Dynamic Block Library in AutoCAD2010

[abhisinghal21]

I intend to make a dynamic block library using parametric constraints (geometric / dimensional) and then make an add-in to insert it into AutoCAD.
The dimensional constraints will be driven by user parameters

Fundamental issue is whether the user parameters can be modified at insert-time using VB .NET.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Abhishek

[Anonymous]

Hello abhisinghal21,

Kean Walmsley did an article on retrieving and setting dynamic blocks using
C#, might give you some inside for constrained blocks.

http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interface/dynamic-blocks/

> I intend to make a dynamic block library using parametric constraints
> (geometric / dimensional) and then make an add-in to insert it into
> AutoCAD.
>
> The dimensional constraints will be driven by user parameters
>
> Fundamental issue is whether the user parameters can be modified at
> insert-time using VB .NET.
>
> Any help is appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
> Abhishek
>

[patrick1256]

Has long as your driving what has been created - yes you will be able to drive the parameters of a dynamic block.

This is what i did that is exactly what you are looking to do - actually this is also handling updating of nested dynamic blocks.

http://www.cadenhancement.com/2001/01/blockedit.html

Patrick K. Johnson
http:\\www.cadenhancment.com

[abhisinghal21]

Thanks Michael.

It turns out that the user parameters are available in DynamicBlockReferenceCollection and all you have to do is to change them.

So that solves the fundamental issue. Now on to the next question.

Is there a way to extract block names and thumbnails from any dwg file (not the current file) ... a la design center.

Thanks

PS:
Actually I got misguided by Kean's statement "The Parametric Drawing API is available in ObjectARX only, and exposes the framework for the feature at a very low level. This makes the API very flexible, but does make it quite complex to use." in his "The new APIs in AutoCAD 2010 - Part 2"

Looks like may be he was referring to "making" the parametric drawing in code, not using the dynamic blocks.