Through the Interface

Implementing a custom AutoCAD object snap mode using .NET

Thanks again to Augusto Gonçalves, from our DevTech Americas team, for providing the original VB.NET code for this sample, as well as helping investigate an issue I faced during implementation. When I saw a recent reply to a developer, showing how to implement a custom object snap in AutoCAD using .NET, I had a really strong sense of nostalgia: it reminded me of a couple of early samples I contributed to the ObjectARX SDK: the "third" sample, which showed how to create a custom osnap that snapped to a third of the way along a curve, and "divisor" which... Read more →

A video introduction

I've been meaning to do something like this for a while, ever since I bought a Flip video camera, back in July. Here's a (nearly) 10 minute segment where I talk a little bit about myself. If you found this interesting (or boring and irrelevant) please say so in a comment. Be sure to let me know if there are further topics you'd like to hear me talk about. Read more →

AU Handouts: AutoCAD® .NET - Developing for AutoCAD® Using F# - Part 2

This post continues on from Part 1 of this series. You'll find much of this content has been used before in these previous posts, although post does include content updated for F# 1.9.6.2 (the September 2008 CTP). The first thing we need to do is – as with any AutoCAD .NET project – add project references to AutoCAD’s managed assemblies, acmgd.dll and acdbmgd.dll. With F#’s integration into Visual Studio 2008 you do this in exactly the same way as you would for a C# or VB.NET project, by selecting Project -> Add Reference... from the pull-down menu or right-clicking... Read more →

Coming to AU 2008? Vote to come along and let us know what you need from the AutoCAD .NET API!

AU Unplugged is the unconference component of Autodesk University. The sessions have been submitted and the voting is now on: based on external feedback the event organizers will schedule the most interesting classes at this year's event. Last year I held a poorly publicized (and therefore poorly attended :-) session on comparative AutoCAD development tools/technologies, but I've decided not to repeat that this year, and hang on the coat-tails of one of my team... Stephen Preston, the manager of DevTech Americas and our worldwide platform products technical lead, is planning the following session: AutoCAD .NET: Help Us to Help... Read more →

AU Handouts: AutoCAD® .NET - Developing for AutoCAD® Using F# - Part 1

As mentioned in my previous post, I've been beavering away on the handout for a new class I'm delivering at this year's Autodesk University. Here is the first part of this handout. Introduction F# is a new programming language from Microsoft, due to become a first-class .NET citizen (joining its siblings C# and VB.NET) and fully integrated with Visual Studio 2010. In this class we’ll introduce many of the concepts behind the F# language, and look at examples where we use it to create applications inside AutoCAD. At the time of writing, F# is available as a Community Technology... Read more →

Freewheel fun

I'm currently working on the handouts for my AU classes: two are sessions I delivered last year, so much of the work for those has been to go through make sure everything works on the latest product versions (and to update the screenshots, as they do look much nicer now that I'm running Vista, it has to be said :-). As part of the update process for my "Enrich your DWF" session I've been looking at the new capabilities of the Project Freewheel API. The best way to see the capabilities of the new Javascript API to Project Freewheel... Read more →

Offline reading of "Through the Interface"

A member of my team recently asked me to extend this blog's standard RSS feed to include more than 10 entries: he wanted a feed that contained all the entries ever posted to "Through the Interface". It turns out he uses Outlook 2007's RSS capability to download the full contents of items in an RSS feed, so he can then use his Outlook-integrated search capabilities to search his various email archives - as well as this blog's contents - whenever he's researching a technical query. He had a number of the earlier posts missing from Outlook and wanted the... Read more →

Changing the colour of the contents of an AutoCAD block using .NET

Here's a question that came in to us, recently: How can I show the AutoCAD color dialog from .NET? I need to allow the user to select a block, show the AutoCAD color dialog and apply the selected color to the contents of the selected block. A new member of DevTech Americas - Augusto Gonçalves, who's based in our São Paulo office - answered with the following code (which I've modified slightly, mostly to follow this blog's coding conventions). Thanks, Augusto! By the way, these previous posts may also be useful to those interested in this topic. Here's the... Read more →

Free AutoCAD programming webcast: .NET for LISP Programmers

As mentioned in this previous post, my team delivers regular webcasts on programming with Autodesk technologies. Assuming you're reading this while the metaphorical ink's still damp, it's still not too late to register for a class being held on Thursday October 16th at 8am Pacific, 5pm CET: AutoCAD: .NET for LISP Programmers. Otherwise you should be able to find a recording of the webcast on this page within a few weeks of the session being delivered. In fact, here's the recording of the last time this session was delivered (although it may well have been updated slightly, as the... Read more →

An interview with Don Syme

As mentioned in this previous post, I had the great pleasure of spending a day up at Microsoft Research in Cambridge last week. My host, Don Syme, took great care of me and was very generous with his time and knowledge. Some background on why I decided to request a meeting with Don: Don is the person behind F#, a new programming language that has, over the last year or so, transitioned from being a research project to a fully-fledged .NET language with full support in Microsoft's development tools. Expect to see the capability to create F# projects (just... Read more →

Coming to this year's Autodesk University? Let's meet...

This year's AU is coming up quickly... as I mentioned in this earlier post, we have a number of sessions lined up for developers, in addition to a wealth of interesting sessions in the Customization & Programming track. If you'd like to see the various sessions in the Developer track, click here. Here are specific links to my three sessions: DE311-2 AutoCAD® .NET: Developing for AutoCAD Using F# DE215-4 There's More to DWG™ than AutoCAD® (handout parts 1, 2 & 3) DE301-3 Enrich Your DWF™ (handout parts 1 & 2) I'll also be participating in this panel session, "DE115-3... Read more →

More interview fun

Thanks to all who have provided feedback on my recent interview with John Walker. Here is a PDF of the complete series for those who would rather use that format for offline viewing (please think twice before printing all 27 pages, though). The interview proved to be a very interesting activity - even more so than I had anticipated - and so I've decided to try a few more. I'm in no danger of making a career of this (don't worry) but I'm finding it an interesting diversion to meet and talk with people who have important information to... Read more →

An interview with John Walker - Part 4

This is the fourth and final part of the series documenting my recent interview with John Walker. Where the first three parts looked at the early history of the company, the architectural evolution of AutoCAD and its APIs and Autodesk's strategy and eco-system, this part takes a look at past and future business opportunities for the company. I have not linked to terms previously linked to in the first part of the series, which should also be referred to for typographical conventions, if they're not clear. Part 1 - Autodesk's early history Part 2 - AutoCAD's architecture & APIs... Read more →

Mirroring AutoCAD entities using .NET

The code used as the basis for this post was from a recent response sent out by Philippe Leefsma, from our European DevTech team. Thanks, Philippe! It's very common to want to manipulate an entity programmatically in AutoCAD, and often the best way to do so is to "transform" it. The technique is very straightforward: you create a transformation matrix using the static members of the Matrix3d class (Displacement(), Rotation(), Scaling(), Mirroring(), or the possibly less commonly needed AlignCoordinateSystem(), Projection(), PlaneToWorld() and WorldToPlane()), you make sure your entity is open for write, and then simply pass the matrix into... Read more →