Infrastructure Modeling DevBlog

Change surface style with Civil 3D API

By Daniel Du

I was asked how to edit the style of surface in Civil 3D, for example, we need to change the color of contours. We can do it with Civil 3D UI by right clicking the surface object and choose “Edit surface style…” and switching to “Display” tab to show the dialogue as below:

This is code snippet demonstrating how to do it with API:

[CommandMethod("MyGroup", "SurfaceStyleExample", 
    "SurfaceStyleExample", CommandFlags.Modal)]
public void MyCommand() // This method can have any name
{
 
    Document doc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
    
    if (doc != null)
    {
        Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager
            .MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
 
        
 
        // select a tin surface
 
        PromptEntityOptions peo = new PromptEntityOptions(
          "\nSelect a tin surface: ");
        peo.SetRejectMessage("\nOnly Tin surface is accepted");
        peo.AddAllowedClass(typeof(TinSurface), true);
        PromptEntityResult per = ed.GetEntity(peo);
        if (per.Status != PromptStatus.OK) return;
 
        CivilDocument civilDoc = CivilApplication.ActiveDocument;
 
        using (Transaction trans = doc.TransactionManager
            .StartTransaction())
        {
            TinSurface surface = trans.GetObject(per.ObjectId, 
                OpenMode.ForRead) as TinSurface;
 
            //exclude invalid points
 
            surface.BuildOptions.ExecludeMaximumElevation = true;
            surface.BuildOptions.MaximumElevation = 5000;
            surface.BuildOptions.ExecludeMinimumElevation = true;
            surface.BuildOptions.MinimumElevation = 200;
 
            //set the Maximum Triangle Length
 
            surface.BuildOptions.MaximumTriangleLength = 200;
 
            //change the style
            ObjectId styleId;
            if (civilDoc.Styles.SurfaceStyles.Contains("Standard"))
            {
                styleId = civilDoc.Styles.SurfaceStyles["Standard"];
            }
            else
            {
                // create a new style called 'example style':
                styleId = civilDoc.Styles.SurfaceStyles
                    .Add("example style");
 
            }
            
            
 
            // modify the style
 
            SurfaceStyle surfaceStyle = styleId.GetObject(
                OpenMode.ForWrite) as SurfaceStyle;
 
            //countours smoothing 
 
            surfaceStyle.ContourStyle.SmoothContours = true;
            surfaceStyle.ContourStyle.SmoothingType 
                = ContourSmoothingType.AddVertices;
            surfaceStyle.ContourStyle.SmoothingFactor = 10;
 
            surfaceStyle.ContourStyle.MajorContourColorScheme 
                = ColorSchemeType.Rainbow;
 
            //Major contour, red
 
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(
                SurfaceDisplayStyleType.MajorContour).Color 
                = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors.Color.FromRgb(255, 0, 0);
 
            //Major contour, layer 0
 
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(
                SurfaceDisplayStyleType.MajorContour).Layer = "0";
 
            //Mainor contour, gree
 
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(
                SurfaceDisplayStyleType.MinorContour).Color 
                = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors.Color.FromRgb(0, 255, 0);
 
            //Mainor contour, layer 0
 
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(
                SurfaceDisplayStyleType.MajorContour).Layer = "0";
 
            // display major contours:
 
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(SurfaceDisplayStyleType
                .MajorContour).Visible = true;
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(SurfaceDisplayStyleType
                .MinorContour).Visible = true;
 
            // turn off display of other items:
            
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(SurfaceDisplayStyleType
                .UserContours).Visible = false;
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(SurfaceDisplayStyleType
                .Directions).Visible = false;
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(SurfaceDisplayStyleType
                .Elevations).Visible = false;
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(SurfaceDisplayStyleType
                .Slopes).Visible = false;
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(SurfaceDisplayStyleType
                .SlopeArrows).Visible = false;
            surfaceStyle.GetDisplayStylePlan(SurfaceDisplayStyleType
                .Watersheds).Visible = false;
 
            //TODO: do the same for all model display settings as well
            //
 
 
            // assign the style to the first surface in the document:
           
            surface.StyleId = styleId;
 
            // commit the transaction
 
            trans.Commit();
 
            //rebuild the surface 
            surface.Rebuild();
        }
 
    }
 
 
 
}

 

This is how it looks like before editing:

And here is how it looks like after editing the surface contour style with major contour color to red and monor contour color to green.

