Connecting to an AutoCAD instance from an external EXE including data sharing
Hi,
In the "in process" assembly, you can define AutoCAD Commands (with CommandMethod attribute).
In the "out of process" assembly, using COM Interop, you create a new instance of AutoCAD application from which you can load the "in process" dll calling NETLOAD and then call the defined commands with SendCommand().
Accepted solution
Here's a trivial minialist example.
The out of process part (a Console Application here, but it could be a Window or WPF application as well) in which you:
- get some user inputs,
- get or create an AutoCAD instance,
- create a new drawing from a template,
- netload the InProcess.dll,
- call the CIRCLE_CMD defined in InProcess.dll passin it the user inputs.
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Interop;
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace OutOfProcess
{
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
// get some user inputs
double x, y, rad;
Console.WriteLine("Center X:");
if (!double.TryParse(Console.ReadLine(), out x)) return;
Console.WriteLine("Center Y:");
if (!double.TryParse(Console.ReadLine(), out y)) return;
Console.WriteLine("Radius:");
if (!double.TryParse(Console.ReadLine(), out rad)) return;
// get or create AutoCAD.Application
AcadApplication acApp = null;
const string strProgId = "AutoCAD.Application";
try
{
acApp = (AcadApplication)Marshal.GetActiveObject(strProgId);
}
catch
{
try
{
acApp = (AcadApplication)Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID(strProgId), true);
}
catch
{
MessageBox.Show("Cannot create an instance of 'AutoCAD.Application'.");
return;
}
}
if (acApp != null)
{
try
{
// wait for AutoCAD is visible
while (true)
{
try { acApp.Visible = true; break; }
catch { }
}
var docs = acApp.Documents;
// open a new drawing (template)
var doc = docs.Add("acadiso.dwt");
// netload the InProcess.dll (it have to be in the same folder as OutOfProcess.exe)
string filename = Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "InProcess.dll");
filename = filename.Replace("\\", "\\\\");
doc.SendCommand($"(command \"_netload\" \"{filename}\") ");
// launch the command defined in InProcess passing it the inputs
doc.SendCommand($"CIRCLE_CMD {x},{y} {rad} ");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Error: " + ex.Message);
}
}
}
}
}
The "InProcess" code. The command must have prompts corresponding to user inputs. The dll have to be in the same folder as the exe.
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
using AcAp = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices.Application;
namespace InProcess
{
public class Commands
{
[CommandMethod("CIRCLE_CMD")]
public void CircleCmd()
{
var doc = AcAp.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;
var db = doc.Database;
var ed = doc.Editor;
// prompt for center
var ptRes = ed.GetPoint("\nCircle Center: ");
if (ptRes.Status != PromptStatus.OK) return;
// prompt for radius
var distRes = ed.GetDistance("\nCircle radius: ");
if (distRes.Status != PromptStatus.OK) return;
// draw circle
using (var tr = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
{
var model = (BlockTableRecord)tr.GetObject(
SymbolUtilityServices.GetBlockModelSpaceId(db), OpenMode.ForWrite);
var circle = new Circle(ptRes.Value, Vector3d.ZAxis, distRes.Value);
model.AppendEntity(circle);
tr.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(circle, true);
tr.Commit();
}
}
}
}
@Anonymous
Juergen.Becker a écrit :
I think it's a bit complicated what you all did.
What about using the AutoCAD Core Console. It's a core of AutoCAD and you can use it as a process in a windows program.
Start the Core Console with a script which contains only the command Netload, the DLL which must be loaded and the command in that DLL.
You're right, using the AutoCAD Core Console could be a solution, but in this case, the script file should have to be written 'on the fly' to pass the command options according the user inputs. I'm not certain it's simpler than my purpose which try to reply to the OP.
By my side, I think the simpler way should be avoiding all the out of process stuff and do all the work from a custom AutoCAD command, but this is not what the OP request...
Juergen.Becker a écrit :
Another think:
Please use
Circle m_Circle = new Circle();
m_Circle.Center = [Point]
Could you explain why ? Is there something wrong with the Circle(Point3d, Vector3d, double) constructor ?
@rlbandeira wrote:
Hi,
Thanks for the code. What I like about using "AutoCAD as a service" is that the user can interact from any device like a cell phone or a web browser, as I showed is this pretty old video. In that case, I used wcf. Web api is lighter and easier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9OoBPHuOwI
In that video, I also converted CAD`s geometry into SQL spatial data (using sqlserver.types dll) and got it back from the database into the drawing.
Best regards.
You need to be careful about doing such things. Because it allows multiple users to simultaneously use a single AutoCAD license it can be considered violating the terms of the license agreement. Note that's different than the core console running unattended on a computer as its still considered a single "user".
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If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.
@essam-salah wrote:
hi @_gile
what is the required .dll files for this code.
thanks in advance
Which code?