AutoCAD DevBlog

Displaying readme.chm after installing OEM application

By Wayne Brill

Issue

I am following the instructions from the OEM 2011 Developer's Guide. My install works fine however the readme.chm file that I put in the Docs directory (as instructed) is not being displayed. Is there a way to get the readme.chm to automatically display if I have checked the "View Content" of the readme after the install?

Solution

Instead of creating a directory named "Docs", name the directory "Help". With this change the readme.chm file will be launched after the install if the check box is selected.

PnPCommonMgd.dll missing in the Plant3D 2011 SDK

By Wayne Brill

Issue

I am trying to use PnPXDbDatasource as in the "Data Objects Extensions" example from the Plant SDK 2011 Developer Guide.  I am getting errors about a missing reference to an assembly named PnPCommonMgd for the type Autodesk.ProcessPower.Common.PnPCollectionItem. I am unable to find PnPCommonMgd.dll in the Plant3D SDK where the other assemblies are located. Is this assembly available?

Solution

PnPCommonMgd.dll is missing from the Plant3D SDK. It does however install with Plant3D P&ID product and can be referenced from the install directory:

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD Plant 3D 2011

Edit Attributes dialog does not show when using INSERT from Lisp

By Wayne Brill

Issue

I have the following Lisp code and it used to work fine - i.e. it showed the Edit Attributes dialog when a block with attributes was being inserted.

(defun c:myinsert ( / )
  (setvar "ATTREQ" 1)
  (setvar "ATTDIA" 1)
  (initdia)
  (command "-insert" "MyBlock" "0,0" 1 1 0.0)  
)

However, in AutoCAD 2012 the functionality seems broken as only the command line version of Edit Attributes is available.

How could I make the Edit Attributes dialog appear?

Solution

This behavior has been reported and hopefully the fix will be available in the first service pack of AutoCAD 2012.

You may find the following workaround acceptable in the meantime:

(defun c:myinsert ( / attreq  )
  (setq attreq  (getvar "ATTREQ"))
  (setvar "ATTREQ" 0)
  (command "_.-insert" "myblock" "0,0" 1 1 0)
  (setvar "ATTREQ" attreq)
  (if (= attreq 1)
      (command "_ddatte" (entlast))
  )
)

PAUSE \ waits longer than before in case of m2p/mtp

By Wayne Brill

Issue

I have a Macro for one of my commands and it worked fine before, but in AutoCAD 2010 the PAUSE seems to wait longer, not only for a single point aquisition as in AutoCAD 2009.

I have this Macro:

^C^C_line m2p;endp;\endp;

In AutoCAD 2010 if Object Snap is turned off and you start the above macro then you can see that the first end point acquisition of m2p is going well (the end point of the entities under the cursor are shown), but during the second end point acquisition of m2p the end points are not highlighted. It seems that the PAUSE is still on, and so the second endp has not been reached.

How could I make this work as before, so that \ would only wait for a single point acquisition?

Solution

In case of the new behaviour PAUSE \ waits for the whole m2p to finish, instead of waiting for just a single intermediate point acquisition. This is more consistent with other similar functions like tan/appint.

If you use the following Lisp code then the result will always be predictable in AutoCAD 2010 and above - PAUSE will wait for the first point acqusition of the LINE command to finish no matter how the user aquires it:

(command "_.line" pause "5,5" "")

1. Run the above Lisp code
2. Type in m2p
3. Pick the first point for m2p >> in AutoCAD 2009 the LINE command will exit without creating a line entity, whereas in the newer releases the LINE command will continue by passing in "5,5" as the second point of the line, and the entity will be created successfully

As a workaround your Macro could set the OSMODE value directly:

^C^C(setq osm (getvar "OSMODE"));(setvar "OSMODE" 1);_line m2p;\\;(setvar "OSMODE" osm);

This switches on End Point Snap temporarily, instead of using endp.

GetPoint with Enter states "Invalid Point" instead of returning - Change in behavior

By Wayne Brill

Issue

I am using the GetPoint method. (AutoCAD COM interface using late binding). In AutoCAD 2010 and in previous versions hitting enter when prompted for a point would return. In 2011 instead of returning, "Invalid Point" is printed on the command line. Is there a way to allow Enter to return using GetPoint () in AutoCAD 2011 and later versions?

