AutoCAD DevBlog

Validate Plant P&ID drawings

By Augusto Goncalves

Inside Plant P&ID we can Validate, via ribbon Home>Validate>Run Validation or right-click on a drawing and select “Validate”. More details here.

Using APIs there is a ValidationSingleton object that has a ValidateDrawings or ValidareProject method. After run this, the Errors property will contain a list of validation errors. Actually there is one class for each type, so you’ll need to cast or, like in the sample below, simply get the error name.

Important: this API method will *only* show the validation errors after you run it via built-in command.

[CommandMethod("validateDrawings")]
public static void CmdValidateDrawings()
{
  Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.
    MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
 
  // Validation manager
  AcPpValidationManager vmgr = ValidationSingleton.Manager;
 
  // prepare a list of drawings
  AcPpValidationAllOpenedDrawingManager dsd =
    new AcPpValidationAllOpenedDrawingManager();
  foreach (Document doc in Application.DocumentManager)
  {
    dsd.Add(doc.Database);
  }
 
  // clear the list of error 
  // (in case you're running several times)
  vmgr.Errors.Clear();
 
  // the actual validation occurs here
  vmgr.ValidateProject(dsd);
 
  // now check the list of errors
  if (vmgr.Errors.Count > 0)
  {

    AcPpValidationErrorCollection errorList = vmgr.Errors;
    foreach (IAcPpValidationError item1 in errorList)
    {
      // can be classes from namespace
      // Autodesk.ProcessPower.PnIDDwgValidation          
 
 
      // for now, let's write the error class name
      ed.WriteMessage("\n{0}", 
        item1.GetType().Name.PascalCaseToText());
    }
  }
}

// nice sample Regular expression from here. 
public static string PascalCaseToText(this string text)
{
  return System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(
    text, "([a-z](?=[A-Z])|[A-Z](?=[A-Z][a-z]))", "$1 ");
}

Creating Viewport with UCS Follow

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Here is a sample code to create a viewport with UCS Follow turned on. This should ensure that the viewport displays the plan based on the UCS whenever it changes.

 [CommandMethod("CreateVP",

     CommandFlags.NoTileMode)]

 public  void CreateVPMethod()

 {

     Document doc 

     = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

     Database db = doc.Database;

     Editor ed = doc.Editor;

     ObjectId layoutId = LayoutManager.Current.GetLayoutId

                 (LayoutManager.Current.CurrentLayout);

     using  (Transaction Tx 

         = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

     {

         Layout LayoutDest 

         = Tx.GetObject(layoutId, OpenMode.ForRead) 

         as  Layout;

         BlockTableRecord btrDest 

         = Tx.GetObject(LayoutDest.BlockTableRecordId, 

         OpenMode.ForWrite) as  BlockTableRecord;

         ViewportTable vt 

         = Tx.GetObject(db.ViewportTableId, OpenMode.ForRead)

         as  ViewportTable;

         ViewportTableRecord vtr 

         = Tx.GetObject(vt["*Active"], OpenMode.ForRead) 

         as  ViewportTableRecord;

         UcsTable ucsTbl 

         = Tx.GetObject(db.UcsTableId, OpenMode.ForRead) 

         as  UcsTable;

         if  (vtr != null)

         {

             Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Viewport vpNew 

             = new  Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Viewport();

             vpNew.SetDatabaseDefaults();

             vpNew.Width = 6.0;

             vpNew.Height = 5.0;

             vpNew.CenterPoint = new  Point3d(3.25, 3, 0);

             if  (ucsTbl.Has("myucs"))

             {

                 ObjectId ucsId = ucsTbl["myucs"];

                 vpNew.SetUcs(ucsId);

             }

             vpNew.StandardScale 

             = StandardScaleType.Scale1To1;

             vpNew.ViewCenter = vtr.CenterPoint;

             vpNew.ViewHeight = vtr.Height;

             vpNew.ViewDirection = vtr.ViewDirection;

             vpNew.ViewTarget = vtr.Target;

             vpNew.TwistAngle = vtr.ViewTwist;

             vpNew.UcsPerViewport = true ;

             vpNew.UcsFollowModeOn = true ;

             vpNew.GridOn = true ;

             vpNew.GridFollow = true ;

             btrDest.AppendEntity(vpNew);

