Infrastructure Modeling DevBlog

Countdown begins for 'AEC DevCamp 2012'

By Partha Sarkar

In 'AEC DevCamp 2012' post on 27-April-2012, we shared with you about the details of AEC DevCamp 2012. Time flies by; it's not even a week's wait now. Many of our DevTech team members are flying to Boston to participate and deliver some interesting API sessions in AEC DevCamp 2012. Some of our colleagues from engineering team are also joining us. Looking forward to a great week to meet you all in Boston!

Adding Object Data Records to Entity using Map 3D API

By Partha Sarkar

Many a times you want to add Object Data to entities in DWG file using Map 3D API. Using Map 3D C++ API or .NET API we can add object data to entities. Here is a VB.NET code snippet which shows how to add Object Data to a selected entity in AutoCAD Map 3D. One thing to note here - when you use AddRecord(record As Autodesk.Gis.Map.ObjectData.Record, dbObj As Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.DBObject) make sure that DBObject is open for write, otherwise you are likely to see an exception message.

        Try

            Dim ed As Editor = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor

            Dim prompt_result As PromptEntityResult = ed.GetEntity(vbCrLf + "Select the object...")

            id = prompt_result.ObjectId

            Dim dbObj As DBObject = trans.GetObject(id, Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.OpenMode.ForWrite)

 

            '' Presuming OD Table "MyTestODTable" exist in the DWG file 

            odTable = odTables.Item("MyTestODTable")

            Dim odrecords As ObjectData.Records = odTable.GetObjectTableRecords(Convert.ToUInt32(0), id, Constants.OpenMode.OpenForRead, False)

            Dim odRecord As ObjectData.Record = odrecords.Item(0)

            odRecord = Autodesk.Gis.Map.ObjectData.Record.Create()

            odTable.InitRecord(odRecord)

            Dim mapVal As Autodesk.Gis.Map.Utilities.MapValue

            '' Add a Record and assign a value to it

            mapVal = odRecord(0)

            mapVal.Assign("Test")

 

            mapVal = odRecord(1)

            mapVal.Assign(22)

 

            ' dbObj should be opened for Write, otherwise

            odTable.AddRecord(odRecord, dbObj)           

            odRecord.Dispose()

            odrecords.Dispose()

            trans.Commit()

 

        Catch exc As Autodesk.Gis.Map.MapException          

            MsgBox("Error : " + exc.Message.ToString())  

        End Try

And here is the result :

Disposing COM objects

By Augusto Goncalves

While programming with Civil 3D COM objects, it is very common create AeccXxxx variables as class variables (modifiers shared in VB.NET or static in C#), like in the code below. This makes like easier, but leaves the Aecc reference longer than required, which can result in problems.

One way to improve that is call ReleaseComObject for each variable declared with this modifier. This is not required for variables declared inside methods, which are automatically disposed when the method ends. Also, as the AcadApplication is the host, there is no need to manually release it either.

Private Shared _acadApp As AcadApplication

Private Shared _aeccApp As AeccApplication

 

Private Sub GetCivilObjects()

  ' get Acad App

  _acadApp = Application.AcadApplication

 

  ' get Aecc App

  _aeccApp = _acadApp.GetInterfaceObject( _

      "AeccXUiLand.AeccApplication.10.0")

End Sub

 

' in the end (before exit)

Private Sub ReleaseCivilObjects()

  ' then release/dispose Aecc App

  System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(_aeccApp)

  _aeccApp = Nothing

 

  ' call garbage collector (suggested only once at the end)

  System.GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()

  System.GC.Collect()

End Sub

 

Public Sub MyRoutine()

  GetCivilObjects()

 

  'use aeccApp the variable

  '...

  '...

 

  ReleaseCivilObjects()

End Sub

Cannot build Civil 3D 2012 COM with .NET code after apply SP1

By Augusto Goncalves

After install AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 Update 1 you code may not compile COM based plug-ins due some registry number not properly set.

This registry fix file actually only modify the AEC’s COM version to 6.7.49.0 from 6.7.107.0, including 3 AEC type libraries: AEC Base, AEC UI Base, and AEC Details. It is required only on development machines, not on production (end-user) machines.

