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Mechanical 2005 API Blues

3 REPLIES 3
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Message 1 of 4
dhaverstick
212 Views, 3 Replies

Mechanical 2005 API Blues

Just posted this to vent: The API for Autocad Mechanical 2005 is a piece of junk!!!!! I bet not even half of the functionality available through the GUI is exposed in the API; which is kind of the point of having an API in the first place. I guess this lack of method/event/object exposure is the reason the documentation is so lame; there's nothing to document. I have never understood why a software company would go to the trouble of creating an API and then only do it part way. Autodesk, give me the tools I need to do my job!! I cannot build an entire house supplied with only a 2x4 and a pencil.
3 REPLIES 3
Message 2 of 4
Anonymous
in reply to: dhaverstick

Hi Darren, A more informative email explaining your most important needs would be great. If you would like an opportunity to discuss your specific needs, please contact me directly and we can chat. Regards, Eric Strassheim (415.507.5000) Product Manager -------------------------------- "dhaverstick" wrote in message news:29675312.1096895209465.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum1.autodesk.com... > Just posted this to vent: The API for Autocad Mechanical 2005 is a piece of junk!!!!! I bet not even half of the functionality available through the GUI is exposed in the API; which is kind of the point of having an API in the first place. I guess this lack of method/event/object exposure is the reason the documentation is so lame; there's nothing to document. I have never understood why a software company would go to the trouble of creating an API and then only do it part way. Autodesk, give me the tools I need to do my job!! I cannot build an entire house supplied with only a 2x4 and a pencil.
Message 3 of 4
dhaverstick
in reply to: dhaverstick

Eric,
Thanks for your response to my post. As you can tell, I am quite frustrated with the Mechanical API; partly due to my ignorance of Autocad Mechanical and partly due to the API’s lack of completion. It will be nice to finally talk with someone who actually knows something about this mysterious beast.
At the top of my wish list for the API is a complete object model of the McadApplication object (mcadauto.dll). A close second is better API documentation with, perhaps, an example or two.
So far, I have found no way to access the McadFolders collection or the McadComponents collection so that I can iterate through a drawing’s structure. The Mcad2dStructureMgr object is listed as being accessible through the McadDocument object, yet, when you reference the McadDocument object the Mcad2dStructureMgr object is not available.
To me, there seems to be a lot of functionality, with regards to the structure browser, in the Mechanical GUI that is not accessible through the API. Here are a few examples:
1) How do I programmatically select a particular folder/component view?
2) I can right-click on a folder/component view in the Mechanical Browser GUI and activate it. How do I do this with code?
3) Let’s say I have a drawing that contains a bunch of empty structure (components and folders with no entities in them). How do I programmatically delete that structure?
4) How do I iterate through/select all the entities belonging to a particular folder/component view?

My company currently uses an obscure CAD package that has a design paradigm based on part structure and parent-child relationships. That paradigm allows us to quickly and easily manipulate large chunks of drawing stuff. It also has a very powerful built-in macro language that allows me to do, in code, any operation that I can do manually.
We are now in the process of switching over to Autocad Mechanical 2005 because it seemed to have the same sort of paradigm. Unfortunately, I am having much trouble porting my existing code over to the new platform. If this trouble is just because I’m being obtuse, please let me know (gently) and I will study a little harder before venting again. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Darren Haverstick
Paul Mueller Company
417-575-9725
dhaverstick@muel.com
Message 4 of 4
Anonymous
in reply to: dhaverstick

Darren, Now this is the kind of feedback that is really quite helpful! I appreciate your phone call today to explain many of these items. Regards, Eric "dhaverstick" wrote in message news:4664433.1096979990799.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > Eric, > Thanks for your response to my post. As you can tell, I am quite frustrated with the Mechanical API; partly due to my ignorance of Autocad Mechanical and partly due to the API's lack of completion. It will be nice to finally talk with someone who actually knows something about this mysterious beast. > At the top of my wish list for the API is a complete object model of the McadApplication object (mcadauto.dll). A close second is better API documentation with, perhaps, an example or two. > So far, I have found no way to access the McadFolders collection or the McadComponents collection so that I can iterate through a drawing's structure. The Mcad2dStructureMgr object is listed as being accessible through the McadDocument object, yet, when you reference the McadDocument object the Mcad2dStructureMgr object is not available. > To me, there seems to be a lot of functionality, with regards to the structure browser, in the Mechanical GUI that is not accessible through the API. Here are a few examples: > 1) How do I programmatically select a particular folder/component view? > 2) I can right-click on a folder/component view in the Mechanical Browser GUI and activate it. How do I do this with code? > 3) Let's say I have a drawing that contains a bunch of empty structure (components and folders with no entities in them). How do I programmatically delete that structure? > 4) How do I iterate through/select all the entities belonging to a particular folder/component view? > > My company currently uses an obscure CAD package that has a design paradigm based on part structure and parent-child relationships. That paradigm allows us to quickly and easily manipulate large chunks of drawing stuff. It also has a very powerful built-in macro language that allows me to do, in code, any operation that I can do manually. > We are now in the process of switching over to Autocad Mechanical 2005 because it seemed to have the same sort of paradigm. Unfortunately, I am having much trouble porting my existing code over to the new platform. If this trouble is just because I'm being obtuse, please let me know (gently) and I will study a little harder before venting again. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. > > Sincerely, > > Darren Haverstick > Paul Mueller Company > 417-575-9725 > dhaverstick@muel.com

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