keeping attributes horizontal while rotating a block using Jig

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Here is a sample code to specify the rotation of a block reference using a Jig while retaining the attribute rotation as demonstrated in this video.

 

class BlockJigCmds

{

    [CommandMethod("BJig")]

    public static void BJig()

    {

        Editor ed

        = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

 

        PromptEntityOptions peo

        = new PromptEntityOptions("\nSelect a block reference: ");

 

        peo.SetRejectMessage("\nMust be a block reference...");

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

 

        PromptEntityResult per = ed.GetEntity(peo);

        if (per.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

            return;

 

        ObjectId brefId = per.ObjectId;

 

        BRotateJig bjig = new BRotateJig(brefId);

        if (bjig.DoIt())

        {

            // Jigging complete.

            // Make changes to the BlockReference based on the

            // final rotation value.

            Database db = HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase;

            using (Transaction tr

                    = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

            {

                BlockReference bref = tr.GetObject(

                   brefId, OpenMode.ForWrite) as BlockReference;

 

                // Update the final block reference rotation

                bref.Rotation = bjig._brefAngle;

 

                // Update the final positions of the attribute references

                foreach (ObjectId id in bref.AttributeCollection)

                {

                    AttributeReference attref = tr.GetObject

                    (id, OpenMode.ForRead) as AttributeReference;

 

                    if (attref == null

                || bjig._attPos.ContainsKey(attref.Tag) == false)

                        continue;

 

                    attref.UpgradeOpen();

                    attref.Position = bjig._attPos[attref.Tag];

                }

                tr.Commit();

            }

        }

    }

}

 

public class BRotateJig : DrawJig

{

    public Point3d _insPoint;

    public double _brefAngle = 0.0;

    private ObjectId _brefId = ObjectId.Null;

    private ObjectId _btrId = ObjectId.Null;

    private Extents3d _attExts = new Extents3d();

    private Dictionary<String, Vector3d> _attDisps;

    public Dictionary<String, Point3d> _attPos;

 

    public BRotateJig(ObjectId brefId)

    {

        // Id of the block reference that we will jig

        _brefId = brefId;

 

        Database db = HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase;

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

        {

            BlockReference bref = tr.GetObject(

                brefId, OpenMode.ForWrite) as BlockReference;

 

            _btrId = bref.BlockTableRecord;

            _insPoint = bref.Position;

            _brefAngle = bref.Rotation;

 

            // We want to determine the extents of the

            // attributes without considering the rotation

            // that the block reference might already have.

            bref.Rotation = 0.0;

 

            // Determines the overall extents of the attribute

            // references in the block

            BlockTableRecord btr = tr.GetObject(

                _btrId, OpenMode.ForRead) as BlockTableRecord;

            foreach (ObjectId id in btr)

            {

                DBObject obj = id.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead);

                AttributeDefinition attDef

                                = obj as AttributeDefinition;

 

                if ((attDef != null) && (!attDef.Constant))

                {

                    using (AttributeReference attRef

                                    = new AttributeReference())

                    {

                        attRef.SetAttributeFromBlock(

                                attDef, bref.BlockTransform);

 

                        Extents3d exts = attRef.GeometricExtents;

                        _attExts.AddExtents(exts);

                    }

                }

            }

 

            // Stores the displacement of each attribute

            //reference with mid point as the reference

            // This is needed to keep the attribute references

            // straight after the block reference is rotated.

            Point3d midPt = _attExts.MinPoint +

                (_attExts.MaxPoint - _attExts.MinPoint) * 0.5;

 

            _attDisps = new Dictionary<string, Vector3d>();

            foreach (ObjectId id in btr)

            {

                DBObject obj = id.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead);

                AttributeDefinition attDef

                                = obj as AttributeDefinition;

 

                if ((attDef != null) && (!attDef.Constant))

                {

                    using (AttributeReference attRef

                                    = new AttributeReference())

                    {

                        attRef.SetAttributeFromBlock(

                                 attDef, bref.BlockTransform);

 

                        _attDisps.Add(attRef.Tag,

                                     attRef.Position - midPt);

                    }

                }

            }

 

            // Stores the positions of the attributes in the

            // rotated state.

            _attPos = new Dictionary<string, Point3d>();

 

 

            // The block reference rotation was set to 0.0

            // for calculating extents.

