Infrastructure Modeling DevBlog

Creating Featureline using COM API IAeccLandFeatureLines:: AddFromPolyline()

By Partha Sarkar

Civil 3D .NET API is yet to get the necessary functions to add / create featureline object. We have a wish list logged for the same. Till we get the .NET API, let's see how to use the existing COM API IAeccLandFeatureLines:: AddFromPolyline() in .NET application using Interop.

 

Following VB.NET code snippet demonstrates creation of a Featureline in AutoCAD Civil 3D using COM API IAeccLandFeatureLines:: AddFromPolyline() -

 

Using trans As Transaction = HostApplicationServices.WorkingDatabase.TransactionManager.StartTransaction()

  Try

    If oAcadApp Is Nothing Then

      oAcadApp = GetObject(, "AutoCAD.Application")

    End If

  Catch ex As Exception

    ed.WriteMessage(ex.Message)

  End Try

 

  Try

    oAeccApp = oAcadApp.GetInterfaceObject("AeccXUiLand.AeccApplication.10.0")

    oAeccDoc = oAeccApp.ActiveDocument

    oAeccDB = oAeccApp.ActiveDocument.Database

 

    ' Select the 3D Polyline which you want to convert to Feature Line

 

    Dim promptEntOp As New PromptEntityOptions(vbCrLf + "Select a 3D Polyline : ")

    Dim promptEntRs As PromptEntityResult

    promptEntRs = ed.GetEntity(promptEntOp)

    If promptEntRs.Status <> PromptStatus.OK Then

      ed.WriteMessage("Exiting! Try Again !")

      Exit Sub

    End If

    Dim idEnt As ObjectId

    idEnt = promptEntRs.ObjectId

 

    Dim oFtrLn As AeccLandFeatureLine = Nothing

    Dim oFtrLns As AeccLandFeatureLines = oAeccDoc.Sites.Item(0).FeatureLines

 

    Dim plineObjId As Long = idEnt.OldIdPtr

 

    oFtrLn = oFtrLns.AddFromPolyline(plineObjId, oAeccDB.FeatureLineStyles.Item(0))

 

    trans.Commit()

  Catch ex As Exception

    ed.WriteMessage("Error : ", ex.Message & vbCrLf)

  End Try

End Using

 

Once you build your application using above code snippet and run it in Civil 3D , you would see a Featureline being created -

 

 

Hope this is useful to you!

ODTables.Item(tableName) does not work on Windows7/Vista?

By Daniel Du

Issue

I am migrating my Map 3D VBA application to .NET, but when I call ODTables.Item(strTableName), it always crashes AutoCAD on Windows 7/Vista, and it works well on WinXP.

Solution

You can use following workaround on Windows 7/Vista to solve this problem:

VB.NET:

<code_begin>
    Dim ODTbl As AutocadMAP.ODTable
    ODTbl = Nothing
    For index = 0 To ODTbls.Count - 1
       Debug.WriteLine( ODTbls.Item(index).Name.ToString())
       If (ODTbls.Item(index).Name.ToString() = TargetTable) Then
            ODTbl = ODTbls.Item(index)
        Exit For
       End If
    Next

<code_end>

VBA code:

<code_begin>
Public Sub GetMapApp()
Dim amap As AcadMap
Dim tbl As ODTable
Dim tbls As ODTables
Set amap = ThisDrawing.Application.GetInterfaceObject("AutoCADMap.Application")
Debug.Print amap.Projects.Count 

'' workaround
Set tbls = amap.Projects(ThisDrawing).ODTables

If (tbls.Count) > 0 Then
For Each tbl In tbls
If tbl.Name = "Building" Then ‘ set OD Table name here as per your data
Debug.Print tbl.Name
End If
Next
End If

End Sub

<code_end>

Resolving Style conflicts in exporting Civil 3D Object styles using .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

StyleConflictResolverType Enumeration specifies how to resolve conflicts (the same name for an existing style and a new imported style) when exporting styles to another drawing using StyleBase::ExportTo(). 

Members of  StyleConflictResolverType Enumeration - 

CancelRemaining
Rename
Ignore
Override

Here is a C# .NET code snippet which demonstrates how to use Autodesk.Civil.StyleConflictResolverType in resolving conflicts -

 

LabelStyleCollection lStyles = civilDoc.Styles.LabelStyles.PointLabelStyles.LabelStyles;

foreach (ObjectId stId in lStyles)

{

  LabelStyle pSt = trans.GetObject(stId, OpenMode.ForRead) as LabelStyle;

  // Export the style

  pSt.ExportTo(outDb, Autodesk.Civil.StyleConflictResolverType.Override);

  // Now export its children

  for (int i = 0; i < pSt.ChildrenCount; i++)

  {

    LabelStyle chSt = trans.GetObject(pSt[i], OpenMode.ForRead) as LabelStyle;

    chSt.ExportTo(outDb, Autodesk.Civil.StyleConflictResolverType.Override);

  }

}

Hope this is useful to you!

