Infrastructure Modeling DevBlog

Setting the Point Style Marker Size and Scale using AutoCAD Civil 3D .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

If you want to create a new PointStyle object in AutoCAD Civil 3D and set the Marker Size and Scale using .NET API, you first need to create the new Point style or access the point style object you want to modify and then set the SizeType property to use the MarkerSizeType enum values that defines how the marker is sized such as ‘Use drawing scale’ or ‘Use fixed scale’ etc. Next set the MarkerSize or Scale values accordingly.

Here is a C# .NET code snippet demonstrating the same :

 

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

{

 

  // Create a point style that uses a custom marker

  // and set the Size and scale

 

  ObjectId pointStyleId = civilDoc.Styles.PointStyles.Add("My DEMO Point Style");

  PointStyle pointStyle = pointStyleId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForWrite) as PointStyle;

  pointStyle.MarkerType = PointMarkerDisplayType.UseCustomMarker;

  pointStyle.CustomMarkerStyle = CustomMarkerType.CustomMarkerX;

  pointStyle.CustomMarkerSuperimposeStyle = CustomMarkerSuperimposeType.Circle;

 

  // set the size to use 'Drawing Scale'

 

  pointStyle.SizeType = MarkerSizeType.DrawingScale;

  pointStyle.MarkerSize = 0.003;

 

 

  // If you want to set the size to use 'Fixed Scale'

 

  //pointStyle.SizeType = MarkerSizeType.FixedScale;

  //Point3d markerfixedscalePoint3d = new Point3d(3, 3, 3);

  //pointStyle.MarkerFixedScale = markerfixedscalePoint3d;

 

  trans.Commit();

}

 

Here is a screenshot of my new PointStyle with custom Marker :

 

Hope this is useful to you!

Get your Exchange Apps done by September 14 and receive US$100 per app published!

By Virupaksha Aithal

Do you have apps you want to publish on Autodesk® Exchange Apps but can’t find the time to actually do it?  We have some good news -  the Autodesk Developer Network team is going to give you some of our time to help you get the job done.

You are invited to join the inaugural Autodesk® Exchange Apps Portathon – a 48 hour virtual web based coding “festival” that will run from Friday, September 13 through September 14.  The Exchange Apps Portathon is a community event where you’ll have the opportunity to work closely with Autodesk engineers in real time and learn from the questions asked by Autodesk software partners from around the world.  It is all designed to help you get your apps ready and published on Autodesk Exchange Apps.  Note: the event is for “new” apps – whether you are a first-time publisher or an existing publisher with ideas for additional apps.

For registrations and details visit Autodesk® Exchange Apps Portathon event page.  

Assign coordinate systems to an AutoCAD Civil 3D DWG file using API

By Partha Sarkar

In AutoCAD Civil 3D user interface (UI), in the 'Drawing Settings' dialog, at 'Units and Zone' tab, we can select a geographic coordinate system from the available list and apply the same to the current DWG file.

Here is a C# .NET code snippet which demonstrates how to do the same using .NET API -

 

//start a transaction

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

{

 

    using (Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.DocumentLock locker = AcadApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.LockDocument())

        {                   

 

          // perform any document / database modifications here  

          SettingsDrawing settingsDWG = civilDoc.Settings.DrawingSettings;                   

          //settingsDWG.UnitZoneSettings.CoordinateSystemCode = "LL84";

          settingsDWG.UnitZoneSettings.CoordinateSystemCode = "FL83-EF";

          ed.WriteMessage("\nCoordinateSystemCode = " + settingsDWG.UnitZoneSettings.CoordinateSystemCode.ToString());

 

        }

 

    trans.Commit();

}

 

Removing ProfileXXXLabelGroup using AutoCAD Civil 3D .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

In AutoCAD Civil 3D, User Interface (UI) , we can select a Profile LabelGroup in the Profile View and from the "Edit Label Group" tool / command we can bring-up the "Profile Label" dialog box. In that dialog box, each Type of Profile Label Groups are listed and using the UI tools we can Add or Remove (X) a particular Type.

 

 

If you want to programmatically remove / erase a particular Profile Label Group, the first task is to identify the Profile Label Group Type. In the following example, we can see ProfileCrestCurveLabelGroup Type which is listed as AECC_VALIGNMENT_CRESTCURVE_LABEL_GROUP when we use the LIST command is selected first and later removed just by calling the Erase() method.