             Tx.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(vpNew, true );

             vpNew.On = true ;

         }

         Tx.Commit();

     }

 }

AutoCAD 2016: Trusted paths and AutoLoader

By Virupaksha Aithal

In AutoCAD 2014, we introduced Trusted Locations (TRUSTEDPATHS).   “Trusted Paths” are in concept a “white list” of locations that the CAD manager can audit and maintain for add-ins and customizations loaded into AutoCAD.  AutoCAD allows signed files to be loaded from outside of this “whitelist” without SECURELOAD warnings, with the exception that AutoCAD 2016 will check if the publisher of the signed app is in the users trusted publisher certificate store.  The “best practice” is to ensure the “trusted locations” are only writable with Administrator permissions.

Applications utilizing the "autoloader" functionality within AutoCAD have the options to install to the following locations:

%APPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins
%ProgramFiles%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins (In 64-bit OS)

In AutoCAD 2014 & 2015 - %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins and %Appdata%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins – are by default trusted paths.

With AutoCAD 2016, only the Program files folder (C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins and C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins ) is trusted by default.
This means, when you try to load an unsigned add-in from any location outside of the "trusted locations" you will get a warning message like the one shown below. Note that in AutoCAD 2016 the user can choose to “always trust this app” – if they do, the warning will not be triggered again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Signed add-ins with publishers that haven’t been “trusted” by the user will trigger this kind of warning, below.  Note the user can add the publisher to the certificate store by selecting “always trust applications from…” and then they won’t be asked again for that publisher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To avoid warnings, you need to:

Sign all your add-in files with your own digital signature and add your certificate to the local machine’s trusted certificates cache. Attaching a digital signature affords a basic level of security to help designate the publisher of the application and to help guarantee that the application hasn't been tampered with since it was distributed by the signer. We recommend that an app be signed regardless of where it is installed.
OR
Install to a trusted folder (for example C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins.) Note that AutoCAD implicitly trusts the AutoCAD install folder and all subfolders under it and C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins and all its subfolders. These are considered "trusted locations."

It is strongly recommend to sign your add-in as more and more of AutoCAD customers - particularly larger customers – are requiring any files installed on their networks to be signed.

Related blogs:

Digitally signing plug-in files

Trusted publishers

DevTV AutoCAD 2016

Through the Interface – Security

Autodesk Help:

About Digitally Signing Custom Program Files

DWG file type association

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Here is some information on .dwg file type association that you may find helpful especially if you multiple softwares that can open .dwg files installed in your system.

The applications that can open .dwg files in a system are listed under the following registry key :

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\DwgCommon\shellex\apps

For example, AutoCAD could be listed under :

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\DwgCommon\shellex\apps\{F29F85E0-4FF9-1068-AB91-08002B27B3D9}:AutoCAD

The default application that will be used for opening .dwg file is under 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\DwgCommon\shellex\apps -> (Default) key

AutoCAD reads the following registry key at startup to know if .dwg file type is associated with AutoCAD.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.dwg

If this key is not found as would be expected when running AutoCAD for the very first time, AutoCAD would display the DWG Association dialog as shown in this screenshot.

In case you want AutoCAD to show this dialog in any of its subsequent invocations, simply try renaming the ".dwg" registry key under "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes"

To always automatically reassociate the .dwg without prompting the user, the following registry key was required is to be set :

HKCU\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R20.0\ACAD-E001:409\Profiles\<<Unnamed Profile>>\General

DwgAlwaysAssociate : 1

To never associate .dwg automatically and also prevent the reassociate dialog from appearing, the following  registry key is to be set :

HKCU\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R20.0\ACAD-E001:409\Profiles\<<Unnamed Profile>>\General

DwgAlwaysAssociate : 0

If you do not find the DwgAlwaysAssociate key in the registry, you can create it as a DWORD.

Please ensure that you make the registry changes with care and keep a backup of the registry keys that you are changing by first exporting them as .reg files. This is important to undo the changes if you face any problems later. 