Get the LandXML from Cloud to create a TIN Surface in Civil 3D

By Partha Sarkar

In my previous blog post we saw how quickly and easily we can upload and store a LandXML file in Windows Azure Cloud storage. In this post we will see how we can access our LandXML files stored in Cloud and use the same to create a TIN Surface in Civil 3D.

Here is the C# code snippet with minimal error handlers :

public static void LandXMLDownLoadFromCloudStorage()

{

 

// Get the AutoCAD Editor

Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

 

try

{

 

  // declare the Windows Azure storage account connection string

  //string connStr = "DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https; " +

  //  " AccountName=your_storage_account_name; " +

  //  "AccountKey=your_storage_account_key";

 

  string connStr = "DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https; " +

    " AccountName=your_storage_account_name; " +

    "AccountKey=your_storage_account_key";

 

 

  // get the Storage account      

  CloudStorageAccount cloudStorageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(connStr);

 

  // Create the blob client that provides authenticated access to the Blob service.

  CloudBlobClient blobClient = cloudStorageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient();

 

  // Get the container reference.       

  CloudBlobContainer blobContainer = blobClient.GetContainerReference("c3dlandxmlsurface");       

 

  // Get a reference to the blob.

  CloudBlob blob = blobContainer.GetBlobReference("Civil3DLand.xml");

 

  // Download the file to local system

  string downloadedLandXmlFile = @"c:\Temp\Civil3DLandXMLSurface.xml";

 

  blob.DownloadToFile(downloadedLandXmlFile);       

 

  // Call Civil 3D Function to Import the LandXML

  // We need to use Civil 3D COM API IAeccSurfaces:: ImportXML() to Import a LandXML

 

  if (File.Exists(downloadedLandXmlFile))

  {

    Civil3DImportLandXML(downloadedLandXmlFile);     

  }       

 

}

catch (StorageClientException e)

{

 

  ed.WriteMessage("Storage Client Error : " + e.Message);

  // Exit here ?

}

catch (Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime.Exception ex)

{

  ed.WriteMessage("Error encountered: " + ex.Message);

 

}

 

For the implementation of Civil3DImportLandXML(filename)function, refer to my previous blog post topic Creating a TIN surface from LandXML file

 

Hope this is useful to you.

Storing LandXML in Cloud

By Partha Sarkar

In my previous blog post I indicated to experiment with storing LandXML files in Cloud so that we can access the same anytime and anywhere. I thought of trying to use Windows Azure Blob storage. If you are in the learning phase of Cloud services and want to quickly build a sample to understand how it works, the following could be a good starting point How to use the Windows Azure Blob Storage Service in .NET. This how-to-guide gives you step by step detail on how to build an application using Windows Azure Blob Storage Service in .NET, hence I am not writing down each steps here, instead let’s see how we can extend this learning to create a simple .NET application for Civil 3D to upload a LandXML to cloud and in the later part we will see how to access and get the same LandXML in Civil 3D and create a TIN surface.

Here is a screenshot of the assemblies I added to my C3DLandXMLCloudStorageSample project –

 

And here is the C# code snippet with minimal error handlers :

public static void LandXMLUpload2CloudStorage()

{

 

  // Get the AutoCAD Editor

  Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

 

  try

  {

    // declare the Windows Azure storage account connection string     

    //string connStr = "DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https; " +

    //  " AccountName=your_storage_account_name; " +

    //  "AccountKey=your_storage_account_key";

 

    string connStr = "DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https; " +

      " AccountName=your_storage_account_name; " +          "AccountKey=your_storage_account_key";

 

      // get the Storage account

 

    CloudStorageAccount cloudStorageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(connStr);

 

    // Create the blob client that provides authenticated access to the Blob service.

    CloudBlobClient blobClient = cloudStorageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient();

 

    // Get the container reference.

    // All letters in a container name must be lowercase.

    // http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd135715.aspx

 

    CloudBlobContainer blobContainer = blobClient.GetContainerReference("c3dlandxmlsurface");

 

    // Create the container if it does not exist.

    blobContainer.CreateIfNotExist();

 

    // Set permissions on the container.

    BlobContainerPermissions containerPermissions = new BlobContainerPermissions();

 

    // In this sample, I am using a public access for the blob.

    // However, your application may need a different permisson.

 

    containerPermissions.PublicAccess = BlobContainerPublicAccessType.Blob;

    blobContainer.SetPermissions(containerPermissions);

 

    // Get a reference to the blob.

