AutoCAD DevBlog

SystemVariableEnumerator – new class in AutoCAD 2015

By Virupaksha Aithal

SystemVariableEnumerator class provides a way to iterate over all of the public system variables and get their names, data type, range (if applicable), read-only status, and how they are stored. In ObjectARX this call is represented by “AcEdSysVarIterator”

 

[CommandMethod("SysVarListTest")]

public void SysVarListTest() // This method can have any name

{

    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

 

    using(SystemVariableEnumerator sysVar

                        = new SystemVariableEnumerator())

    {

        string storage = "";

 

        while (sysVar.MoveNext())

        {

            Variable var = sysVar.Current;

 

            switch (var.Storage)

            {

                case Variable.StorageType.PerDatabase:

                    storage = "PerDatabase";

                    break;

 

                case Variable.StorageType.PerProfile:

                    storage = "PerProfile";

                    break;

 

                case Variable.StorageType.PerSession:

                    storage = "PerSession";

                    break;

 

                case Variable.StorageType.PerUser:

                    storage = "PerUser";

                    break;

 

                case Variable.StorageType.PerViewport:

                    storage = "PerViewport";

                    break;

            }

 

            ed.WriteMessage(var.Name + "   " + storage + "\n");

 

        }

    }

    //use Application.GetSystemVariable() to get the value.

}

Audit API - New in AutoCAD 2015

By Virupaksha Aithal

From AutoCAD 2015, you can programmatically audit the drawing file using the new Database API “Audit” . You can also try fixing the issues in the drawing file using API’s argument. This API is present in ObjectARX and .NET.

In ObjectARX – use Acad::ErrorStatus acedAudit(AcDbDatabase* , bool , bool ) API.

[CommandMethod("AuditTest")]
publicvoid AuditTest() // This method can have any name
{
    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

    try
    {
        //to fix the error or not
        bool bFixErrors = true;
        //to show the message in commandline or not
        bool becho = true;
               
        //call audit API
        doc.Database.Audit(bFixErrors, becho);
    }
    catch
    {
        ed.WriteMessage("Unable to audit the drawing\n");
    }

}

Recover API – New API in AutoCAD 2015

By Virupaksha Aithal

A long time request by developer community is to recover the drawing files through API. That request has been addressed in AutoCAD 2015. Now, document collection class has a new API “AppContextRecoverDocument” which takes the name of the drawing file to recover. This API is present in ObjectARX and in .NET. In ObjectARX use AcApDocManager::appContextRecoverDocument() API.

[CommandMethod("RecoverTest", CommandFlags.Session)]
publicvoid RecoverTest() // This method can have any name
{
    Document doc =
        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
    DocumentCollection docs = Application.DocumentManager;
    Editor ed = doc.Editor;

    OpenFileDialog file =
        newOpenFileDialog("Select file to recover", null,
                            "dwg;dxf", "Recover",
          OpenFileDialog.OpenFileDialogFlags.DoNotTransferRemoteFiles);
             
    //show the dialog and take the dwg input
    System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult dr =  file.ShowDialog();
    if (dr != System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
           return;
    try
    {
        //call  AppContextRecoverDocument to revover the selected DWG.
        docs.AppContextRecoverDocument(file.Filename);
    }
    catch
    {
        ed.WriteMessage("Unable to recover the drawing\n");
    }
}

Using DIMPOST in a Lisp routine

By Xiaodong Liang

Question
I'm trying to change DIMPOST to \X in a lisp routine. The program will not accept \X in a lsp program. I'm want to change Dimstyle using the set up; Method set to NONE for both primary(Metric) and alternate units(English) and alternate unit placement under the primary units. I can do this manually but not in the lisp.

Solution
With these Lisp statements, the dimension formatting were as requested by the developer :

<<<

; To reset the alternative dimension prefix and suffix

(command-s "DIMAPOST" ".")

; To reset the primary dimension prefix and suffix

(command-s "DIMPOST" ".")

