AutoCAD 2011 install gets corrupted

[Anonymous]

I'm having a problem where my AutoCAD 2011 installation gets corrupted when I try to debug a program.

OS = XP

VS = 2008

Acad = 2011

I set acad 2011 to start for debug.

I click the run button and AutoCAD starts but no toolbars or ribbons are displayed.

I noticed this line in the text window:

c:\program files\autodesk\autocad 2011\acapp.arx is an invalid ARX file.

If I type "netload" it doesn't recognize the command.

The "big button" still shows some buttons but if I click any of them I get a dialog that says "Default Command Handler". (see attachment)

When I close acad I get a fatal error. (unhandled exception)

This has happened before on this same machine but does not happen all the time.

Last time I ended up having to re-install. 😞

I thought I would check here before reporting it as a bug.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to tell you anything without

knowing something about your app.

[Anonymous]

Hi everybody,

I've got the some trouble.

The program works fine within Sharpdevelop 3.2 and AutoCAD 2010.

Within AutoCAD 2011 and Visual Studio 2010 the problems began.

So, it has nothing to do with the program itself.

It would be fine, when we get help.

Regards Jürgen

[Anonymous]

Tony,

The app never gets run, or even initialized from what I can see. I can't even "netload" the dll.

It makes me think it's something to do with the environment.

but . . . 

Since you asked, it's a simple entity jig that is COM visible.

[Anonymous]

The fact that your assembly doesn't load certainly does have something

to do with the project. It may not necessarily be the code in the project,

but can be related to the project configuration and so on, so I'm not

sure why you think this isn't your issue.

COM-viisbile objects that access the AutoCAD API and

get created and used from other processes need to derive

from System.EnterpriseServices.ServicedComponent

[Anonymous]

See. That's why I answered your question even though I didn't think it was relevant, because I usually end up learning something.

I see what you mean. I was looking at it from the standpoint of code that I had written, not project configuration.

You added:

"COM-viisbile objects that access the AutoCAD API and

get created and used from other processes need to derive

from System.EnterpriseServices.ServicedComponent"

Does this hold true if no "objects" are passed either way? Technically a string is an object, at least on the .NET side.

My functions, both COM and .NET pass and receive only strings. 

I have not derived from ServicedComponent and it seems to be working. 

[Anonymous]

It applies to COM servers that are loaded into AutoCAD, and

use the managed API in their COM method implementations.

If you do not derive from the class I cited, then when your

COM method is called from an out-of-process client, and it

uses certain AutoCAD APIs, it will fail. I don't have a list of

the APIs that will cause it to fail, but a common one is the

MdiActiveDocument property of the DocumentCollection,

which may return null when the problem manifests, even

when there are open documents.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Just to update for posterity:

I was compiling to the acad.exe directory thinking that the finished product would live there anyway. I changed the output location back to bin\debug (or release) and the problem stopped.