Hope this helps.

Read coordinates of line features with Map 3D API

By Daniel Du

I am asked how to get the coordinates of each vertices from a line feature, for example, a line feature which is created from an AutoCAD polyline .

For an AutoCAD polyline which only contains lines, when it is converted to feature with Map 3D command “Create from Geometry”, the feature type will be MgCurveString which contains only one linear segments.

For AutoCAD polyline which contains arc, the feature after conversion will be several segments, including arc segments and linear segments.

 

Here is the code snippet:

using System;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;
using Autodesk.Gis.Map.Platform.Interop;
using Autodesk.Gis.Map.Platform;
using OSGeo.MapGuide;
 
// This line is not mandatory, but improves loading performances
[assembly: CommandClass(typeof(GetFeatureType.MyCommands))]
 
namespace GetFeatureType
{
 
public class MyCommands
{
 
 
// Modal Command with localized name
[CommandMethod("getPolylineCoordinates")]
public void MyCommand() // This method can have any name
{
    Editor ed = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application
        .DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
 
    Transaction trans = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application
        .DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database.TransactionManager
        .StartTransaction();
 
    using (trans)
    {
        // Get the Map Object
        AcMapMap currentMap = AcMapMap.GetCurrentMap();
 
        // Prompt user to Select Feature in Map
        PromptSelectionOptions psop = new PromptSelectionOptions();
        psop.MessageForAdding = "Select the FDO Feature in Map 3D to read Data : ";
        psop.SingleOnly = true;
        PromptSelectionResult psResult = ed.GetSelection(psop);
 
        if (psResult.Status == PromptStatus.OK)
        {
            SelectionSet selSet = psResult.Value;
 
            // Get Map Selectionset from AutoCAD SelectionSet
            MgSelectionBase mapSelBase = AcMapFeatureEntityService
                .GetSelection(selSet);
            AcMapLayer mapLayer = AcMapFeatureEntityService
                .GetLayer(psResult.Value[0].ObjectId);
 
            //Get the ID of the selected Parcel
            MgFeatureReader ftrRdr = mapSelBase.GetSelectedFeatures(
                mapLayer, mapLayer.FeatureClassName, false);
 
            while (ftrRdr.ReadNext())
            {
                MgClassDefinition cd = ftrRdr.GetClassDefinition();
 
                //the geomety property name maybe different for your 
                //data source 
                MgByteReader byteRdr = ftrRdr.GetGeometry("Geometry");
                MgAgfReaderWriter wtr = new MgAgfReaderWriter();
 
                MgGeometry geom = wtr.Read(byteRdr);
 
                if (geom is OSGeo.MapGuide.MgCurveString)
                {
                    var cs = geom as MgCurveString;
 
                    ed.WriteMessage("\n geo is MgCurveString.");
 
                    for (int i = 0, segmentCount = cs.Count; i < segmentCount; i++)
                    {
                        var seg = cs.GetSegment(i);
                        if (seg is MgArcSegment)
                        {
                            ed.WriteMessage("\nthis is an Arc Segment.");
                            var arcSeg = seg as MgArcSegment;
 
                            string msg = string.Format(
                                "\nstart point: x= {0}, y={1}",
                                arcSeg.StartCoordinate.X,
                                arcSeg.StartCoordinate.Y);
                            ed.WriteMessage(msg);
 
                            msg = string.Format(
                                "\ncontrol point  x= {0}, y={1}",
                                arcSeg.ControlCoordinate.X,
                                arcSeg.ControlCoordinate.Y);
                            ed.WriteMessage(msg);
 
