Is there a good book on .net programming for AutoCAD

[LonesomeJoe]

I'm looking for a book on .NET programming for both AutoCAD and Inventor. Now that AutoDesk has stopped supporting VBA in AutoCAD, I'm out one very important macro, and when they stop supporting it in Inventor, well, either we're out of business, or at least I'm going to be decapitated and my head stuck on a post. I'm a drafter, manager of the department, and occasionally writer of macros. Now, there's a strong possibility that AutoDesk will yield to the objections of hundreds of us who use VBA daily and put it back into AutoCAD, after all, LISP is still there ten years after they said they were gonna stop supporting it. And don't tell me that VBA won't work on x64, as all my Inventor macros still work fine (XP64 Windows). Still, all things considered, I'm thinkin' I better learn .NET!! To do this I need to go back to school, for which I have neither the time nor the money. Thus, I need a book written by someone who knows the subject. So far all I can find is Jerry Winters' book on R2007/R2008. I've no problem with Jerry, his stuff seems well respected, but the book seems all but unavailable. Amazon has a 1-2 month wait, and I haven't found anyone else who can do better. If that's all there is, then I'll go that way, but if there's a good book I can get quicker (today would be good...) I'd like it. Also, How does the older (R2007/R2008) material in the book interface with R2010? Anyone?? Laurie, if you're out there, you seem knowledgeable on the subject, what do you suggest?? Thanx.

[norman.yuan]

You did not mention, so my reminder may not apply to you:

Before you are to jump into the ACAD .NET API programming, make sure you have the very basic knowledge/skill of MS .NET programming. If not, forget Acad programming books, find you a generic .NET programming book first. The learning curve is a lot more steeper than VBA.

As for older material that applied to Acad2006/7/8, most of them still apply to Acad2010. Of course each new release, especially milestone release woll break a few things that worked in older version. With vertial Acad siblings, such as AcadMap..., you would have a lot more broken compatibilities: Acad cannot/does not wait to update/break something in 3 year-cycle. But this type of change has little impact on how you learn .NET API programming.

[LonesomeJoe]

Hmmm... very good point. I did have a (two classes at Community College) grounding in VB before any Acad programming. I guess I forgot that, as the only reason I took the classes was to be able to massage AutoCAD. Guess I'm really looking for TWO books!! Thanx.

[LonesomeJoe]

... awright, now I'm confused... not unusual for me... I was searching the curriculum at the local learning establishment, and they offer courses in "Visual Basic.NET", but I can't find any reference to "MS.NET". Are the two perhaps one and the same? If not, will knowledge of the workings of VB.NET be adequate to make the jump to the .NET for AutoCAD?? Thanx.

[Anonymous]

A couple of things to chew on. You mention that AutoCAD no longer supports
VBA. Check out:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=12900036&linkID=9240617
for the way to retain VBA support in AutoCAD. Be advised that macros will
run out of process so things might not perform as they did before.

As to supporting VBA for Inventor you might be well advised to learn .NET
and port those macros to full Inventor add-ins. Find out more here:
http://modthemachine.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/10/converting-vba-auto-macros-to-an-add-in.html &
http://augiru.augi.com/content/library/au07/data/paper/DE205-4.pdf

Finally, Jerry Winters book is available as an ebook download here:
http://www.vbcad.com/

"LonesomeJoe" wrote in message news:6246886@discussion.autodesk.com...
I'm looking for a book on .NET programming for both AutoCAD and Inventor.
Now that AutoDesk has stopped supporting VBA in AutoCAD, I'm out one very
important macro, and when they stop supporting it in Inventor, well, either
we're out of business, or at least I'm going to be decapitated and my head
stuck on a post. I'm a drafter, manager of the department, and occasionally
writer of macros. Now, there's a strong possibility that AutoDesk will
yield to the objections of hundreds of us who use VBA daily and put it back
into AutoCAD, after all, LISP is still there ten years after they said they
were gonna stop supporting it. And don't tell me that VBA won't work on
x64, as all my Inventor macros still work fine (XP64 Windows). Still, all
things considered, I'm thinkin' I better learn .NET!! To do this I need to
go back to school, for which I have neither the time nor the money. Thus, I
need a book written by someone who knows the subject. So far all I can find
is Jerry Winters' book on R2007/R2008. I've no problem with Jerry, his
stuff seems well respected, but the book seems all but unavailable. Amazon
has a 1-2 month wait, and I haven't found anyone else who can do better. If
that's all there is, then I'll go that way, but if there's a good book I can
get quicker (today would be good...) I'd like it. Also, How does the older
(R2007/R2008) material in the book interface with R2010? Anyone?? Laurie,
if you're out there, you seem knowledgeable on the subject, what do you
suggest?? Thanx.

