Infrastructure Modeling DevBlog

Adding Bands data to Civil 3D Profile View using .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

In this example we see how to add Profile View data bands to a Profile View in AutoCAD Civil 3D using .NET API.

Here we add the band for the top band. In AutoCAD Civil 3D "Profile View Properties" dialog box, you will notice 'Location' drop down box under the 'List of Bands' and it has two options -  'Top of Profile View' or 'Bottom of Profile View'. In this example I am going to add a new band in the 'Top of Profile View'.

 

Top of Profile View before adding the data band :

 

 

And After adding the data band :

 

And here is the C# .NET code snippet : 

Database db = AcadApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Database;

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

{

  CivilDocument civilDoc = CivilApplication.ActiveDocument;

 

  //open the profile view

  ProfileView pv = trans.GetObject(pvId, OpenMode.ForWrite) asProfileView;

 

  //get the style of the first Bottom Bands         

  ObjectId bandStyleId = pv.Bands.GetBottomBandItems()[0].BandStyleId;

 

  //now access the collection of top band

  ProfileViewBandItemCollection topBandItems = pv.Bands.GetTopBandItems();         

 

  //add a new one (using the above style)

  topBandItems.Add(bandStyleId);

 

  //now Set the Top Bands

  pv.Bands.SetTopBandItems(topBandItems);         

 

  trans.Commit();

 

}

Updating Civil 3D Corridor BaseLineRegion Start and End Stations using API

By Partha Sarkar

In this earlier blog post, I demonstrated how to Add / Remove BaseLineRegion in AutoCAD Civil 3D using .NET API. In one of the questions in AutoCAD Civil 3D Customization Forum, I see a developer having an issue in editing the Corridor Baseline Region start and end station. In the Civil 3D API reference document I see the BaselineRegion.StartStation and BaselineRegion.EndStation properties are Get and Set i.e. we can Get the station values as well as we Set them. I thought to give it a try to confirm they are working as per the API reference doc and I do find we can Get as well as Set the station values.

 

Here is the working C# .NET code snippet : 

Corridor corridor = trans.GetObject(corridorId, OpenMode.ForWrite) asCorridor;           

 

// Get the BaselineRegionCollection

BaselineRegionCollection baselineRegionColl = corridor.Baselines[0].BaselineRegions;

 

// Get the BaselineRegion to update the Start and End Station

BaselineRegion baselineregion = baselineRegionColl["Corridor Region (1)"];

 

if (baselineregion != null)

{

  ed.WriteMessage("\n BaseLineRegion Start Station Before Update : " + baselineregion.StartStation.ToString());

  ed.WriteMessage("\n BaseLineRegion End   Station Before Update : " + baselineregion.EndStation.ToString());

 

  // update the stations Value

 

  baselineregion.StartStation = 50.00;

  baselineregion.EndStation = 568.00;

 

  //rebuild the corridor

  corridor.Rebuild();

 

  ed.WriteMessage("\n BaseLineRegion Start Station After Update : " + baselineregion.StartStation.ToString());

  ed.WriteMessage("\n BaseLineRegion End   Station After Update : " + baselineregion.EndStation.ToString());

 

}           

 

And the result in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 :

 

AUTOCAD CIVIL 3D 2014 Developer’s Guide

By Partha Sarkar

AUTOCAD CIVIL 3D 2014 Developer’s Guide link given in this earlier blog post as well as in AutoCAD Civil 3D Services & Support page is temporarily unavailable.

If you are looking for the working link for immediate reference, here it is :

AUTOCAD CIVIL 3D 2014 Developer’s Guide

Get the Civil 3D Label Expression using .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

In AutoCAD Civil 3D, by using expressions, we can set up separate mathematical formulas using the existing properties. Expressions are unique to a particular label style type. Only those properties that are relevant to the label style type are available in the Expressions dialog box. 

After you set up expressions, they are available in the Properties list in the Text Component Editor so that you can add them to label styles. In effect, expressions become new properties that you can use to compose a label style.

 

 

 

Now if you want to access the expression formula / string used for a particular Label style using API, its simple, you need to get the ExpressionCollection for that Label Styles collection.

Here is a C# .NET code snippet demonstrating how to access an expression formula used for AlignmentLabelStyles :

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

{

  // Get the desired Lable Styles collection

  LabelStyleCollection lblStyleColl = civilDoc.Styles.LabelStyles.AlignmentLabelStyles.GeometryPointLabelStyles;

 

  // Now get the Expression collection

  // Expressions are unique to a particular label style type.

  ExpressionCollection expColl = lblStyleColl.Expressions;

 

  try

  {

    foreach (Expression lblExp in expColl)

    {

      ed.WriteMessage("\n Expression Name : " + lblExp.Name);

      ed.WriteMessage("\n Expression String : " + lblExp.ExpressionString);

    }

    trans.Commit();

  }

 

  catch (Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime.Exception ex)

  {

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

  }

 

}

 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year !