Steps: copy the content below, according to your system platform (32 or 64 bit), paste new text document (e.g. using Notepad), save the file as .reg, then finally double click. Windows will apply the changes to the registry.

For 64 bit operation system

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{E8BEE100-BF69-431B-9153-1FF0DEF8F613}\6.7]
"PrimaryInteropAssemblyName"="Autodesk.AEC.Interop.UIBase, Version=6.7.49.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d672471c03b2c408"
@="AEC Base 6.7 Application Library"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{E8BEE300-BF69-431B-9153-1FF0DEF8F613}\6.7]
"PrimaryInteropAssemblyName"="Autodesk.AEC.Interop.Base, Version=6.7.49.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d672471c03b2c408"
@="AEC Base 6.7 Object Library"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{E8BEE900-BF69-431B-9153-1FF0DEF8F613}\6.7]
"PrimaryInteropAssemblyName"="Autodesk.AEC.Interop.Details, Version=6.7.49.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d672471c03b2c408"
@="AEC Details 6.7 Object Library"

For 32 bit operation system

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{E7BEE100-BF69-431B-9153-1FF0DEF8F613}\6.7]
"PrimaryInteropAssemblyName"="Autodesk.AEC.Interop.UIBase, Version=6.7.49.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d672471c03b2c408"
@="AEC Base 6.7 Application Library"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{E7BEE300-BF69-431B-9153-1FF0DEF8F613}\6.7]
"PrimaryInteropAssemblyName"="Autodesk.AEC.Interop.Base, Version=6.7.49.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d672471c03b2c408"
@="AEC Base 6.7 Object Library"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{E7BEE900-BF69-431B-9153-1FF0DEF8F613}\6.7]
"PrimaryInteropAssemblyName"="Autodesk.AEC.Interop.Details, Version=6.7.49.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d672471c03b2c408"
@="AEC Details 6.7 Object Library"

Inserting FDO features into SQL Server using Geospatial Platform API in Map 3D

By Daniel Du

In this post, I will introduce how to insert FDO Features to SQL Server Spatial, but it also applies to other data source with minor or no changes.

Firstly, let’s look at some background knowledge. In Map 3D, There are two different modes for updates to features:

• Edit set
• Direct update

Note: Some FDO providers, including the file-based providers SDF, SHP, and raster, do not support edit set mode.

Updates made using edit set mode are made to the working copy inside the AutoCAD Map 3D application, but are not committed to the feature source. Edits made using direct update are changed in the feature source immediately.

There are two methods for updating features:

• AcMapLayer.UpdateFeatures()
• MgFeatureService.UpdateFeatures()

AcMapLayer.UpdateFeatures() works directly with features in the map layer. This is the preferred method when working in edit set mode.

MgFeatureService.UpdateFeatures() updates the features in the feature source. This method can be used when the feature source is not being displayed in a layer. For example, an AutoCAD Map 3D application could create an SDF file containing result data without ever having to display the data.

To set the update mode for a layer, call AcMapLayer.SetEditSetMode().

To commit changes made in edit set mode, call AcMapLayer.SaveFeatureChanges(). This updates the feature source. To discard the changes, call AcMapLayer.DiscardFeatureChanges().

Here is a code sample to demonstrate how to insert FDO features into SQL Server spatial.

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;

using Autodesk.Gis.Map.Platform;

using OSGeo.MapGuide;

 

namespace CreateFeatureInSqlServer

{

  public class Class1

  {

 

    [CommandMethod("InsertSqlServer")]

    public void InsertIntoSqlServer()

    {

      using (Transaction tr = Application.DocumentManager

            .MdiActiveDocument.Database.TransactionManager

            .StartTransaction())

      {

        try

        {

          AcMapLayer layer = GetLayerByName("FeatureClass1");

          if (layer != null)

          {

            Random rand = new Random();

            double x = rand.NextDouble() * 180;

            double y = rand.NextDouble() * 90;

            int featId = rand.Next(100);

 

            MgGeometryFactory factory = new MgGeometryFactory();

            MgCoordinate mgCoord = factory.CreateCoordinateXY(x, y);

            MgPoint mgPoint = factory.CreatePoint(mgCoord);

            MgAgfReaderWriter agf = new MgAgfReaderWriter();

            MgByteReader reader = agf.Write(mgPoint);

 