; To set the orientation of the alternative dimension over the primary dimension

(setvar "DIMPOST" "\\X")

>>>

Copy a leader using Visual LISP

By Wayne Brill

Recently I had a case where the question was how to create a new leader based on an existing leader using AutoLISP. Here is an example that I came up with. When you run this example you select a leader and the MText annotation for the leader. After you run the function you will need to move the Leader manually to see that there are are two leaders at the same location.

Another way to do this would be to use the Copy method and set the annotation property. This example is just getting the points from the existing leader, the MText, and then creating a new Leader at the same location.   

 

(defun C:copyLeaderTest (/ vla_ldr vla_mtx coords numberOfPoints
           arrayForPoints points attachPointFromExistingMText
           textForMText widthForMText insertioinPointForMText
           acadObj doc modelSpace newMText
               drawingDirectionForMText newLeader verticalTextPosition)

  (vl-load-com)
  (setvar "osmode" 0)
  (setvar "orthomode" 0)

  ; Get Leader and MText
  (while (setq ss1 (ssget (list (cons -4 "<OR")
    (cons 0 "LEADER") (cons 0 "MTEXT")(cons -4 "OR>"))))

   ; Ensure selection set has two entities
  (if (/= (sslength ss1) 2)
    (alert "Select 1 MText and 1 leader.")
    ; Have a Leader and MText get the ActiveX Object
    (progn
      (if (= (cdr (assoc 0 (entget (ssname ss1 0)))) "LEADER")
    (setq vla_ldr (vlax-ename->vla-object (ssname ss1 0))
          vla_mtx (vlax-ename->vla-object (ssname ss1 1))
    )
    (setq vla_ldr (vlax-ename->vla-object (ssname ss1 1))
          vla_mtx (vlax-ename->vla-object (ssname ss1 0))
    )
      )

         
      ; Get the coordinates from the existing leader
      ; and make an array of doubles
      (setq coords (vlax-get vla_ldr 'Coordinates))
      (setq numberOfPoints (1- (length coords)))
      (setq arrayForPoints (cons 0 numberOfPoints))
      (setq points (vlax-make-safearray vlax-vbDouble
                             arrayForPoints))
      (vlax-safearray-fill points coords)
     
    ; Store the current attachmentpoint of the existing MText 
    (setq attachPointFromExistingMText (vla-get-attachmentpoint vla_mtx))

    ; change the attachmentPoint for existing leader to Top Left
    ; This is will make the insertion point correct for the new MText
    (vla-put-AttachmentPoint vla_mtx acAttachmentPointTopLeft)
   
    (setq textForMText (vla-get-TextString vla_mtx))
    (setq widthForMText (vla-get-width vla_mtx))
    (setq insertioinPointForMText (vla-get-insertionpoint vla_mtx))

    ; Get modelspace and add the new MText
    (setq acadObj (vlax-get-acad-object))
    (setq doc (vla-get-ActiveDocument acadObj))
    (setq modelSpace (vla-get-ModelSpace doc)) 
    (setq newMText (vla-AddMText modelSpace
          insertioinPointForMText widthForMText textForMText))

    (vla-put-AttachmentPoint newMText attachPointFromExistingMText)

    ; make the attachmentPoint what it was
    (vla-put-AttachmentPoint vla_mtx attachPointFromExistingMText)

    (setq drawingDirectionForMText (vla-get-drawingdirection vla_mtx))
    (vla-put-drawingdirection newMText drawingDirectionForMText)
     
    ;; Create the leader object in model space
    (setq newLeader (vla-AddLeader modelSpace points newMText acLineWithArrow))

    (setq verticalTextPosition(vla-get-VerticalTextPosition vla_ldr))
    (vla-put-VerticalTextPosition newLeader verticalTextPosition)
     
    (vla-put-ArrowheadBlock
        newLeader
        (vla-get-ArrowheadBlock vla_ldr)
    )

    (vla-put-layer newLeader (vla-get-layer vla_ldr))
    (vla-put-layer newMText (vla-get-layer vla_mtx))

   ; (vla-Erase vla_ldr)
   ; (vla-Erase vla_mtx)

     )
  )
)

  (princ)
)

Resolving name conflict during XRef binding

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Recently a developer reported a behavior that a few entities went missing after the external references in a drawing were bound using API. On analyzing the drawing and its external references, the reason for this strange behavior was a block definition with the same name being present in the host and in one of the XRef drawings.