By Partha Sarkar

Hope you enjoyed reading our posts in ADN DevBlog - Infrastructure Modeling throughout this year!

It's time to take a break ! And when we come back in new year - 2014, we will start again with renewed sustainable energy :)  

 

 

Merry Christmas, Happy holidays and a very Happy New Year 2014 !

How to access the AutoCAD Civil 3D Survey Database in .NET Application?

By Partha Sarkar

In AutoCAD Civil 3D COM API, using AeccSurveyDatabase:: Projects, we can access the collection of the existing Survey projects. If you want to access a particular Survey Project e.g. (Test_Survey_DB) as shown in the screenshot below, we can use the AeccSurveyProjects:: FindItem(VARIANT varIndex).

 

 

Here is a C# .NET code snippet which demonstrates how to access a particular Survey Project using the COM API  : 

// Get the AutoCAD Editor

Editor ed = AcadApp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument.Editor;

 

// Get the Survey Application and AeccSurveyDatabase

AeccSurveyApplication aeccSurveyApp = newAeccSurveyApplication();

aeccSurveyApp.Init((AcadApplication)AcadApp.AcadApplication);

AeccSurveyDatabase aeccSurveydb = (AeccSurveyDatabase)aeccSurveyApp.ActiveDocument.Database;

AeccSurveyProjects surveyProjs = aeccSurveydb.Projects;

 

// Accessing a Particular Survey Project

// IAeccSurveyProjects:: FindItem

// Gets the Survey Project with the given name.

 

AeccSurveyProject surveyProj = surveyProjs.FindItem("Test_Survey_DB");

if (surveyProj != null)

{

  // now we can access the various Props of AeccSurveyProject object           

  ed.WriteMessage("\nSurvey Project Name :  " + surveyProj.Name.ToString());

  ed.WriteMessage("\nSurvey Project Path :  " + surveyProj.Path.ToString());

  ed.WriteMessage("\nNext available point number   : " + surveyProj.GetNextWritablePointNumber().ToString());

}

 

 

 

Adding multiple Section Views using AutoCAD Civil 3D .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

In AutoCAD Civil 3D Toolspace, under the 'Sample Line Groups' collection, for a particular Sample Line Group (SLG), you will see 'Section View Groups' collection.

 

 

 

 

Once you expand this collection, you will see 'Individual section views'. When we add a single Section View using SectionView.Create() API, it will be added to this collection. In Civil 3D .NET API, we can access this through the following API -

SampleLineGroup.IndividualSectionViewGroup Property // Gets the individual SectionViewGroup.

 

 

If you want to create multiple section views for a group of sample lines along an Alignment, in Civil UI tools we use 'CreateMultipleSectionView' as shown below -

 

   

 

If you want to programmatically create multiple section views, use SectionViewGroupCollection.Add() API. First to access the SectionViewGroup collection use the following Civil 3D .NET API - 

SampleLineGroup.SectionViewGroups Property  // Gets the collection of SectionViewGroup.

 

Here is a C# .NET code snippet using one of the overloaded versions of SectionViewGroupCollection.Add() API : 

SampleLineGroup sampleLineGrp = SampleLineGrpId.GetObject(OpenMode.ForWrite) asSampleLineGroup;

 

//SampleLineGroup.SectionViewGroups Property

// Gets the collection of SectionViewGroup.

SectionViewGroupCollection sectionViewGrpColl = sampleLineGrp.SectionViewGroups;

 

// get the location to insert the Section views

Point3d insertPosition;

PromptPointResult ppr = ed.GetPoint("\nSelect a Location for the SectionViews:");

if (ppr.Status != PromptStatus.OK)

  return;

insertPosition = ppr.Value;

 

// now call the Add()

// Add a SectionViewGroup which will create multiple SectionViews for each SampleLine in SampleLineGroup.

sectionViewGrpColl.Add(insertPosition);

 

And result in AutoCAD Civil 3D –

How do I get the list of available Coordinate Systems in AutoCAD Civil 3D ?

By Partha Sarkar

 

Is there a way to get a list of the coordinate systems that are available to the Civil 3D drawing i.e. how can I access the list found in the Drawing Settings>Units and Zone>Zone section as shown in the screenshot below ?