            // build up new property data

            // our geometry plus the required table key (an integer)

 

            MgPropertyCollection propCol = new MgPropertyCollection();

            string strGeomName = layer.GetFeatureGeometryName();

            MgGeometryProperty prop = new MgGeometryProperty(

                                    strGeomName, reader);

            propCol.Add(prop);

            MgInt32Property prop2 = new MgInt32Property(

                                    "featId", featId);

 

            propCol.Add(prop2);

 

            // insert the new feature into the layer

 

            OSGeo.MapGuide.MgFeatureCommandCollection commands

                = new MgFeatureCommandCollection();

            string strClassName = layer.GetFeatureClassName();

            MgInsertFeatures feature =

                  new MgInsertFeatures(strClassName, propCol);

            commands.Add(feature);

            layer.UpdateFeatures(commands);

 

            // save and update the layer

            MgFeatureQueryOptions opt = new MgFeatureQueryOptions();

            // build the filter string, this is required for

            // data source such as Sql Server/Oracle...

            String filter = "";

            if (layer.IsCached()

                && EditMode.EditSet == layer.EditMode)

            {

              filter = ClassSystemProperties.FeatureStatus + " = "

                  + ClassSystemProperties.FeatureStatusNew;

            }

 

            opt.SetFilter(filter);

 

            //This is a must

 

            layer.SaveFeatureChanges(opt);

            layer.ForceRefresh();

            tr.Commit();

          }

 

        }

        catch (System.Exception ex)

        {

          Application.ShowAlertDialog(ex.Message);

        }

 

      }

 

    }

 

    private static AcMapLayer GetLayerByName(string layerName)

    {

      // get correct layer from current map

 

      AcMapMap map = AcMapMap.GetCurrentMap();

      MgLayerCollection layers = map.GetLayers();

      AcMapLayer layer = null;

      foreach (AcMapLayer layerLoop in layers)

      {

        string strLayer = layerLoop.Name;

        if (strLayer.Equals(layerName))

        {

          layer = layerLoop;

          break;

        }

      }

 

      return layer;

    }

 

  }

}

 

The definition of ClassSystemProperties is as following, you can use other members to build the filter string when modifying or deleting features.

public class ClassSystemProperties

{

  // Fields

  public const string FeatureLockStatus = "GwsLockMode";

  public const string FeatureStatus = "GwsStatus";

  public const int FeatureStatusDeleted = 4;

  public const int FeatureStatusModified = 2;

  public const int FeatureStatusNew = 1;

  public const string SessionId = "GwsId";

}

Another suggestion is to use FeatureService directly. please note that for data source support transaction, for example, SQL server or Oracle, you need to use transaction to update features, fs.UpdateFeatures(resId, commands,true); otherwise, it will not commit to data source immediately.

    [CommandMethod("SQLInsert")]

    public void SqlServerUpdate()

    {

      MgFeatureService fs = AcMapServiceFactory

        .GetService(MgServiceType.FeatureService)

        as MgFeatureService;

 

      //

      MgResourceIdentifier resId = new MgResourceIdentifier(

            "Library://SqlServer_1.FeatureSource");

 

      MgGeometryFactory factory = new MgGeometryFactory();

      MgGeometry mgGeom = factory.CreatePoint(

            factory.CreateCoordinateXY(5, 5));

 

      MgAgfReaderWriter agfReadWrite = new MgAgfReaderWriter();

 

      MgPropertyCollection propColl = new MgPropertyCollection();

      propColl.Add(new MgInt32Property("Num", 9));

      propColl.Add(new MgGeometryProperty(

                            "Geometry",

                            agfReadWrite.Write(mgGeom)));

 

      string className = "Schema1:FeatureClass1";

 

      MgFeatureCommandCollection commands =

            new MgFeatureCommandCollection();

      MgInsertFeatures ins = new MgInsertFeatures(

                            className, propColl);

 

      commands.Add(ins);

 

      fs.UpdateFeatures(resId, commands, true);

 

    }

Creating a Profile object using Civil 3D .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

Profile object in Civil 3D is a 3D geometric object which joins the Surface elevations along a horizontal Alignment. Profiles are used to visualize the terrain along a route of interest, such as a proposed road, or simply to show how the elevation changes across a particular region.