Adding new file location using Sheetset API

By Balaji Ramamoorthy

Here is a code snippet to add a new file location and to set it as the new sheet location using the Sheetset API :

 AcSmSheetSetMgr manager = new  AcSmSheetSetMgr();

 AcSmDatabase sheetDb = 

         manager.FindOpenDatabase(@"D:\\Temp\\MySheetset.dst" );

 sheetDb.LockDb(sheetDb);

 // New sheet location 

 AcSmResources resources 

             = sheetDb.GetSheetSet().GetResources();

 AcSmFileReference fileRef = new  AcSmFileReference();

 fileRef.InitNew(resources);

 fileRef.SetFileName(@"D:\\Temp\\SampleDrawings" );

 sheetDb.GetSheetSet().SetNewSheetLocation(fileRef);

 // Add New location 

 AcSmFileReference fileRef1 = new  AcSmFileReference();

 fileRef1.InitNew(sheetDb);

 fileRef1.SetFileName(@"D:\\Temp\\SampleDrawings" );

 resources.Add(fileRef1);

 sheetDb.UnlockDb(sheetDb);

After you run the code, the model views from all the drawings in the path should get listed under Model Views as shown in this screenshot :

Converting AcDbObjectIdArray to IAcadSelectionSet

By Madhukar Moogala

Recently I have received a request from an ADN partner how to pass set of Object Ids to Export COM API, the problem here is working on cross technologies i.e. passing data from C++ to COM

The signature of Export  API in COM is :

Export (        /*[in]*/ BSTR FileName,        /*[in]*/ BSTR Extension,        /*[in]*/ struct IAcadSelectionSet * SelectionSet ) = 0;

It takes a filename, extension and IAcadSelectionSet, now all we have is set of ids.

For better understanding we will pursue an example, the objective of problem is to “Export set of selected objects to BMP format”

 

To tackle such requirement our workflow would be:

- From list retrieve ObjectIds, get associated IAcadEntity using Global function AcAxGetIUnknownOfObject.
- Append IAcadEntity to AcadSelectionSet.AddItems
- Use the selectionset in Export API

Sample Code:

void TestExport()

{

    ads_name ss;

    AcDbObjectIdArray* pIdArray = new AcDbObjectIdArray();

    // get the selectionset

    int res = acedSSGet (NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, ss);

    if (res == RTNORM)

    {

        //get the length of the selection set

        long length = 0l;

        acedSSLength (ss, &length);

 //now loop round

        for (long i=0l; i<length; ++i)

        {

            ads_name ename;

            // extract the ename

            if (acedSSName (ss, i, ename) != RTNORM)

                continue;

            AcDbObjectId objId;

            // convert the ename to an object id

            acdbGetObjectId (objId, ename);

            pIdArray->append(objId);

        }

    }

    /*Export the collection of Objects to BMP format*/

    ExportToFile(pIdArray);

    //free the selection set after use

    acedSSFree (ss);

    delete pIdArray;

}

Utility Functions:

 

 

/*Puts AcadEntity to given selectionset*/

HRESULT addToSelSet(AutoCAD::IAcadSelectionSet* pSelSet, AutoCAD::IAcadEntity* pEntity)

{

HRESULT hr;

 

SAFEARRAYBOUND rgsabound[1];

rgsabound[0].lLbound = 0;

rgsabound[0].cElements = 1;

SAFEARRAY* psa = SafeArrayCreateVector(VT_DISPATCH, rgsabound->lLbound, rgsabound->cElements);

if( ! psa )

return E_OUTOFMEMORY;

long i = 0;

LPDISPATCH pDisp = pEntity;

pEntity->Release();

 

/*

This function assigns a single element to the array.

*/

/*NOTE: Void pointer<pDisp> to the data to assign to the array.

