What is your workflow developing a NET program for civil3d or acad ?

[Anonymous]

There is ARXunload but no NETUNLOAD , so debugging means close civil3d ,
reopen it , reload dll using NETLOAD , find a new error and so on .
Since i am not a pro I make numerous mistakes so developing for civil3d
using NET is hell .

Autocad loads quite quickly but civil3d loading is time consuming .

I also think this is bad for hdd health .
Using a solid state disk might be quite faster .
But I think it is also and even worse for ssd health .

- So what is your workflow developing a NET program for civil3d or acad ?

- Is it technically possible for autodesk to create a NET IDE like vba or
should I stop hopping ?

LISP is the absolute best portable solution for future cad versions but I
think it is completely outdated
VBA we were told that it is about to die and that it is the worst solution
for the future - which is 64bit OS
ActiveX is quite easy to develop and debug but SLOW
objectARX ... well I am not a pro , I have no time to learn C++ and I am a
fun of RAD
NET has endless capabilities BUT debugging is hell
And even worse ... civil3d custom subassemblies are created throught
programming . NET programming .

[jeremyperna7254]

I want to upvote this topic. I have the same issue developing my .NET plugin. Current procedure every time I want to debug my plugin command.
1. Start the startup project in VS.

2. I have Start Action setup in the startup project properties to startup acad when I build my project, so I wait for acad to load.

3. Open drawing file.

4. NETLOAD my plugin dll from the bin\Debug folder of my VS solution directory.

5. Test my command.

I tried using a PackageContents.xml to autoload my plugin DLL. That worked to the extent that I could get my plugin to load when I would startup acad. However, I could not figure out how to automatically copy my bin\Debug DLLs to the ApplicationPlugins folder where my PackageContents.xml is and where the autoloading looks. I am also wondering how experienced acad plugin developers configure their workflow so that two things can happen quickly.

1. When acad loads the plugin is autoloaded

2. Debugging breakpoints are hit while running the plugin within acad

My ideal scenario would be this procedure

1. Start the startup project in VS.

2. Acad starts

3. Open drawing file.

4. Test my command

5. Breakpoint is hit and I am returned to VS in order to debug my plugin.

6. Stopping debugging closes acad.

[Jeff_M]

I use the .bundle just fine. I set the Debug configuration to output directly to the folder in the .bundle.

I also use a script to autoload a test drawing at AutoCAD startup. Use the /b command line switch to specify the script file path and name.

Using VS 2019 or 2022 you can make some edits and HotReload without having to exit AutoCAD. Breakpoints are hit as expected.

[jeremyperna7254]

Works great thanks!