View a .DWF file in C# or VB.NET?

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to figure out how to simply display a DWF file in a C# or VB.NET Windows app.  Specifically, from within the Visual Studio IDE what dll should be referenced?  It seems that the reference would be the same regardless of whether it's C# or VB.NET. I cannot find this most basic info.  Can anyone help? 

[Anonymous]

Currently, in my Visual Studio 2017, VB, Win Forms project, I have a reference to DesignReviewCore.dll but have absolutely no information about how to use it, if it's the right dll to reference from within Visual Studio etc. Again, at this point, I'm just trying to figure out how to display a DWF file. I have been blindly guessing all afternoon. Any direction would be greatly appreciated! 

[Anonymous]

I still don't have an answer to my question but I have made a small bit of progress on my own. After installing Design Review on my PC I see approximately 43 dlls in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Autodesk Design Review dir. I still do not know which DLL to reference from within Visual Studio? From within the Visual Studio IDE, does anyone know which of the dlls should referenced if one simply wanted to "display a DWF file" in a Windows application? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Interestingly, Internet Explorer is now able to display DWF files with menus and controls along the top of the browser. See menus in pic (Home) (Markup & Measure) (Tools) (resources) These menus and controls are undoubtedly from Design Review so. . . This is the, not sure of the word yet, the control I seek, or the DLL name I am looking for that enables this type of functionality. please, can anyone help? Just please tell me the name of the DLL to referance or a URL that explains the process.

[Norman_Yuan]

AutoCAD Design Review used to be AutoCAD Express. When installed, it also installs in ActiveX control (DWF viewer), which can be used either in web page, or desktop app for viewing DWF file. However, using ActiveX control in web page is a No-No these days. As for desktop app, the DWF Viewer might be still OK to use (I used it years ago with classic Visual Basic and in very early .NET era, and have not touched it for years).

The ActiveX DWF viewer is located in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\": AdView.dll. If you installed DesignReview, in your Visual Studio project, you can add reference to it by "References..." and select "COM" tab. As alternative, you can go to VS' Toolbox window, right click anywhere and select "Choose Items...", then find the AD Viewer in "COM Components" tab.

While I am pretty sure it worked with VisualStudio2003 years ago, I did a quick try with my VS2017.  While adding the reference and the control to VS' toolbox is OK, actually adding the control to Win form seems a problematic: it crashes Visual Studio 2017 itself. I am not sure what causes this, and nor have much interest to dig it. IMO, to let user view DWF, either use Autodesk's online viewer (which does not use ActiveX in web page), or use DeesigView directly. I'd no waste time to build a desktop viewer.