The variant types VT_DISPATCH, VT_UNKNOWN, and VT_BSTR are pointers, and do not require another level of indirection.*/

hr = SafeArrayPutElement(psa, &i,pDisp);

if( FAILED(hr) )

{

SafeArrayDestroy(psa);

return hr;

}

VARIANT v;

 

VariantInit(&v);

v.vt = VT_DISPATCH|VT_ARRAY;

v.parray = psa;

 

return pSelSet->AddItems(v);

}

 

/*Get me a Selection set or create one if not present*/

AutoCAD::IAcadSelectionSet *GiveMeSelectionSet(AutoCAD::IAcadSelectionSets *pSelSets, BSTR Name)

{

try {

AutoCAD::IAcadSelectionSet *pSet = NULL;

if (pSelSets->Add(Name,&pSet) == S_OK) {

return pSet;

} else if (pSelSets->Item(_variant_t(Name),&pSet) == S_OK) {

return pSet;

} else return NULL;

} catch(...) {

return NULL;

}

return NULL;

}

 

 

void ExportToFile(AcDbObjectIdArray*&  pIdArray)

{

HRESULT hr;

try

{

 

AutoCAD::IAcadApplication *pAcad =NULL;

AutoCAD::IAcadDocument *pDoc =NULL;

AutoCAD::IAcadModelSpace *pMSpace = NULL;

AutoCAD::IAcadSelectionSets *pSelSets = NULL;

AutoCAD::IAcadSelectionSet *pSet= NULL;

 

hr = NOERROR;

LPUNKNOWN pUnk = NULL;

LPDISPATCH pAcadDisp = acedGetIDispatch(TRUE);

if(pAcadDisp==NULL)

return ;

 

hr = pAcadDisp->QueryInterface(AutoCAD::IID_IAcadApplication,(void**)&pAcad);

pAcadDisp->Release();

if (FAILED(hr))

return;

 

if (pAcad)

{

 

if (pAcad->get_ActiveDocument(&pDoc) == S_OK)

{

 

if (pDoc->get_SelectionSets(&pSelSets) == S_OK) {

/*Gets or Creates a set*/

if ((pSet = GiveMeSelectionSet(pSelSets,_bstr_t("TestSet"))) != NULL)

{

    pSet->Clear();

    for (int i = 0; i < pIdArray->length(); i++)

    {

        AcDbObjectId id = pIdArray->at(i);

        //get the COM wrapper associated with the entity

        if(FAILED(hr =AcAxGetIUnknownOfObject(&pUnk, id, pAcadDisp)))

            throw (_com_error(hr));

        //get the AutoCAD::IAcadEntity

        AutoCAD::IAcadEntity *pEnt = NULL;

        if(FAILED(hr= pUnk->QueryInterface(AutoCAD::IID_IAcadEntity, (void **)&pEnt)))

            throw (_com_error(hr));

 

        /*Add acad entities to Selection set*/

        if (FAILED(hr = addToSelSet(pSet,pEnt)))

            throw(_com_error(hr)) ;

    }

 

    if (FAILED(hr = pDoc->Export(_bstr_t("c:\\temp\\test"),_bstr_t("BMP"),pSet)))

        throw(_com_error(hr)) ;

    pSet->Release();

}

else

    return ;

pSelSets->Release();

}

pDoc->Release();

}

pAcad->Release();

}

pUnk->Release();

}

catch (...)

{

return ;

}

return ;

}

Sending an email template from within AutoCAD

By Madhukar Moogala

Recently, I received a query from an ADN partner, as part of partner customisation requirement expects users to send feedback about publisher app.

The idea is to trigger outlook from a .NET command which is loaded in a macro button.

We can use  Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook API to achieve this in our command.

Sample code:

Use assemblyref  Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook

 

[CommandMethod("SMTP")]

static public void SMTP()

{

try

{

List<string> lstAllRecipients = new List<string>();

//Below is hardcoded - can be replaced with db data

lstAllRecipients.Add("[email protected]");

Outlook.Application outlookApp =

    new Outlook.Application();

Outlook._MailItem oMailItem = 

    (Outlook._MailItem)outlookApp.CreateItem(Outlook.OlItemType.olMailItem);

Outlook.Inspector oInspector = oMailItem.GetInspector;

// Recipient

Outlook.Recipients oRecips =

(Outlook.Recipients)oMailItem.Recipients;

foreach (String recipient in lstAllRecipients)

{

Outlook.Recipient oRecip =

(Outlook.Recipient)oRecips.Add(recipient);

oRecip.Resolve();

}

 

//Add Subject

oMailItem.Subject = "Test Mail";

// body

oMailItem.Body = " Write your Body ";

 

//Display the mailbox

oMailItem.Display(true);

}

catch (SystemException objEx)

{

Application.ShowAlertDialog(objEx.ToString());

}

}

 

In the CUI macro button, pass ^C^C_SMTP

 

 

 

Reference:DisplayMailbox

Autodesk Exchange Apps Store – Publisher Survey

By Virupaksha Aithal

It is my pleasure to announce the launch of inaugural Autodesk Exchange Apps Store – Publisher survey. 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 Autodesk Exchange Apps Store team.

