Through the Interface

Streamlined QuickSaveAs command for AutoCAD 2010

A big thanks to Tony Tanzillo for providing some tips to help improve the implementation of the application we saw in these previous posts: in particular Tony pointed out the ability of AutoCAD 2010 to generate a thumbnail image for a document in the editor programmatically (something I had forgotten was possible… at least I think I knew it existed – it certainly seemed familiar once I saw it :-S). Anyway, the version of the code in this post will only work from AutoCAD 2010 onwards because of the use of this function, Document.CapturePreviewImage(). Tony’s code also showed some... Read more →

Design iteration #3 of Screenshot, November’s Plugin of the Month

Now that I’m completely finished with my AU 2009 preparation, it’s time for me to get back to the next “Plugin of the Month”, given that we have just a few days left of the month of October. Here’s another iteration of the application, this time implementing the following enhancements: The application now keeps the chosen settings: they follow you between drawings and even between sessions. We now perform a Regen after selecting objects to capture to unhighlight them There is now a “Print” setting, which gives the option of sending the capture image directly to a printer The... Read more →

AU 2009: Attend one of my sessions from the comfort of your armchair

Seeing Jeremy's post from Friday, I decided to give you a quick update of where I am with my own preparation for this year’s Autodesk University. I’m delivering two sessions, this year: CP9214-1 AutoCAD® .NET – Developing for AutoCAD Using F# CP208-1 AutoCAD® .NET – Developing for AutoCAD Using IronPython and IronRuby So yes, it seems as though I’m carving out a niche for myself as “the quirky languages guy”. :-) The first one of these is actually a virtual session, and will be broadcast twice during the week of AU. It’s one I presented already, last year, and... Read more →

Adding items to an AutoCAD tool palette using .NET

This post carries directly on from the last one, which implemented a rudimentary “Quick SaveAs” capability in AutoCAD. Much of the explanation behind the design of today’s code is there, so please do read it first (if you haven’t already). Today we’re taking the code further by automatically creating an item on a tool palette with the thumbnail of the recently-saved drawing which, when used, will run a script created when we saved the drawing. Here’s the updated code with the new or modified lines in red. You can download the C# source file from here. 1 using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;... Read more →

Implementing a “Quick SaveAs” command in AutoCAD using .NET

I had a fun request, earlier in the week, that I thought worth turning into a couple of blog posts. The problem itself is quite specific, but some of the techniques shown – especially in the second of the two posts – seemed worth sharing. The basic request was this: to implement a “quick SaveAs” command which will – the first time it’s run – ask for a file location and name and will then – each time it’s called subsequently – simply save the current drawing into the same folder with a filename based on the original with... Read more →

Free webcast on AutoCAD VBA to .NET Migration

Sorry for the late notice on this one… I’d have posted sooner but for having taken some time off, last week, to take the family to Disneyland Paris. Now I just need a few more days of vacation to recover. :-S :-) Tomorrow there’s a free webcast showing how to migrate your VBA code to use VBA.NET. The content focuses primarily on the use of COM Interop to quickly get your VBA code working from VB.NET, building on the DevTV session mentioned previously and using its accompanying migration tool. The session will be taking place at 8am Pacific/10am Eastern/4pm... Read more →

Design iteration #2 of Screenshot, November’s Plugin of the Month

Thanks to all those who provided feedback on this recent post. I really appreciate people taking the time to provide feedback – both positive and negative – as I want to ensure this tool is used by more than just a few AutoCAD users. Today’s version extends the last one to include a few more “Settings”: Existing settings Output Allows the user to choose whether the captured image is copied to the clipboard or saved to a raster file Background Allows the user to force the background colour to white Hopefully useful for people using a non-quite background but... Read more →

Free AutoCAD API webcast: 0 to 3D in 60 Minutes

Next week Fenton Webb, from DevTech Americas, will be presenting a free webcast on the 3D capabilities of AutoCAD’s APIs. Here’s Fenton’s synopsis: “If your product has always been 2D and you are now considering moving to 3D or if you are simply interested in finding out about the different API’s that are available to program AutoCAD in 3D then come join this webcast. We’ll give a brief overview history of 3D in AutoCAD along with some code demonstrations of some API’s in operation. Also, don’t forget that included at the end is a Q and A section allowing... Read more →

Design iteration #1 of Screenshot, November’s Plugin of the Month

Thanks to all who provided input on this last post, where I asked for guidance on how best to design the command-line interface for the Screenshot application, the proposed Plugin of the Month for November. The current code is based largely on this previous post, but may end up being extended - in time - to include better 3D support via the technique shown here. Here are some design choices that came out of the comments on the last post: From Fred Dickinson A separate “Settings” option, allowing us to use a sub-menu for our application settings From MJohnston... Read more →

Design choices for the next Plugin of the Month

I’m currently thinking about using the code from this previous post as a basis for November’s Plugin of the Month. This simple AutoCAD application would provide three main capabilities: Take a screenshot of the entire AutoCAD application window Take a screenshot of the current drawing window Take a screenshot of a user-specified section of the current drawing Each of these options would result in a bitmap being either saved to file or placed on the clipboard. The thing I’m chewing on, right now, is how best to design the command interface for these operations. It occurred to me that... Read more →

Last few hours of Expert of the Week...

Sorry for this somewhat lame post: today has not been the smoothest day, unfortunately. Firstly there was a minor systems glitch that meant my "Expert of the Week" session expired prematurely. This has now thankfully been resolved, so please go across to the AutoCAD Exchange and ask me some more questions - there are now only a few hours left before the weekend! :-) Even more frustratingly, I foolishly clicked on the "a new version of Live Messenger is available, would you like to upgrade?" piece of toast that popped up when I logged in, this morning. The installer... Read more →