Although the block definitions were different in the drawings, they shared the same name. When such XRef drawings are bound, this can result in block references using the block definition from the host drawing.

 If the "insertBind" parameter is set to false in the call to "BindXrefs", this should help resolve such name conflicts. Here is an explanation from acadauto.chm on how AutoCAD resolves such name conflicts during XRef binding :

If the bPrefixName parameter is set to FALSE, the symbol names of the xref drawing are prefixed in the current drawing with <blockname>$x$, where x is an integer that is automatically incremented to avoid overriding existing block definitions. If the bPrefixName parameter is set to TRUE, the symbol names of the xref drawing are merged into the current drawing without the prefix. If duplicate names exist, AutoCAD uses the symbols already defined in the local drawing. If you are unsure whether your drawing contains duplicate symbol names, it is recommended that you set bPrefixName to FALSE. 

 

Extracting IsoLines from Surface

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Here is a sample code to extract IsoLines along the U and V directions of a surface. The extracted curves are added to the database.

// 1) Enable support for the BRep API in StdAfx.h

#define _BREP_SUPPORT_            //- Support for the BRep API

 

// 2) Code to retrieve the IsoLines from a surface

Acad::ErrorStatus es;

 

ads_point pt;

ads_name ename;

if (RTNORM != acedEntSel(L"Select a Surface", ename, pt))

    return;

 

AcDbEntity *pEnt = NULL;

AcDbObjectId id;

es = acdbGetObjectId(id, ename);

es = acdbOpenAcDbEntity(pEnt, id, AcDb::kForWrite);

AcDbSurface *pSurface = AcDbSurface::cast(pEnt);

if(NULL == pSurface)

{

    acutPrintf(ACRX_T("\nPlease select a surface."));

    return;

}

 

AcDbNurbSurfaceArray nsArray;

es = pSurface->convertToNurbSurface(nsArray);

if(es == Acad::eOk)

{

    if(nsArray.length() == 1)

    {

        AcDbDatabase *pDb

            = acdbHostApplicationServices()->workingDatabase();

 

        AcDbBlockTable *pBlockTable = NULL;

        es = pDb->getBlockTable(pBlockTable, AcDb::kForRead);

 

        AcDbBlockTableRecord *pMS = NULL;

        es = pBlockTable->getAt(

                       ACDB_MODEL_SPACE, pMS, AcDb::kForWrite);

 

        AcDbNurbSurface *pNS = NULL;

        pNS = AcDbNurbSurface::cast(nsArray.at(0));

 

        Adesk::UInt16 uIsoDensity = pSurface->uIsolineDensity();

        Adesk::UInt16 vIsoDensity = pSurface->vIsolineDensity();

 

        AcDbBody* pBody = new AcDbBody();

 

        es = pBody->setASMBody(pSurface->getLockedASMBody());

 

        AcBr::ErrorStatus ebs;

        AcBrBrep* pBrep = new AcBrBrep();

        ebs = pBrep->set(*pBody);

        if(AcBr::eOk == ebs)

        {

            AcBrBrepFaceTraverser* pFaceTrav

                                = new AcBrBrepFaceTraverser;

            ebs = pFaceTrav->setBrep(*pBrep);

            if(AcBr::eOk == ebs)

            {

                for(pFaceTrav->restart();

                        !pFaceTrav->done();pFaceTrav->next())

                {

                    AcBrFace face;

                    ebs = pFaceTrav->getFace(face);

                    if(AcBr::eOk == ebs)