Solution

This change in behavior is considered to be correct. If you need Enter to be accepted with GetPoint make a call to InitializeUserInput(0) of the Utility object before using GetPoint().

OEM 64bit - Load controls not working for 64 bit installed OEM product

By Wayne Brill

Issue

I have created OEM application and an installer using the OEM InstallerWizard. I install my application on a new 64 bit system. I run the application and the custom modules that I added in the OEM MakeWizard with a load controls setting of 2, are not automatically loaded. It works as expected using 32 bit. (the custom module is loaded) When I look into windows registry, I found the installation created an entry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFWARE\Wow6432Node\MYAPP\.....
but the OEM product still looks for value under  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFWARE\MYAPP\.....  which caused our OEM product to fail when loading my custom module automatically. Is there a way to fix this behavior for 64bit OEM applications?

Solution

The problem with the OEM InstallerWizard is reported in a Change Request. (fixed in 2013) The OEM InstallerWizard is not fully adding the required settings for modules in a 64bit install.

To resolve this problem follow these steps:

1) Install and load the ORCA.exe application from Microsoft. (or use another tool that can modify msi files)
2) Open your 64bit OEM Product MSI in ORCA
3) Goto View->Summary information
4) Set the Platform to x64
5) Save
6) Click on the Components Table on the left
7) Make sure the Attributes setting for all components bitwise and’s with 256… So if the value was 4, then make it 260. But if the value was 260, leave it alone.
Here’s the documentation on the Components table: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa368007(v=vs.85).aspx
8) save and test

More detail about the solution. If you define binary bits in a byte

The first bit if set, = 1
The second bit, if set, = 2
Third, if set, =4
8,
16,
32,
64,
128,
256

If you take a denary number such as 37, this will be defined in binary as 100101, that is from right to left bit 1=on(1), bit 2=off, bit 3=on(4), bits 4,5 off and finally bit 6(32) on. You’ll notice that if you add all of the numbers in ( )’s that they will equal 37, that’s how they relate. Interestingly, the bit order on UNIX platforms is reversed in a single byte. The solution is to ensure the number is and’d with 256, what this means is that bit 8 needs to be turned on…So, if the number is 200 clearly bit 8 is off (because 200 is smaller than 256), so you can add 256 to that to make 456. If the number is 1829, that’s 11100100101 in binary, which shows that bit 8 is off, so you need to add 256 to it in order to turn it on.

Behavior of M2P snap changed

By Wayne Brill

Issue

I am using this menu macro: _M2P;ENDP;\ENDP; In AutoCAD 2010 and later, it does not work the same as it did in AutoCAD 2009 and previous versions. In previous versions I can start the line command, click the menu item with the macro and I am prompted for the two points. The line is then started at the midpoint of the two selected points. In AutoCAD 2010 and later after selecting the points I am still prompted for another point. Is there a way to get the macro to start the line after selecting the two points? 

Solution

A way to get the behavior as in the previous releases is to use lisp transparently. Below is an example. The (command ...) function call below does not include a command name, so this can be used while any command is prompting for a point. The menu macro would be this: 'SNAPPY

NOTE: There is no preceding ^C and it also includes the leading single quote '.

(defun c:snappy ( / osm )
(if (not (equal (getvar "cmdnames") ""))
     (progn
       (setq osm (getvar "osmode"))
       (setvar "osmode" 1)
       (command "_m2p" pause)
       (setvar "osmode" osm)
     )
);if
(princ)
)

 

There is one drawback to the approach above and that is: Lisp cannot be used transparently to run commands when another lisp routine is prompting for input. (not directly anyway)
(defun c:foo ()
  (command "_line" pause pause "")
)

This will not work properly due to re-entrancy issues with lisp.

(FOO
'snappy

There is a way around this but it involves more code. If you use the sample (link below) then the following macro can be used in conjunction with any command and/or any lisp routine.
'_midof;_endp;\_endp

or
'_thirdof;_endp;\_endp

Download Midof

Freeze and Thaw layers in a paperspace viewport

This VB.NET example shows how to freeze or thaw a layer in a layout viewport using the FreezeLayersInViewport() and ThawLayersInViewport() methods. These methods take an ObjectIdCollection which is a collection of ObjectId for the layers to freeze or thaw.

