Re: Can GRDRAW be done with VB.net?

NathTay · ‎12-15-2003

Hi Albert, do you know if it will be in the .NET API in a future release?

Regards - Nathan

Report Inappropriate Content · 09-18-2005 09:55 PM in reply to: *James Maeding

Wow, this gets deep fast. I am starting to see how different .net is.
I looked at the helloworld prog in the objectarx sdk download and how it uses the transaction manager to do things.
It looks like I am doing objectarx programming in visual basic.
I am ok with learning but this is such a twist. Now the divide between programming in lisp and VB (vb.net) is huge.
I can teach someone lisp writing pretty fast, but you have to know a whole lot and be practiced at vb.net to write
vb.net progs for acad.

Am I the only one who thinks vb.net learning curve is way beyond the time availablity of most cad managers?

Its like you become a very well educated programmer, or your complicated projects written in VB6 become incompatible
with acad some time soon.
Is my read on all this wrong?

Albert, you're right. I figured it out while trying to reproduce that API call from VB6... James, I guess you can still
write acedGrDraw function (as explained) in VB.NET, exposing it to VB6 via COM Interop.

Useful links on exposing COM Interfaces of .NET classes:

- http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/MusaExposingCOM.asp (VB.NET, early and late binding)
- http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/COM_DOTNET_INTEROP.asp (COM Interop, explained)
- http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/cominterop.asp (C#, see Part II)
- http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/CSComTemplate.asp (COM Class wizard in C#)

Regards,
Maksim Sestic

James Maeding
Civil Engineer and Programmer
jmaeding - athunsaker - com

Report Inappropriate Content · 09-18-2005 10:47 PM in reply to: *James Maeding

"James Maeding" wrote :

....

>> Am I the only one who thinks vb.net learning curve
>> is way beyond the time availablity of most cad managers?

...

>> James Maeding
>> Civil Engineer and Programmer
>> jmaeding - athunsaker - com

You SIG doesn't say 'cad manager'.

Report Inappropriate Content · 09-19-2005 08:44 AM in reply to: *James Maeding

But that is what I do, I am a full time support person.
I did civil design for 10 years and learned programming along the way, as well as troubleshooting and organizing
projects, like most cad managers.
The difference is I like programming a lot while many cad managers just settle for what others can produce.
You can see that I am not a computer science major though.

Jsut out of curiousity Tony, how did you get into the acad side of programming and what makes up your bread and butter
these days?

My biggest programming effort is the in house civil design prog we use. My day to day is helping project teams get past
hurdles. this inclused everything from interviewing new hires to fixing broken drawings. I like it.

Tony Tanzillo
|>"James Maeding" wrote :
|>
|>....
|>
|>>> Am I the only one who thinks vb.net learning curve
|>>> is way beyond the time availablity of most cad managers?
|>
|>...
|>
|>>> James Maeding
|>>> Civil Engineer and Programmer
|>>> jmaeding - athunsaker - com
|>
|>You SIG doesn't say 'cad manager'.

James Maeding
Civil Engineer and Programmer
jmaeding - athunsaker - com

Report Inappropriate Content · 09-19-2005 08:53 PM in reply to: *James Maeding

I can't disclose anything about future releases.
Sorry,
albert
wrote in message news:4959802@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi Albert, do you know if it will be in the .NET API in a future release?

Regards - Nathan

Report Inappropriate Content · 09-19-2005 08:54 PM in reply to: *James Maeding

Hold it. Don't confuse the API and the language.
You can use VB.NET to program against the COM API just like you did with
VB6.
You can also use VB.NET to program against the .NET API.
In fact you can mix the 2 APIs in the same project or function.

albert

"James Maeding" wrote in message
news:4959900@discussion.autodesk.com...
Wow, this gets deep fast. I am starting to see how different .net is.
I looked at the helloworld prog in the objectarx sdk download and how it
uses the transaction manager to do things.
It looks like I am doing objectarx programming in visual basic.
I am ok with learning but this is such a twist. Now the divide between
programming in lisp and VB (vb.net) is huge.
I can teach someone lisp writing pretty fast, but you have to know a whole
lot and be practiced at vb.net to write
vb.net progs for acad.

Am I the only one who thinks vb.net learning curve is way beyond the time
availablity of most cad managers?

Its like you become a very well educated programmer, or your complicated
projects written in VB6 become incompatible
with acad some time soon.
Is my read on all this wrong?

Albert, you're right. I figured it out while trying to reproduce that API
call from VB6... James, I guess you can still
write acedGrDraw function (as explained) in VB.NET, exposing it to VB6 via
COM Interop.

Useful links on exposing COM Interfaces of .NET classes:

- http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/MusaExposingCOM.asp (VB.NET, early and
late binding)
- http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/COM_DOTNET_INTEROP.asp (COM Interop,
explained)
- http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/cominterop.asp (C#, see Part II)
- http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/CSComTemplate.asp (COM Class wizard in
C#)

Regards,
Maksim Sestic

James Maeding
Civil Engineer and Programmer
jmaeding - athunsaker - com

NathTay · ‎12-15-2003

No worries.

Report Inappropriate Content · 09-20-2005 10:07 AM in reply to: *James Maeding

well, I would stick with VB6 if I wanted to do progs that just used com.
I understand that you can do both com and .net api with .net.

I have found I can write much slicker apps with lisp and objectdcl than with VB6/VBA and com.
This is because lisp is hooked up better with the acad command line than com is.

For instance,
Can you write a function with com that asks the user to pick an entity or type a number?
This is important for routines that need an elevation to do something, and the user might have some text already drawn
with that elevation in it.

I could not do this with com but am hoping the .net api will give more control of user input...
the GRDraw is another thing that handicapped com, until now...
thx

Albert Szilvasy
|>Hold it. Don't confuse the API and the language.
|>You can use VB.NET to program against the COM API just like you did with
|>VB6.
|>You can also use VB.NET to program against the .NET API.
|>In fact you can mix the 2 APIs in the same project or function.
|>
|>albert
|>

James Maeding
Civil Engineer and Programmer
jmaeding - athunsaker - com

Report Inappropriate Content · 09-20-2005 11:21 PM in reply to: *James Maeding

Can you write a function with com that asks the
user to pick an entity or type a number?

Yes, you can. .NET might give
you a slightly more power to control user input than existing COM interface. On
the other hand, .NET will surely help you develop more integrated and more
complex applications, without fear of DLL incompatibility, etc.

Report Inappropriate Content · 09-21-2005 06:04 AM in reply to: *James Maeding

"James Maeding" wrote

>> For instance, Can you write a function with com
>> that asks the user to pick an entity or type a number?

Well, you must not know very much about COM if you
ask a question like that.

Of course you can do that with COM.

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