 

  

 

We can access the list of available coordinate systems using Geospatial Platform API which is part of AutoCAD Map 3D. As you know, AutoCAD Civil 3D is built on top of AutoCAD Map 3D and we can use the available Map 3D functionalities and API features in building custom application running on AutoCAD Civil 3D as well. To get the list of all the available Coordinate systems in a Drawing file in AutoCAD Civil 3D, we need to use MgCoordinateSystemFactory from OSGeo.MapGuide namespace. And for that you need to reference the following assemblies from 'AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014' installation folder - 

• OSGeo.MapGuide.Foundation.dll
• OSGeo.MapGuide.PlatformBase.dll
• OSGeo.MapGuide.Geometry.dll

  

Here is the C# .NET code snippet - 

MgCoordinateSystemFactory coordSysFactory = newMgCoordinateSystemFactory();

MgCoordinateSystemCatalog csCatalog = coordSysFactory.GetCatalog();

MgCoordinateSystemDictionary csDict = csCatalog.GetCoordinateSystemDictionary();

MgCoordinateSystemEnum csDictEnum = csDict.GetEnum();

 

int csCount = csDict.GetSize();

ed.WriteMessage("\nCoordinate System Count : " + csCount.ToString());

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

MgStringCollection csNames = csDictEnum.NextName(csCount);

string csName = null;           

MgCoordinateSystem cs = null; 

        

for (int i = 0; i < csCount; i++)

{

  csName = csNames.GetItem(i);

  cs = csDict.GetCoordinateSystem(csName);                        

  ed.WriteMessage("\nCoordinate System Name : " + csName.ToString() + "  " + "CS Code :  " + cs.CsCode.ToString());

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

}

 

and Result in AutoCAD Civil 3D -

Creating Surface Contour Labels using Civil 3D .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

 

In AutoCAD Civil 3D .NET API Reference guide, you will notice SurfaceContourLabelGroup class has overloaded function Create() to create a new Surface Contour LabelGroup.

 

In this post, I will show you how to use SurfaceContourLabelGroup.Create(ObjectId surfaceId, Point2dCollection labelLinePoints ) and SurfaceContourLabelGroup.CreateMultipleAtInterval(

            ObjectId surfaceId,

            Point2d labelLineStartPoint,

            Point2d labelLineEndPoint,

            double interval) 

 

When we use SurfaceContourLabelGroup.Create(ObjectId surfaceId, Point2dCollection labelLinePoints), we need to pass in surfaceId and labelLinePoints. One important point to note here - There must be at least 2 points to compose the label line.

 

Here is a C# .NET code snippet - 

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

{

  try

  {     

    /// surfaceId // Type: ObjectId // The ObjectId of surface to which the label is attahed.

    /// labelLinePoints // Type: Point2dCollection // The place in which the label is located.

    /// There must be at least 2 points to compose the label line.

 

    ObjectId surfaceContourGrpLblId = SurfaceContourLabelGroup.Create(surfaceId, labelLinePoints);          

    trans.Commit();

  }

  catch (Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime.Exception ex)

  {

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

  }

}

 

And the result you will see in Civil 3D - 

 

 

In this example I have used SurfaceContourLabelGroup.CreateMultipleAtInterval(ObjectId surfaceId,        Point2d labelLineStartPoint, Point2d labelLineEndPoint, double interval). One important point to note here - you need to use an appropriate double value for the interval based on your surface extends so that the interval is not too close nor too large. 

 

Here is a C# .NET code snippet - 

try

{

 

  /// labelLineStartPoint // Type: Point2d // The start point of label line.

  /// labelLineEndPoint // Type: Point2d // The end point of label line.

  /// interval // Type: System.Double // The interval between the label groups along contours.

  ///

  SurfaceContourLabelGroup.CreateMultipleAtInterval(surfaceId, labelLineStartPoint, labelLineEndPoint, 100.0);

 

  trans.Commit();

}

  

And the result you will see in Civil 3D -

 

 

Hope this is useful to you!

Civil 3D FeatureLine Labeling and Style changing through .NET API

By Partha Sarkar

If you are looking for an API to change AutoCAD Civil 3D FeatureLine object's style you can use FeatureLine.StyleName property which gets or sets the Featureline's style name. 

And using Autodesk.Civil.DatabaseServices.GeneralSegmentLabel.Create() method we can add Label to a FeatureLine. 

In the screenshot below we can see a Civil 3D FeatureLine before changing it's style -

 

 

And using the following C# .NET code we can change the style and label it -

 

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

{

  FeatureLine featureLine = ts.GetObject(ftrLineID, OpenMode.ForWrite) as FeatureLine;

 

  // Change the Style to "Flowline"

  // Style name used abobe is specific to a DWG file

  // FeatureLine.StyleName // Gets or sets the Featureline's style name.

 

  featureLine.StyleName = "Flowline";

 

  // Use Autodesk.Civil.DatabaseServices.GeneralSegmentLabel.Create to add label to a feature line

 

  GeneralSegmentLabel.Create(featureLine.ObjectId, 0.5);

 

  ts.Commit();

}

 

FeatureLine style after change -

 

 

 

and FeatureLine with label -

 

Hope this is useful to you.