                            msg = string.Format(
                                "\nend point: x= {0}, y={1}",
                                arcSeg.EndCoordinate.X,
                                arcSeg.EndCoordinate.Y);
                            ed.WriteMessage(msg);
                        }
                        if (seg is MgLinearSegment)
                        {
                            ed.WriteMessage("\nthis is a linear Segment.");
 
                            var linearSeg = seg as MgLinearSegment;
                            var interator = linearSeg.GetCoordinates();
                            while (interator.MoveNext())
                            {
                                var x = interator.GetCurrent().X;
                                var y = interator.GetCurrent().Y;
 
                                ed.WriteMessage(string.Format(
                                    "\n x = {0}, y={1} ", x, y));
                            }
                        }
 
                    }
                }
                if (geom is OSGeo.MapGuide.MgLineString)
                {
                    var ls = geom as MgLineString;
                    var interator = ls.GetCoordinates();
                    while (interator.MoveNext())
                    {
                        var x = interator.GetCurrent().X;
                        var y = interator.GetCurrent().Y;
 
                        ed.WriteMessage(string.Format(
                            "\n x = {0}, y={1} ", x, y));
                    }
 
                }
 
            }
        }
        trans.Commit();
    }
 
}
 
 
 
}
 
}

Customized .NET Report in Civil 3D doesn't use 'Report Settings'

By Partha Sarkar

If you have created a custom Civil 3D .NET report and added that in Toolbox and then set the units, precision value as shown in the picture below, but to your surprise when you generate the report you find the unit or precision value is not set as per the setting you opted in the 'Report Settings' dialogbox.

 

  

Reason for this is : 

.NET reports use a combination of the Report Settings (for Client and Owner settings) and they use the drawing Ambient Settings for units, precision, and so on. 

LandXML reports use the Report Settings for all settings, such as report header information, units, precision, and so on. 

[Note -  You can tell if a report is a LandXML-based report if the Export To XML Report dialog box is displayed when you run the report.]

 

To set the Precision, units for your custom .NET report, use the Drawing Ambient Settings as shown in the picture below -

 

 

Hope this is useful to you !

Road Widening using AutoCAD Civil 3D .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

In AutoCAD Civil 3D, programmatically we can create Offset Alignment using overloaded Alignment.CreateOffsetAlignment() API. Once we have created an Offset Alignment, we can call OffsetAlignmentInfo.AddWidening() to create a road widening for a specific section of the road.

Here is a C# .NET code snippet demonstrating usage of OffsetAlignmentInfo.AddWidening() API :

 

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

{

 

  ObjectIdCollection alignmentIdColl = civilDoc.GetAlignmentIds();

  foreach (ObjectId alignmentId in alignmentIdColl)

  {

    alignment = alignmentId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead) asAlignment;

    if (alignment.Name.ToString() == "Centerline (1)")

      break;

 

  }

 

  if (alignment != null)

  {

 

    // Get a AlignmentStyle Object to use in OffSet Alignment creation

    ObjectId offsetAlignmentStyleId = civilDoc.Styles.AlignmentStyles["Design Style"];

 

    if (offsetAlignmentStyleId == null)

    {

      ed.WriteMessage("\nOffset Alignment Style NOT found !");

      return;

    }

 

    // Now create the OffSetAlignment

    // A negative value (offset < 0) indicates the Offset Alignment is at the left of the parent alignment.

    // A positive value (offset > 0) indicates the Offset Alignment is at the right.

    ObjectId offsetAlignmentId = Alignment.CreateOffsetAlignment("Offset_Alignment", alignment.ObjectId, -30.00, offsetAlignmentStyleId);

 

    // Open the Offset Alignment object to add road widening

    Alignment offsetAlignment = offsetAlignmentId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForWrite) asAlignment;

 

    OffsetAlignmentInfo offsetInfo1 = offsetAlignment.OffsetAlignmentInfo;

 

    // Now use AddWidening( double startStation, double endStation, double offsetDistance )

    // This method will create a specific region from startStation to endStation

    // with slim entry transition and exit transition.

    offsetInfo1.AddWidening(200.00, 533.0, 40.0);

 

  }   

 

  trans.Commit();

}

 

Following picture shows how it appears in AutoCAD Civil 3D :

Hope this is useful to you!