// select a Label Object

PromptEntityOptions peo = new PromptEntityOptions("Select A Profile Label Group : ");

peo.SetRejectMessage("\nOnly Label is allowed");

peo.AddAllowedClass(typeof(Autodesk.Civil.DatabaseServices.ProfileCrestCurveLabelGroup), false);

 

PromptEntityResult per = ed.GetEntity(peo);

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

 

//start a transaction

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

{

 

  ProfileCrestCurveLabelGroup profCrestCurveLabelGroup = trans.GetObject(per.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForWrite) as ProfileCrestCurveLabelGroup;

 

  profCrestCurveLabelGroup.Erase();

 

  trans.Commit();

}

 

Hope this is useful to you!

SettingsObjectLayerType Enumeration includes more Object Types in 2014 Release

By Partha Sarkar

SettingsObjectLayerType Enumeration includes more Object Types in 2014 release – e.g.

Appurtenance

AppurtenanceLabeling

CantView

Catchment

CatchmentLabeling

Fitting

FittingLabeling

PressureNetworkSection

 and many more...

Here is a screenshot which shows the additional Types included in 2014 release for SettingsObjectLayerType Enumeration -

 

Using LINQ with AutoCAD and Civil 3D APIs

By Augusto Goncalves

In a previous post, I showed an example of LINQ with ActiveX object collection. Now, this sample is showing another sample with .NET objects.

This sample show an example where all the Arcs on the Model Space are selected, then we use LINQ to filter only the arcs close to the Alignment (distance from the center of the arc to the alignment smaller than a maximum). But more that that, it also order the arcs by its projected stations (imagine a line from the center of the arc to the alignment, then the station at that point). The result may be like the image below:

As a learning point, LINQ have several interesting applications and it’s quite fast.

Public Function FindArcsByDistance(

                          alignId As ObjectId,

                          maxOffset As Double) As ObjectIdCollection

  ' returning list

  Dim curvesIds As New ObjectIdCollection

 

  Dim db As Database = alignId.Database

  Using trans As Transaction = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction

 

    ' open the alignment

    Dim align As Alignment = trans.GetObject(

      alignId, OpenMode.ForRead)

 

    ' open the current space through the Alignment owner

    Dim mSpace As BlockTableRecord = trans.GetObject(

      align.OwnerId, OpenMode.ForWrite)

 

    ' get all Arc, regardless where

    ' you may consider add an aditional filter, e.g by layer

    Dim curves As New DBObjectCollection

    For Each entityId As ObjectId In mSpace

      Dim curve As Arc = TryCast(

        trans.GetObject(entityId, OpenMode.ForRead), Arc)

      If (curve Is Nothing) Then Continue For ' not an Arc, next

      curves.Add(curve)

    Next

 

    ' use LINQ to filter and order the arcs

    ' some of the methods related to geometry are not implemented on

    ' the alignment object, so we need to workaround with

    ' GetClosestPointTo  and GetDistAtPoint.

    Dim curvesFiltered =

      From arc As Arc In curves

      Where arc.Center.DistanceTo(

        align.GetClosestPointTo(arc.Center, False)) < maxOffset

      Order By align.GetDistAtPoint(

        align.GetClosestPointTo(arc.Center, False))

 

    ' write a text along the curve

    Dim cont As Integer = 1

    For Each curve As Arc In curvesFiltered

 

      ' return value

      curvesIds.Add(curve.ObjectId)

 

      ' consider a line from the arc start point to end

      Dim referenceLine As New LineSegment3d(

        curve.StartPoint, curve.EndPoint)

 

      ' draw a DBText aligned to this line

      Dim curveLabel As New DBText

      curveLabel.SetDatabaseDefaults()

      curveLabel.TextString = String.Format("Curve = {0}", cont)

      curveLabel.HorizontalMode = TextHorizontalMode.TextCenter

      curveLabel.AlignmentPoint = referenceLine.MidPoint

      curveLabel.Rotation = referenceLine.Direction.

        GetAngleTo(Vector3d.XAxis)

 

      ' add to the model space

      mSpace.AppendEntity(curveLabel)

      trans.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(curveLabel, True)

 

      cont += 1

    Next

 

    trans.Commit()

  End Using

 

  Return curvesIds

End Function