            // We do not want to save that change

            //tr.Commit();

        }

    }

 

    public bool DoIt()

    {

        Editor ed

        = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

 

        PromptResult jigRes = null;

        jigRes = null;

        jigRes = ed.Drag(this);

        if (jigRes.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

            return false;

        return true;

    }

 

    protected override SamplerStatus Sampler(JigPrompts prompts)

    {

        JigPromptAngleOptions jigOpts = new JigPromptAngleOptions();

        jigOpts.UserInputControls =

                (UserInputControls.Accept3dCoordinates |

                 UserInputControls.NullResponseAccepted);

 

        jigOpts.Message = "Specify rotation :";

        jigOpts.BasePoint = _insPoint;

        jigOpts.UseBasePoint = true;

        jigOpts.Cursor = CursorType.RubberBand;

        PromptDoubleResult jigRes = prompts.AcquireAngle(jigOpts);

 

        double angle = jigRes.Value;

 

        if (_brefAngle == angle)

            return SamplerStatus.NoChange;

 

        _brefAngle = angle;

 

        if (jigRes.Status == PromptStatus.OK)

            return SamplerStatus.OK;

 

        return SamplerStatus.Cancel;

    }

 

    protected override bool WorldDraw(

            Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsInterface.WorldDraw draw)

    {

        using (BlockReference bref

                       = new BlockReference(_insPoint, _btrId))

        {

            Database db = HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase;

            using (Transaction tr

                    = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

            {

                BlockTableRecord btr = tr.GetObject(

                _btrId, OpenMode.ForRead) as BlockTableRecord;

 

                foreach (ObjectId id in btr)

                {

                    DBObject obj = id.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead);

                    AttributeDefinition attDef

                                  = obj as AttributeDefinition;

                    if ((attDef != null) && (!attDef.Constant))

                    {

                        using (AttributeReference attRef

                                    = new AttributeReference())

                        {

                            attRef.SetAttributeFromBlock

                                 (attDef, bref.BlockTransform);

 

                            Point3d midPt = _attExts.MinPoint

                            + (_attExts.MaxPoint-_attExts.MinPoint)

                                                        * 0.5;

 

                            Vector3d dir = midPt - bref.Position;

 

                            dir = dir.RotateBy(

                                   _brefAngle, Vector3d.ZAxis);

 

                            midPt = bref.Position.TransformBy

                                 (Matrix3d.Displacement(dir));

 

                            if (_attDisps.ContainsKey(attRef.Tag))

                            {

                                Point3d attPos =

                                midPt.TransformBy(

                                Matrix3d.Displacement(

                                       _attDisps[attRef.Tag]));

 

                                attRef.Position = attPos;

 

                                if (_attPos.ContainsKey(attRef.Tag))

                                    _attPos[attRef.Tag] = attPos;

                                else

                                    _attPos.Add(attRef.Tag, attPos);

 

                                draw.Geometry.Draw(attRef);

                            }

                        }

                    }

                }

                tr.Commit();

            }

 

            bref.Rotation = _brefAngle;

            draw.Geometry.Draw(bref);

        }

        return true;

    }

}

Here is a sample drawing to try the "BJig" command. Download Test

The end of an era

By Stephen Preston

If you're an ADN member, if you've  been to Autodesk University, if you use the Autodesk forums, or if you follow this blog then you will undoubtedly know Fenton Webb. That is why I'm writing a post here to announce that - after 13 years serving the AutoCAD developer community - Fenton is moving on to pastures new.

I'm very sad to lose a colleague who joined the ADN team in the same year as I did, but I'm happy for Fenton that he's found a position with another team at Autodesk where he can work on something new and challenging. Fenton has moved to our installer and licensing team - a team he's been working very closely with over the last two years as part of his work on the Autodesk Exchange store (creating the installer template we use for apps on Autodesk Exchange, as well as the internal tools we use to automate the installer creation process for those apps). Fenton will be working on some top secret projects that I'm not allowed to talk about on this blog.

On behalf of the ADN team and (if I may be so bold) AutoCAD plug-in developers everywhere, I'd like to thank Fenton for his hard work and imagination in serving the AutoCAD developer community over the last 13 years. Hopefully, once he's settled into his new position, he'll be able to continue blogging on this site again, and he will be helping us out at AU with several classes in the Developer track and at our DevLab workshop. Bon chance et au revoir Fenton.

Fenton will be very difficult to replace, but we'll try.

Using BRep API in AutoCAD OEM

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Recently a developer reported this error message when a custom .arx module that made BRep calls was being loaded at startup : "'xxx.arx cannot find a procedure that it needs.”

A way to narrow down the procedure that is not being found is to use gflags.exe that is part the debugging tools for Windows from the Windows SDK. Here are the steps :

1) Run the gflags.exe and specify the OEM product name.

2) Hit the Tab key and turn on the loader snaps 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) Run the OEM product under the Visual Studio debugger until the error message appears in the command prompt.

4) Look at the messages in the Visual Studio output window to identify the procedure name that is not being found similar to the one shown here :

LdrpSnapThunk - ERROR: Procedure "?isSelfIntersecting@AcGeImpCurve3d@@UEBAHPEAVAcGeSelfIntersectTestCallback@@AEBVAcGeTol@@@Z" could not be located in DLL "AcGe19.dll" First-chance exception at 0x77350108 in TTGCAD.exe: 0xC0000139: Entry Point Not Found.

In this case a method in the "AcGe19.dll" was not being found. Copying "AcGe19.dll" from the OEM installer folder under "\x64\aoem\Program Files\Root\acge19.dll" to the OEM 2013 folder and rebuilding the product resolved the issue.