                    {

                        AcGeSurface *pGeSurface;

                        ebs = face.getSurface(pGeSurface);

 

                        Adesk::Boolean isClosedInU

                                  = pGeSurface->isClosedInU();

 

                        Adesk::Boolean isClosedInV

                                  = pGeSurface->isClosedInV();

 

                        int ucMax = uIsoDensity+2;

                        if(isClosedInU)

                            ucMax = uIsoDensity;

 

                        int vcMax = vIsoDensity+2;

                        if(isClosedInV)

                            vcMax = vIsoDensity;

 

                        AcGeInterval intervalU, intervalV;

                        pGeSurface->getEnvelope

                                       (intervalU, intervalV);

 

                        double boundMinU = 0.0,

                               boundMaxU = 0.0,

                               boundMinV = 0.0,

                               boundMaxV = 0.0;

 

                        intervalU.getBounds

                                       (boundMinU, boundMaxU);

 

                        intervalV.getBounds

                                       (boundMinV, boundMaxV);

 

                        double paramIncrU =

                        (boundMaxU - boundMinU) /

                        (isClosedInU ? uIsoDensity :

                                       (uIsoDensity+1));

 

                        double paramIncrV =

                        (boundMaxV - boundMinV) /

                        (isClosedInV ? vIsoDensity :

                                       (vIsoDensity+1));

 

                        double paramU = boundMinU;

                        for(int uc = 0; uc < ucMax; uc++)

                        {

                            double paramV = boundMinV;

                            for(int vc = 0; vc < vcMax; vc++)

                            {

                                AcArray<AcDbCurve*> uIsoLines;

                                es = pNS->getIsolineAtU(

                                           paramU, uIsoLines);

 

                                if(es == Acad::eOk)

                                {

                                    for(int cnt = 0;

                                        cnt < uIsoLines.length();

                                        cnt++)

                                    {

                                        AcDbCurve *pCurve

                                            = uIsoLines[cnt];

 

                                        pCurve->setColorIndex(1);

 

                                        pMS->appendAcDbEntity

                                                     (pCurve);

 

                                        pCurve->close();

                                    }

                                }

 

                                AcArray<AcDbCurve*> vIsoLines;

                                es = pNS->getIsolineAtV(

                                           paramV, vIsoLines);

 

                                if(es == Acad::eOk)

                                {

                                    for(int cnt = 0;

                                        cnt < vIsoLines.length();

                                        cnt++)

                                    {

                                        AcDbCurve *pCurve

                                             = vIsoLines[cnt];

 

                                        pCurve->setColorIndex(1);

 

                                        pMS->appendAcDbEntity

                                                     (pCurve);

 

                                        pCurve->close();

                                    }

                                }

 

                                paramV += paramIncrV;

                            }

                            paramU += paramIncrU;

                        }

                    }

                    else

                    {

                        acutPrintf(

                              ACRX_T("\nSorry, BRep error."));

 

                        break;

                    }

                }

            }

            else

            {

                acutPrintf(ACRX_T("\nSorry, BRep error."));

            }

 

            delete pFaceTrav;

        }

        else

        {

            acutPrintf(ACRX_T("\nSorry, BRep error."));

        }

 

        delete pBrep;

 

        es = pMS->close();

        es = pBlockTable->close();

    }

    else

    {

        acutPrintf(ACRX_T("\nSorry, this code cannot handle

                               multiple Nurb surfaces yet."));

    }

 

    // Cleanup

    for(int cnt = 0; cnt < nsArray.length(); cnt++)

    {

        AcDbNurbSurface *pNS = NULL;

        pNS = AcDbNurbSurface::cast(nsArray.at(cnt));

        if(pNS != NULL)

        {

            delete pNS;

        }

    }

}

else

{

    acutPrintf(

        ACRX_T("\nSorry, could not convert to Nurb surface."));

}

 

pSurface->close();

Here is a screenshot of the IsoLines extracted from a revolved surface