    CloudBlob blob = blobContainer.GetBlobReference("Civil3DLand.xml");

 

    // Upload a file from the local system to the blob.

    ed.WriteMessage("\nStarting to upload the LandXML file...");

    blob.UploadFile(@"c:\Temp\Existing Ground Surface.xml");       

    ed.WriteMessage("\nCivil 3D Surface LandXML file is uploaded to Cloud Storage :  " + blob.Uri);

 

  }

  catch (StorageClientException e)

  {

 

    ed.WriteMessage("Storage Client Error : " + e.Message);

    // Exit here ?

  }

  catch (Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime.Exception ex)

  {

    ed.WriteMessage("Error encountered: " + ex.Message);

 

  }

 

}

 

Next we will see how to access this LandXML from cloud and get it in Civil 3D to create a TIN surface.

Creating a TIN surface from LandXML file

By Partha Sarkar

In AutoCAD Civil 3D we can use the LANDXMLIN command and import a LandXML file to create Civil 3D objects like Surface, Alignment, Pipe Network etc. Sometime ago, a Civil 3D application developer asked me about how do I create a Surface from a LandXML file using API ?

Civil 3D has the following COM API to create a Surface from LandXML -

IAeccSurfaces::ImportXML() -> Given the specified surface name and XML file, it creates a new surface from the imported XML data, adds it to the collection, and returns an instance of the new object.

.NET equivalent of this COM API is not yet available (in the current release), however, we can use COM Interop and create a .NET application. Here is a relevant C# code snippet -

 

public static void Civil3DImportLandXML(String filelocation)

{

  //get editor and database

  Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

  Database db = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;

 

  //start a transaction

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

  {

    AcadApplication oApp = (AcadApplication)Application.AcadApplication;

    string sAppName = "AeccXUiLand.AeccApplication.10.0"; // Civil 3D 2013

    AeccApplication aeccApp = (AeccApplication)oApp.GetInterfaceObject(sAppName);

    AeccDocument aeccDoc = (AeccDocument)aeccApp.ActiveDocument;         

 

    // Get the AeccSurfaces object

    Autodesk.AECC.Interop.Land.AeccSurfaces oAeccSurfaces = aeccDoc.Surfaces;

 

    String landxmlFile = filelocation;       

    oAeccSurfaces.ImportXML(landxmlFile);

 

    // Call AutoCAD COM API ZoomExtents to see the Surface object

    oApp.ZoomExtents();

 

    trans.Commit();

  }

 

}///

Here is the result of calling the above function in Civil 3D 2013 [I used Civil 3D tutorial dataset here] -

While trying this in Civil 3D, I was thinking how about keeping my LandXML in Cloud storage and using it from anywhere, anytime ? Does it sound interesting ? I will continue this to see how we can store Civil 3D LandXML files in cloud and use them whenever and wherever I want to create a TIN surface.

Editing Station property of a Sampleline using AeccSampleLine.Station API

By Partha Sarkar

This VB.NET code snippet demonstrates how to add a Civil 3D SampleLine using COM API IAeccSampleLines:: AddByPolyline() method and then check whether the sample line is locked to the station using  IAeccSampleLine:: LockToStation, before updating it's Station value using COM API IAeccSampleLine:: Station Property.

 

'idEnt is Polyline ObjectId

Dim pLineEntity As Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Entity = _

  DirectCast(trans.GetObject(idEnt, OpenMode.ForWrite), Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Entity)

 

'idEnt1 is Alignment ObjectId

Dim alignmentEntity As Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Entity = _

  DirectCast(trans.GetObject(idEnt1, OpenMode.ForWrite), Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Entity)

 

Dim pline As Autodesk.AutoCAD.Interop.Common.AcadLWPolyline = _

  DirectCast(pLineEntity.AcadObject, Autodesk.AutoCAD.Interop.Common.AcadLWPolyline)

Dim oAlignment As Autodesk.AECC.Interop.Land.AeccAlignment = _

  DirectCast(alignmentEntity.AcadObject, Autodesk.AECC.Interop.Land.AeccAlignment)          

 

 

Dim oSampleLine As Autodesk.AECC.Interop.Land.AeccSampleLine = _

  oAlignment.SampleLineGroups.Item(0).SampleLines.AddByPolyline("My_SampleLine", pline, False)

 

'' IAeccSampleLine:: Station Property

'' Gets or sets the alignment station for this sample line.

ed.WriteMessage(vbCrLf + "Station Value :" + oSampleLine.Station.ToString())

 

' Check whether the sample line is locked to the station

If(oSampleLine.LockToStation)

  oSampleLine.LockToStation = False

End If

 

'' Now Change the Station Value

'' Following hardcoded value is applicable to Civil 3D Sample DWG - "Sections-Views-Create.dwg"

oSampleLine.Station = 550.50

ed.WriteMessage(vbCrLf + "Station Value After Change:" + oSampleLine.Station.ToString())

trans.Commit()

 

Here is the Result :

 

 

Hope this is useful to you!