Profile.CreateFromSurface() method creates a new profile and derives its elevation information from the specified surface along the alignment. Following C# code snippet demonstrates creating a Civil 3D Profile object using .NET API :

// Get the AutoCAD Editor

Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

 

//select an Alignment which we will use to create a Profile

PromptEntityOptions selalignment = new PromptEntityOptions("\nSelect an Alignment Object: ");

selalignment.SetRejectMessage("\nOnly Alignment Object is allowed");

selalignment.AddAllowedClass(typeof(Alignment), true);

PromptEntityResult resalignment = ed.GetEntity(selalignment);

if (resalignment.Status != PromptStatus.OK) return;

ObjectId alignmentId = resalignment.ObjectId;

 

Database db = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;

CivilDocument civilDoc = CivilApplication.ActiveDocument;

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

{

 

    try

    {

        Alignment alignment = trans.GetObject(alignmentId, OpenMode.ForRead) as Alignment;

 

        // Profile.CreateFromSurface() has 4 overloaded versions

        // In this code snippet we will use - public static ObjectId CreateFromSurface(string profileName,   

        // ObjectId alignmentId, ObjectId surfaceId, ObjectId layerId, ObjectId styleId, ObjectId labelSetId )

 

        // prepare the input parameters

        ObjectId layerId = alignment.LayerId;

 

        // let's get the 1st Surface object in the DWG file

        ObjectId surfaceId = civilDoc.GetSurfaceIds()[0];

 

        // let's get the 1st Profile style object in the DWG file

        ObjectId styleId = civilDoc.Styles.ProfileStyles[0];

 

        // let's get the 1st ProfileLabelSetStyle object in the DWG file

        ObjectId labelSetId = civilDoc.Styles.LabelSetStyles.ProfileLabelSetStyles[0];

 

        // Create the Profile Object

        ObjectId profileId = Profile.CreateFromSurface("Profile_Created_using_API", alignmentId, surfaceId, layerId, styleId, labelSetId);

 

        trans.Commit();

    }

 

    catch (Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime.Exception ex)

    {

        ed.WriteMessage("/n Exception message :" + ex.Message);

    }

 

}

As a result of running the custom command containing above code snippet, you would see a new profile (like the following) being added to Civil 3D’s Profiles collection node :

Compile error when developing on AIMS 2012 64bit

I am always asked questions like below:

I am working with Autodesk Infrastructure Map Server 2012 64bit, but I always get a compile error “could not load file or assembly”, there is not problem when running.

The error message could be:

Could not load file or assembly 'OSGeo.MapGuide.Foundation, Version=2.3.0.4202, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.

Could not load file or assembly 'MapGuideDotNetApi' or one of its dependencies.

 

How could we solve this problem?

Firstly, we should copy *all* the files from MapGuide WebExtension folder(C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk Infrastructure Web Server Extension 2012\www\mapviewernet\bin) to <yourApp>\bin folder.

Secondly, for AIMS2012 64bit, we can use WebApplication instead of Website when creating project in Visual Studio, and create web application in local IIS, then use “attach to process” to debug. For more information, please refer to the webcast, we have a live demonstration about how to create a AIMS2012 64bit based web application and how to debug.

Video : Autodesk® Infrastructure Map Server 2012 API Webcast
Recorded version of the Autodesk® Infrastructure Map Server 2012 API webcast
View online | Download

 

Hope this helps.

Adding a DEM file to AutoCAD Civil 3D TIN Surface

By Partha Sarkar

SurfaceDefinitionDEMFiles.AddDEMFile() allows us to add DEM data to a Civil 3D Surface. This function has few overloaded method. In this example we will explore the simplest one of using a DEM file to create a TIN Surface in AutoCAD Civil 3D. Here is the relevant C# .NET code snippet :

try

{

    // Select a Surface style to use

    ObjectId styleId = civilDoc.Styles.SurfaceStyles[0];

 

    // Create an empty TIN Surface

    ObjectId surfaceId = TinSurface.Create("DEM_Surface", styleId);

    TinSurface surface = trans.GetObject(surfaceId, OpenMode.ForWrite) as TinSurface;

 

    // Path of the DEM file

    String demFilePath = @"C:\Civil3D_Data\DEMs\Munich.dem";                   

    surface.DEMFilesDefinition.AddDEMFile(demFilePath);

    surface.Description = "Created from DEM File";                   

 

    trans.Commit();

}

How to change the delay of tooltip in fusion viewer of AIMS

By Daniel Du

I set up tooltip for some layers, but it seems that it is too slow to show up when cursor is hovering over the feature. Is it possible to make it a little faster?