[MarkPendergraft]

VB .NET is the latest version of the Visual Basic programming language.
.NET is a framework (think of it as a collection of API's) that allows you to access common functionality (interacting with files, graphics, etc.).

.NET is cross-language. Basically, C#, C++, VB, and others can all use it.

If I were you, I would go to this link:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=1911627

download the ObjectARX documentation, and download the AutoCad .NET Labs. Work your way through the labs and familiarize yourself with the ObjectARX documentation.

That should be enough to get you started, and the nice part is: It's all free.

That being said, a book on .NET is helpful. If you don't remember your VB training, a book on VB might be helpful. As far as Autocad goes though, I personally feel that the greatest resources available to you are the above mentioned in conjunction with this discussion group.

-Mark P.

[Anonymous]

{quote}

"And don't tell me that VBA won't work on x64, as all my Inventor macros
still work fine (XP64 Windows)."

{quote}

VBA works on x64 as an out-of-process client, which means it can be 100x
slower than an in-process client for many things.

It isn't that VBA doesn't work on x64, it's that it works so slowly that it
is practically useless, and can slow down everything you do even when you're
not running a macro (that's mostly due to constantly-firing events that must
go across process boundaries on x64).


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AcadXTabs: MDI Document Tabs for AutoCAD
Supporting AutoCAD 2000 through 2010

http://www.acadxtabs.com

Email: string.Format("{0}@{1}.com", "tonyt", "caddzone");

wrote in message news:6246886@discussion.autodesk.com...
I'm looking for a book on .NET programming for both AutoCAD and Inventor.
Now that AutoDesk has stopped supporting VBA in AutoCAD, I'm out one very
important macro, and when they stop supporting it in Inventor, well, either
we're out of business, or at least I'm going to be decapitated and my head
stuck on a post. I'm a drafter, manager of the department, and occasionally
writer of macros. Now, there's a strong possibility that AutoDesk will
yield to the objections of hundreds of us who use VBA daily and put it back
into AutoCAD, after all, LISP is still there ten years after they said they
were gonna stop supporting it. And don't tell me that VBA won't work on
x64, as all my Inventor macros still work fine (XP64 Windows). Still, all
things considered, I'm thinkin' I better learn .NET!! To do this I need to
go back to school, for which I have neither the time nor the money. Thus, I
need a book written by someone who knows the subject. So far all I can find
is Jerry Winters' book on R2007/R2008. I've no problem with Jerry, his
stuff seems well respected, but the book seems all but unavailable. Amazon
has a 1-2 month wait, and I haven't found anyone else who can do better. If
that's all there is, then I'll go that way, but if there's a good book I can
get quicker (today would be good...) I'd like it. Also, How does the older
(R2007/R2008) material in the book interface with R2010? Anyone?? Laurie,
if you're out there, you seem knowledgeable on the subject, what do you
suggest?? Thanx.

[NathTay]

A quicker migration for moving away from VBA would be to use VB.NET but do not use the .NET API and instead use the ActiveX API that is used by VBA. For info on taking this path goto:
http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interface/2009/04/devtv-autocad-vba-to-net-migration-basics.html

The differences between VBA & VB.NET language syntaxes are minor. The steep learning curves involve different API's.

I would also recommend downloading the following free book:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbrun/ms788236.aspx

[LonesomeJoe]

Question... Do I have to buy VB.NET?? One of the problems I run into is, I can get some stuff if it's free, but if I have to install on the "C" drive, it gets tricky as it involves other departments in the organization, and if I have to buy anything, especially Microsoftware, with their $$$$ prices, it gets... well... you know...

[MarkPendergraft]

You can download Microsoft's Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition for free, and use it to program in AutoCad. Once you have it downloaded and installed, search the forums for tips on how to configure it correctly with AutoCAD.

http://www.microsoft.com/express/vb/Default.aspx

-Mark P.

[LonesomeJoe]

Free is good. Thanx.

[arcticad]

Here are instructions for configuring VS Express to work in Autocad.

[Anonymous]

cool, I was looking for that the other day

arcticad <>
|>Here are instructions for configuring VS Express to work in Autocad.
James Maeding
Civil Engineer and Programmer
jmaeding - at - hunsaker - dotcom