In the previous two posts we looked at the new ObjectARX samples and the new .NET samples available for AutoCAD 2008.
AutoCAD 2008 also exposes a number of new APIs (and enhancements to old ones) for which we don’t have new SDK samples. Take a look of the ‘Migration Guide for Applications’ for a comprehensive list of new classes and new methods and properties within classes. Check the AutoCAD Managed Class Reference for Managed equivalents.
And once again - let me know if there are any of specific interest to you, and we'll see what we can do. :-)
Layers per viewport
Complementing the new annotation scaling feature, you can now override layer parameters such as color, plot style, lineweight and linetype on a per viewport basis.
You can also dim layers per viewport, to make the important information stand out.
Multi-leaders
The new Mleader (AcDbMLeader) entity allows you to insert leaders with multiple arrows.
Wipeout
Formerly part of Express Tools, the Wipeout (AcDbWipeut) entity has for a number of releases been part of the standard AutoCAD feature set. In this release we finally publish a fully supported API for this feature.
InfoCenter
The InfoCenter is an integrated search tool allowing the user to search a range of online content, including product helpfiles, the Autodesk Knowledge Base, newsgroup postings, and other autodesk.com information - as well as blogs such as this one :-). InfoCenter feature has a managed API that allows you to integrate your own content with this tool.
Dimension enhancements
We’ve introduced a lot of dimension enhancements, all of which are reflected in th API. These include Dimension Break, Tolerance Alignment, Inspection Dimensions, and Jogged Linear Dimensions… to name but a few.
Multiline attributes
Attributes can now span multiple lines… enough said.
DWF and DGN Underlays
An underlay is like a raster image, but you can snap to the geometry. AutoCAD 2008 underlays allow you to create geometry based on DWG and DGN files. DWF underlays are represented by the DwfDefinition and DwfReference classes. DGN underlays by DgnDefinition and DgnReference.
Tool palette enhancements
The tool palette API has been extended to include support for user-defined images and drag and drop enhancements.