For fusion viewer (flexible web layout), the configuration of map tip time of delay is stored in the application definition (flexible web layout) which is stored in repository.

You can edit the ApplicationDefinition resource in repository directly. It can be done by Resource Service API(MgResourceService:GetResourceContent and MgResourceService.SetResource), or by MapAgent,or Maestro, which is an open source tool and not supported by DevTech.

Here is a snippet of application definition resource content, you can increase the value of <Delay> tag of MapTip :

<Widget>

   <Name>Maptip</Name>

   <Type>Maptip</Type>

   <Location />

 <Extension>

         <Tolerance>2</Tolerance>

         <Target>MaptipWindow</Target>

         <WinFeatures>

            menubar=no,location=no,resizable=no,status=no

         </WinFeatures>

         <Delay>350</Delay>  <!-- millisecond-->

         <Layer />

   </Extension>

</Widget>

Hope this helps.

Opening map in fusion viewer

By Daniel Du

You may have been using following code snippet to open a map in basic layout (assuming a map resource named as “myMapName” is created in MapGuide Studio,):

MgMap map = new MgMap();
map.Open(resourceServices, “myMapName”);

But it does not work in fusion viewer, the error message is :

Error : " Invalid argument(s): [0] = " " The string cannot be empty "

 

The reason is the map name will be changed during run time in fusion viewer, so please do not use hard-coded map name when programing.

If you are using “Invoke URL” command to invoke the page, MapGuide will add some parameters for you including SESSION, MAPNAME, etc. The value of these parameters can be retrieved by Request object. Here is a demonstration of how to get map name and open a map in fusion viewer:

string mapname = Request[“MapName”].ToString()
map.open(resSvc,mapname);

Firstly, create a custom command to "invoke URL" and point the URL to your custom page.

Specify the target as "Task Pane":

Code snippet goes as below:

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true"

   CodeBehind="MapInformation.aspx.cs"

   Inherits="AIMS2012WebApp.MapInformation" %>

 

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"

 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head runat="server">

    <title></title>

    <script language= "javascript" type="text/javascript">

        function Init() {

            var aa = '<%=mapNameXX %>' ;

            alert(aa);

        }

    </script>

</head>

<body onload="Init();">

    <form id="form1" runat="server">

    <div>

 

    </div>

    </form>

</body>

</html>

Code behind:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Web;

using System.Web.UI;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

 

namespace AIMS2012WebApp

{

    public partial class MapInformation : System.Web.UI.Page

    {

        public string mapNameXX;

 

        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

        {

            UtilityClass util = new UtilityClass();

            util.InitializeWebTier(Request);

 

            string sessionId = Request["Session"].ToString();

            util.ConnectToServer(sessionId);

 

            string mapName = Request["MapName"].ToString();

            //public variable, alert from client side

            mapNameXX = mapName;

         }

 

    }

}

The implementation of Utility class goes as below:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Web;

using System.Collections;

using System.Xml;

using System.IO;

using System.Text;

using OSGeo.MapGuide;

 

/// <summary>

/// Summary description for Utility.

/// Created by Daniel Du, DevTech

/// </summary>

 

public class UtilityClass

{

    MgSiteConnection siteConnection;

 

    public void InitializeWebTier(HttpRequest Request)

    {

        string realPath =

                    Request.ServerVariables["APPL_PHYSICAL_PATH"];

 

        String configPath = realPath + "../webconfig.ini";

 

        MapGuideApi.MgInitializeWebTier(configPath);

    }

 

    public void ConnectToServer(String sessionID)

    {

        MgUserInformation userInfo =

            new MgUserInformation(sessionID);

 

        siteConnection = new MgSiteConnection();

 

        siteConnection.Open(userInfo);

 

    }

 

    public MgSiteConnection GetSiteConnection()

    {

        return siteConnection;

    }

 

}

The result will be similar as below, please the note the map name is different with the one defined in Infrastructure Studio.