Through the Interface

Driving a multi-sheet AutoCAD plot using .NET

Somewhat symmetrically I’m posting this from Chicago airport, once again, but thankfully I’m now on my way home. It was a busy week of meetings, but I did get the chance to put together some code that extended the last post into the realm of multi-sheet plot jobs. The following code took some work, but I finally managed to iron out the obvious wrinkles and put together an approach to plot multiple sheets into a single document. The standard DWF6 driver doesn’t appear to support multiple sheet jobs (directly, at least), so I chose to use the DWFx driver... Read more →

Driving a basic AutoCAD plot using .NET

I just missed my connecting flight in Chicago, so have 3 hours to pass until the next, and decided to post some code I finally got around to writing on the plane from Zurich. I've had a few requests for code showing how to plot using the .NET API in AutoCAD. There's an existing ObjectARX (C++) sample on the SDK, under samples/editor/AsdkPlotAPI, but there isn't a publicly posted .NET version right now. Here's the C# code I put together. Please bear in mind that it was written during less than ideal coding conditions, and I haven't spent a substantial... Read more →

Creating a multileader in AutoCAD using a jig from .NET

I'm now back from a fantastic break in Italy and am trying hard to catch back up. Next week I'm off again to San Diego (work, this time), which may cause further interruptions in blog postings. This question came through from Genésio from Brazil: I wish jig a leader with an bubble in the and of the leader, at the same time. Can you help me. Perhaps post the solution in your blog (through the interface). It took me a while - frustratingly long, in fact, and probably this is not exactly what Genésio is after - but here's... Read more →

Heading for the hills

Well, through them, anyway. Just letting you know that I'll be away from my desk, and from this blog, for the next week or so. We're heading through the Alps to Italy: first to Milan and then down to Ascoli Piceno, where an old friend is getting married. We decided to take the train, which should be interesting. It's 4 hours from Switzerland to Milan, plus another 5 or so hours from Milan to the rail hub nearest to Ascoli P. Luckily we have family in Milan and so get to spend time with them and break the journey... Read more →

Accessing the active space or layout in an AutoCAD drawing using .NET

This question was asked as comment to a previous post by har!s: Thanks a lot for the code. I have yet to see 2008 and MultiLeader. But I presume that it works on both Model and paper spaces. In that case, what is the best method to make the operation space independent? i.e., it should work on active space irrespective of whether it's model or paper. I think this will be generally applicable to almost all the entity creations. The question is very valid and does indeed apply to a lot of entity creation - and other - activities.... Read more →

AU Unplugged session on AutoCAD development

Just a quick post today regarding an AU Unplugged! topic I've submitted. The proposed session is called "Developing applications for AutoCAD: best practices for using AutoCAD's APIs." Here's the description I gave for the topic: "Come along to share and learn best practices for customizing/developing with AutoCAD: discuss your choice of API technology and how best to address common development issues. Find out where best to focus your learning around AutoCAD customization." If you're interested in attending this (and other developer-oriented Autodesk University sessions), you can register for the conference at AU Online. I don't know whether the Unplugged... Read more →

Creating an AutoCAD multileader spraying out from central text using .NET

Some more fun with multileaders... this post shows some code that adds multiple leader lines to a multileader/MLeader, each of them "spraying" out from the central text. We ask the user for the central point and the location of the first leader along with the number of leader lines to "spray". These lines then get created at evenly spaced angles around from this initial location. I can't think of anything immediately useful about this technique, other than it was fun to write the code and it shows how to add multiple leader lines. It also generates some fun results.... Read more →

Creating a spline-segment multileader in AutoCAD using .NET

I thought it would be interesting to spend a few posts looking into the multileader or MLeader functionality in AutoCAD 2008. To get things started, here's some simple code that prompts the user for a couple of points and then creates a single spline-segment multileader with multi-line text at the points specified. It also uses the technique shown in this previous post to specify a custom arrow-head. Here's the C# code: using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput; using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry; namespace DimensionLibrary { public class DimensionCommands { static ObjectId GetArrowObjectId(string newArrName) { ObjectId arrObjId = ObjectId.Null; Document doc... Read more →