List all available plot styles with .NET API

[varshaauti27]

Hi, 

I am looking for method or way to retrieve all available plot styles. There is PlotStyleNameDictionaryId gives plot styles that are currently being used. But looking for a method to list ALL of the available plot styles, including those that haven't yet been used in the drawing?

[hippe013]

You need to be able to read the actual style table file (.stb). I use PiaNO for this. 

It can be found here: 

https://github.com/phusband/PiaNO

[varshaauti27]

Is it possible to read style table file (.stb) with API itself instead of third-party dll?

[Jeff_M]

        [CommandMethod("ListAllPlotStyles")]
        public void listallplotstyles()
        {
            dynamic comAcad = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application.AcadApplication;
            string[] stylePaths = comAcad.Preferences.Files.PrinterStyleSheetPath.Split(';');
            var theList = "";
            //if there are multiple paths, will need to loop through those as well
            foreach (var fileName in Directory.GetFiles(stylePaths[0]))
            {
                if (fileName.EndsWith("tb"))
                    theList += theList == "" ? fileName : "\n" + fileName;
            }
            if (theList == "")
                return;
            Application.ShowAlertDialog(theList.ToString());
        }

[varshaauti27]

Thanks Jeff for looking into this issue.

But I don't need .stb file list.  I am looking for all available plot style list.

Refer attached image, Where I have selected "acad.stb" and "Autodesk-Color.stb" as plot style table which gives me plot styles associated with that selected style table. 

I am looking for way to retrieve all available plot styles. I think there might be way to read plot style table and grab plot styles. Not sure at this moment if it's possible with API

Any workaround to retrieve all plot styles available is appreciated. Thanks a lot! 

[Jeff_M · Accepted solution]

Ah, completely misread the request. Why not use the application @hippe013 suggested? It has a free use license and the source code is included so you would be able to combine that dll with yours. I'm not seeing anything built-in to the Autodesk API's.

[hippe013 · Accepted solution]

There isn't anything the AutoCAD API for reading .ctb or .stb files. PiaNO is very easy to use. And as @Jeff_M said, the source code is available if you wanted to include it in your own dll. I just compiled the dll as it was presented and include it as a reference in my projects that require reading an .stb file. Here is a quick example: 

Public Shared Function GetPlotStyleNames(path As String, pStyleMode As Integer) As StringCollection
   Dim styleNames As New StringCollection
   If pStyleMode = 0 Then
      'Named Plot Styles
      Dim plotStyleTable As New PlotStyleTable(path)
      For Each style As PlotStyle In plotStyleTable.PlotStyles
         styleNames.Add(style.Name)
      Next
   ElseIf pStyleMode = 1 Then
      'Color Dependent Styles
      Dim colorTable As New ColorDependentPlotStyleTable(path)
      For Each style As PlotStyle In colorTable.PlotStyles
         styleNames.Add(style.Name)
      Next
   End If
   Return styleNames
End Function

[varshaauti27]

Thanks Jeff, This code snippet helps me to retrieve .stb and .ctb files and using PiaNo.dll I am able to find Plot styles associated with those file.

[varshaauti27]

@hippe013 Thank you so much for looking into this issue and providing source code. I am able to retrieve Plot styles using PiaNo.dll