How to update/change Civil 3D Corridor subassembly Parameter values?

By Partha Sarkar

If you want to change / update a subassembly parameter e.g. "Slope", you can currently use Civil 3D COM API as .NET API in the current release (Civil 3D 2013) doesn't support this. 

Here is a C# .NET code snippet demonstrating usage of AeccSubassembly COM API and how to change "Slope" parameter value.

AeccRoadwayApplication roadwayApp = new AeccRoadwayApplication();

roadwayApp.Init((AcadApplication)Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.AcadApplication);

AeccRoadwayDocument roadwayDoc = roadwayApp.ActiveDocument as AeccRoadwayDocument;

AeccRoadwayDatabase roadwayDb = roadwayDoc.Database as AeccRoadwayDatabase;

AeccSubassembly subassembly = roadwayDb.Subassemblies.Item(0);

IAeccParamsDouble paramsDouble = subassembly.ParamsDouble;

IAeccParamDouble slopeParam = paramsDouble.Item("Slope");

ed.WriteMessage("\n Subassembly Slope parameter Before Change : " + slopeParam.Value.ToString());

// Change the slopeParam Value 

slopeParam.Value = -0.01;

ed.WriteMessage("\n Subassembly Slope parameter After Change : " + slopeParam.Value.ToString());

 

Hope this is useful to you!

Getting Civil 3D Land FeatureLine Vertices

By Partha Sarkar

Civil 3D .NET API has FeatureLine class, but not many functionalities are exposed in the current release (Civil 3D 2013). On the other hand Civil 3D COM API has AeccLandFeatureLine Object and it has some useful functions exposed. I am aware, some of our Civil 3D application developers want to access the Land FeatureLine Vertices and in the absence of equivalent .NET API, I would suggest to use COM API IAeccLandFeatureLine:: GetPoints()

 

Here is a VB.NET code snippet which demonstrates how to get the Civil 3D Land FeatureLine Vertices –

Dim idEnt As ObjectId = promptEntRs.ObjectId               

Dim ent As Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Entity = DirectCast(trans.GetObject(idEnt, OpenMode.ForWrite), Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.Entity)

Dim oFtrLn As AeccLandFeatureLine =  DirectCast(ent.AcadObject, Autodesk.AECC.Interop.Land.AeccLandFeatureLine)

Dim output As String = ""

Dim points() As Double = oFtrLn.GetPoints()

Dim varArraySurfacePoints As Object = oFtrLn.GetPoints()             

Dim iPvertices As Long

 

For iPvertices = 0 To (oFtrLn.PointsCount * 3 - 1)

    output = output & "Coordinate Values  :  " & points(iPvertices) & vbCrLf & vbLf

Next

 

ed.WriteMessage(vbCrLf + "Vertices of Selected Land Feature Line : ")

ed.WriteMessage(vbCrLf + output)

 

Using "SwapPartFamilyAndSize" in late-binding .NET application

By Partha Sarkar

AeccPipeNetworkPart::SwapPartFamilyAndSize()  is a Civil 3D COM API which swaps the part family. It doesn't have a .NET version yet (2013 release of Civil 3D). If you are trying to avoid any COM references and opting a late binding approach and not sure about how to prepare the input argument for the SwapPartFamilyAndSize, here is a relevant code snippet : 

 

 

using (Transaction ts = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

{

  Part part = (Part)ts.GetObject(res.ObjectId, OpenMode.ForRead);

  object acadpart = part.AcadObject;

  object partfam = acadpart.GetType().InvokeMember("PartFamily", System.Reflection.BindingFlags.GetProperty, null, acadpart, new object[0]);

  ObjectId prtfamId = Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices.DBObject.FromAcadObject(partfam);

  PartFamily partfamily = (PartFamily)ts.GetObject(prtfamId, OpenMode.ForRead);

  object[] dataArry = new object[2];

  dataArry[0] = partfamily.GUID;           

  ObjectId partSizeId = partfamily[0];

  PartSize partSize = ts.GetObject(partSizeId, OpenMode.ForRead) as PartSize;

  dataArry[1] = partSize.AcadObject;

  acadpart.GetType().InvokeMember("SwapPartFamilyAndSize", System.Reflection.BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, acadpart, dataArry);

  ts.Commit();

}

 

Hope this is useful to you!