Click here to take survey

The survey will remain open until 12th of June 2015. 

Track value change on Plant 3D Database

By Augusto Goncalves

On AutoCAD entities we cannot track changes, although we can simulate some sort of tracking mechanism, see this blog post. So if you need to track geometric properties, like position, you’ll probably need something as described.

Now on Plant 3D there is a actual database storing information: the PnPDatabase, which includes a list of tables (PnPTable), that represent the classes. And there are some interesting events, such as ColumnChanged event.

Below is a sample that uses this event to track changes on database values (in this case, the Manufacturer) of EngineeringItems.

[CommandMethod("trackTableChanges")]
public static void CmdTrackChanges()
{
  TrackDBTableChanges(
    "EngineeringItems",
    new string[] { "Manufacturer" });
}
 
private static void TrackDBTableChanges(
  string tableName, string[] columns)
{
  PlantProject currentProj =
    PlantApplication.CurrentProject;
  PipingProject pipeProj =
    (PipingProject)currentProj.ProjectParts["Piping"];
  DataLinksManager dlm = pipeProj.DataLinksManager;
  PnPDatabase db = dlm.GetPnPDatabase();
 
  // the table we want to track
  PnPTable engItemsTable = db.Tables[tableName];
 
  // just the columns we want to track
  _collunsToTrack = new List<string>(columns);
 
  // start tracking
  engItemsTable.ColumnChanged +=
    engItemsTable_ColumnChanged;
}
 
private static List<string> _collunsToTrack = null;
 
static void engItemsTable_ColumnChanged
  (object sender, PnPColumnChangeEventArgs e)
{
  // filter by column name
  if (!(_collunsToTrack.Contains(e.Column.Name))) return;
 
  // simple output
  Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.
    Editor.WriteMessage(
    "{0} of item {1} changed from {2} to {3}",
    e.Column.Name, e.Row.RowId,
    e.CurrentValue, e.ProposedValue);
}

Custom code snippet on Visual Studio

By Augusto Goncalves

Today’s post is focused on productivity, an aspect that is sometimes left behind due our intense work load…And I believe that small improvements can make a huge difference on our daily work.

Now the idea is to save us some time typing a new command for AutoCAD, that includes, for instance, database, editor and transaction. Sure you can adjust the code.

How make this work? Simple:

1. Create a .snippet file using any text editor (Notepad can do the trick).
2. Copy & paste the XML content below
3. Save at [My Documents]\Visual Studio 2012\Code Snippets\Visual C#\My Code Snippets\ folder, or other version that you have.
4. At your Visual Studio code, type AcadCmd and press TAB, the code should appear, press TAB again to move between command name and method name, both marked in yellow.

Like it? You may adjust to other commands or other pieces that you use repeatedly. Here is the .snippet for download.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<CodeSnippets xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2008/CodeSnippet">
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>AutoCAD Command</Title>
      <Shortcut>AcadCmd</Shortcut>
      <Description>Code snippet for AutoCAD command method with transaction</Description>
      <SnippetTypes>
        <SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>
      </SnippetTypes>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal>
          <ID>COMMAND_NAME</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with the command name</ToolTip>
          <Default>myCommandName</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Object>
          <ID>METHOD_NAME</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with the method name</ToolTip>
          <Default>myMethodName</Default>
        </Object>
      </Declarations>
      <Code Language="CSharp">
        <![CDATA[
        [CommandMethod("$COMMAND_NAME$")]
        public static void $METHOD_NAME$()
        {
            Database db = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;
            Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
            using (Transaction trans = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
            { 
 
            }
        }
        ]]>
      </Code>
    </Snippet>
  </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>