By Wayne Brill

<CommandMethod("VPFreezeandThaw")> _

Public Sub VPFreezeandThaw()

 

    Dim doc As Document = _

        Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument

    Dim ed As Editor = doc.Editor

    Dim db As Database = doc.Database

    Dim idLay As ObjectId

    Dim idLayTblRcd As ObjectId

    Dim lt As LayerTable

 

    Dim tm As Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices. _

           TransactionManager = db.TransactionManager

    Dim ta As Transaction = tm.StartTransaction()

 

    Try

 

        idLay = db.LayerTableId

        lt = ta.GetObject(idLay, OpenMode.ForRead)

 

        If lt.Has("wbtest") Then

            idLayTblRcd = lt.Item("wbtest")

        Else

            ed.WriteMessage _

           ("Layer - wbtest not available")

            Return

        End If

 

        Dim idCol As ObjectIdCollection = _

                         New ObjectIdCollection

 

        idCol.Add(idLayTblRcd)

 

        ' Check that we are in paper space

        Dim vpid As ObjectId = _

                        ed.CurrentViewportObjectId

        If vpid.IsNull() Then

            ed.WriteMessage("No Viewport current.")

            Return

        End If

 

        'VP need to be open for write

        Dim oViewport As Viewport = _

            tm.GetObject(vpid, OpenMode.ForWrite)

 

        If Not oViewport.IsLayerFrozenInViewport _

                        (idLayTblRcd) Then

            oViewport.FreezeLayersInViewport _

                            (idCol.GetEnumerator())

        Else

            oViewport.ThawLayersInViewport _

                            (idCol.GetEnumerator())

        End If

        ta.Commit()

    Finally

        ta.Dispose()

    End Try

End Sub

DevTV: AutoCAD .NET Labs

By Wayne Brill

This DevTV is a screen cast walkthrough of the .NET training material for AutoCAD 2012. (It also includes demos of creating the labs).

Most of the training will apply to AutoCAD 2013 as well. The main difference is that for 2013 you also need to reference accore.dll.

DevTV - AutoCAD.Net Training.zip

 AutoCAD .NET Labs

AutoCAD 2013 .Net Training Labs

AutoCAD 2010-2012 .Net Training Labs

AutoLISP Example - set the model or paperspace background color

Here is a function that shows how to change the background colors using the ActiveX interface from VisualLISP.

By Wayne Brill

(defun SetBkColor ()
  (setq acad (vlax-get-acad-object)
    pref (vla-get-Preferences acad)
    disp (vla-get-Display pref)
    newColr (vlax-make-variant 255 19)
  );setq

  (if (= (getvar "tilemode") 1)
   ;;change the modelspace background color
    (progn
      (setq oldColr (vla-get-GraphicsWinModelBackgrndColor disp)
         ;;convert unsupported variant type 19 to vlax-vbLong
        oldColrLong (vlax-variant-change-type
        (vla-get-GraphicsWinModelBackgrndColor disp)
          vlax-vbLong)
      );setq

      (vla-put-GraphicsWinModelBackgrndColor disp newColr)
      (alert (strcat "Restore previous background color: "
         (itoa (vlax-variant-value oldColrLong))))
          ;;restore previous model background color
      (vla-put-GraphicsWinModelBackgrndColor disp oldColr)
   );progn

    ;;change the paperspace (layout) background color
   (progn
     (setq oldColr (vla-get-GraphicsWinLayoutBackgrndColor disp)
         ;;convert unsupported variant type 19 to vlax-vbLong
        oldColrLong (vlax-variant-change-type
        (vla-get-GraphicsWinLayoutBackgrndColor disp)
          vlax-vbLong)
     );setq
     (vla-put-GraphicsWinLayoutBackgrndColor disp newColr)
     (alert (strcat "Restore previous background color: "
         (itoa (vlax-variant-value oldColrLong))))
    
    ;;restore previous paper space background color
    (vla-put-GraphicsWinLayoutbackgrndColor disp oldColr)
   );progn
);if
)