Using MAPTRIM in .NET Application

By Partha Sarkar

MAPTRIM is AutoCAD Map 3D's UI command. API equivalent for MAPTRIM is map_dwgtrimobj().  It is part of the C/C++ and LISP APIs. API equivalent of MAPTRIM is not yet available in .NET.

 

If you want to use MAPTRIM with necessary input parameters, you can build the command string and use SendCommand() or SendStringToExecute() to pump the command in AutoCAD Map 3D's command line.

 

Here is code snippet on how to use it for a selected layer and for all layers : 

'' Using Maptrim command through SendCommand

'' in the following example 'miscellaneous0' is the layer name for selection

 

  Dim commandStr AsString = ".maptrim " +"s " +"l " +"y " +"miscellaneous0" + vbCr +"n " + "o " + "y " + "y " + "i " + "y "

  acApp.ActiveDocument.SendCommand(commandStr)

 

 

'' Using Maptrim command through SendCommand

'' this example is for all Layers

Dim commandStr AsString = ".maptrim " +"s " +"l " +"n " +"n " + "o " + "y " + "y " + "i " + "y "

acApp.ActiveDocument.SendCommand(commandStr)

Extra Surfaces are available using Civil 3D API than what is shown / visible in UI

By Partha Sarkar

Have you come across a situation where in you get more number of Civil 3D Surface objects using API than what is shown / visible in AutoCAD Civil 3D User Interface (UI) in Toolspace ->Prospector Tab ?

I have come across few such DWG files where-in I got more number of Surfaces using API than what is shown in Civil 3D UI Toolspace. Interestingly all those files came to me from external sources and I have no idea how those DWG files were created.

 

AutoCAD Civil 3D UI only iterate and shows all the Surfaces in the layouts. However in the current API implementation, we find all the surfaces in the drawing, including all the blocks and that's why we see more number of Surfaces using API.

So, how do you get the actual surfaces those are visible in Civil 3D UI Toolspace ?

Here is the relevant code snippet that demonstrates how you can get the Surfaces which are available / shown in UI Toolspace : 

       

Editor ed = AcadApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

Database db = AcadApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;

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

{

  CivilDocument civilDoc = CivilApplication.ActiveDocument;         

  ObjectIdCollection surfaceIds = civilDoc.GetSurfaceIds();

  ObjectIdCollection surfaceVisibleinUI= newObjectIdCollection();

 

  // iterate through the list of all the surface objects

  foreach (ObjectId surfaceId in surfaceIds)

  {

    Autodesk.Civil.DatabaseServices.Surface surface = surfaceId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead) as Autodesk.Civil.DatabaseServices.Surface;

    BlockTableRecord record = surface.OwnerId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForRead) asBlockTableRecord;

    if (record.IsLayout)

    {

      surfaceVisibleinUI.Add(surfaceId);

    }

  }

  ed.WriteMessage("\nTotal Number of Surfaces available in this DWG file  : " + surfaceIds.Count.ToString());

  ed.WriteMessage("\n ------------------------------------------------------------- \n");

  ed.WriteMessage("\nTotal Number of Surfaces Visible in UI  : " + surfaceVisibleinUI.Count.ToString());

}      

Creating AutoCAD Civil 3D Pipe Label using .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

In AutoCAD Civil 3D we can conveniently add labels to Pipe / PipeNetwork using UI tools / commands as shown in the screenshot below :

 

 

If you want to add Labels to Civil 3D Pipe objects without any user interaction, you can use PipeLabel.Create() .NET API.

Here is a C# .NET code snippet demonstrating the how to add a Pipe Label : 

ObjectId pipeID = ed.GetEntity(opt).ObjectId;

 

CivilDocument civildoc = CivilApplication.ActiveDocument;

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

{

 

  // We will use PipeLabel.Create()

  // public static ObjectId Create(  ObjectId pipeId,  double ratio,  ObjectId labelStyleId )

  // pipeId - Type: ObjectId // The ObjectId of Pipe on which the label is located.

