Infrastructure Modeling DevBlog

Network Pipe/Structure data fields

By Augusto Goncalves

Civil 3D has different ways to store custom data on different objects. On the specific case of Network Parts (Pipe or Structure), a user can store custom property values as described on this blog post. In this case, the information is stored under the Part.PartData property, that contains a list/array of PartDataField objects. An easy way to output this data is using the code below:

[CommandMethod("pipedatafield")]
public static void CmdSelectPipe()
{
  Editor ed = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;
  PromptEntityOptions peo = new PromptEntityOptions("\nSelect network part: ");
  peo.SetRejectMessage("\nOnly network parts");
  peo.AddAllowedClass(typeof(Part), false);
  PromptEntityResult per = ed.GetEntity(peo);
  if (per.Status != PromptStatus.OK) return;
  ObjectId partId = per.ObjectId;
 
  Database db = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;
  using (Transaction trans = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
  {
    Part p = trans.GetObject(partId, OpenMode.ForRead) as Part;
    PartDataField[] fields = p.PartData.GetAllDataFields();
    foreach(PartDataField field in fields)
    {
      ed.WriteMessage("\n{0}: {1}", field.Description, field.Value);
    }
  }
}

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.

Introduction to Civil 3D 2015 programming

This is a short recording on how set up a development environment for Civil 3D 2015 with Visual Basic .NET. For a detailed description, check this previous post.

Snoop Civil 3D 2015 Database (.bundle format)

The Civil 3D 2015 release is available, you can already download from our website and check the new APIs here. Now it’s time for our snoop database tool to be ready, actually I’m glad that the code base is the same, mainly because it’s based on reflection and automatically ‘understand’ changes on methods and properties.

Starting from the code posted here, the new version is ready to download at the link below. Note it still using .NET 4.0 so it can remain compatible with previous release.

Download

Like previous release, just extract the .zip under C:\Users\<your login>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins folder and it will autoload on Civil 3D 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Please note that if you extract under C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins it will not load on 2012 version.

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2015 - new features in .NET API and COM API changes

By Partha Sarkar

AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2015 is just released! In this post I am sharing with you some useful links on what’s new.

New features and updates in AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2015 .NET API 

 

New Features in Autodesk® AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2015 

 

COM API Changes :  If you are using the COM API, you need to update the object version to 10.4 (from 10.3 used in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014). The objects and interfaces exposed have remained the same, but you should reference the new libraries, which are installed by default to: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\Civil Engineering 104. 

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!

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 :

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 :