  // ratio - Type: System.Double // The relative position of the label to the pipe.

  // labelStyleId - Type: ObjectId // The ObjectId of a PipeLabel style to use.

 

  ObjectId labelStyleId = civildoc.Styles.LabelStyles.PipeLabelStyles.PlanProfileLabelStyles[0];

  PipeLabel.Create(pipeID, 0.5, labelStyleId);         

  ts.Commit();

}

 

And the result in Civil 3D :

Setting the Working Folder for Civil 3D Survey Projects using .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

Using AutoCAD Civil 3D UI tools we can conveniently set the working folder for Survey Projects.

 

 

If you want to do the same using Civil 3D .NET API, you need to use SurveyProjectCollection.WorkingFolder API. Using this API we can get or set the working folder for survey projects.

 

Here is a C# .NET code snippet on how to use this API : 

SurveyProjectCollection surveyProjColl = CivilApplication.SurveyProjects;

 

// print the current working folder name

 

ed.WriteMessage("\nSurvey Projects Working Folder Before Change : " + surveyProjColl.WorkingFolder.ToString());

 

// now change the working folder location

surveyProjColl.WorkingFolder = "c:\\Temp";

 

// print the current working folder name after change

ed.WriteMessage("\nSurvey Projects Working Folder After Change : " + surveyProjColl.WorkingFolder.ToString());

Updating PipeLabel Style using Civil 3D API

By Partha Sarkar

 

Label.StyleName API allows to get or set the Entity object's style name and we can use this to update PipeLabel Style.

Here is a C# .NET code snippet :

PipeLabel pipeLbl = ts.GetObject(pipeLblID, OpenMode.ForWrite) asPipeLabel;

 

// Label.StyleName Property -> Gets or sets the Entity object's style name.         

ed.WriteMessage("\nStyle Name Before Change : " + pipeLbl.StyleName.ToString());

 

// Now update the Style

pipeLbl.StyleName = "2D Length - Total Span";

ed.WriteMessage("\nStyle Name After Change : " + pipeLbl.StyleName.ToString());

 

In the following screenshot we can see a particular Label Style being used for Pipe Object in Civil 3D.

 

And here we see by updating the StyleName how the Label style is changed :

Creating Civil 3D TIN Surface from Contours (Polylines) using .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

You have a DWG file with contour lines which are actually polylines with elevation values and you want to create a Civil 3D TIN Surface using those Polylines.

Here is a screenshot which shows few Polylines in a DWG file :

 

 

 

If want to create a Civil 3D TIN Surface using these Polylines, first you need to create an empty TinSurface by using TinSurface.Create() API and then using SurfaceOperationAddContour.AddContours() API you need to add the Polylines to the TinSurface. 

Here is a C#.NET code snippet :

// Get the AutoCAD Editor

Editor ed = AcadApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

Database db = AcadApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;

CivilDocument civilDoc = CivilApplication.ActiveDocument;

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

{

 

  try

  {

    // Select a Surface style to use

    ObjectId styleId = civilDoc.Styles.SurfaceStyles["Slope Banding (2D)"];

 

    //Contour Entities collection

    ObjectIdCollection contourEntitiesIdColl = newObjectIdCollection();

 

    // In the following line I use a custom function GetContourEntities()

    // which creates a collection of all the contour polyline Ids

    contourEntitiesIdColl = GetContourEntities();

 

    if (styleId != null && contourEntitiesIdColl != null)

    {

      // Create an empty TIN Surface

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

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

 

      //public SurfaceOperationAddContour AddContours( ObjectIdCollection contourEntities, double midOrdinateDistance,

      // double maximumDistance,  double weedingDistance,  double weedingAngle )

 

      surface.ContoursDefinition.AddContours(contourEntitiesIdColl, 1.0, 100.00, 15.0, 4.0);           

 

    }  

 

    trans.Commit();

  }

 

  catch (System.Exception ex)

  {

    // handle the exception

    ed.WriteMessage("Surface Creation from Contours Failed !" + "  " +  ex.Message);

  }

 

}

 

 

And a TinSurface created using Polylines :