display DWG attributes in aspx page

[Anonymous]

Hi Folks - VERY new to AutoCAD here.  I have a bunch of dwg files (100+) that are Piping and Instrument Diagrams for a refinery.  The files sit on a network folder.  The filenames are rather cryptic.  i.e. 00-P-2-77894.dwg  this refers to a location/section in the refinery.  In the network directory there is an excel file with all dwg files listed with additional meta data.  (Document Title, Created On, Last Modified by, etc...)  This is a pain to keep up.  I would like to develop an aspx page as a replacement for the excel file that simply lists (ala Windows Explorer Details view) all dwgs in a folder (including columns for filename, Document Title, Created On, etc...).  I found the OpenARX SDK.  I have a new c#.net website created with references to AcCoreMgd, AcDbMgd, and AcMgd.  But after that im stuck.  I can iterate through all files in the dir no problem but I'm not sure how to pull attribute information from the dwg files.  All examples that I see involve opening the dwg up in some type of viewer and issuing commands.  Thats not what I want.  I need an aspx page that iterates through a directory of dwgs and lists the attributes in a tabular format.  ANY help is appreciated.

[dgorsman]

In order to do that, you will need to use ObjectARX (in C++) along with RealDWG.  Rather pricey and fairly complicated, as there is no graphics interface.  In a similar vein, but slightly less complex (and far cheaper), you might make more headway working with DWF files.

[StephenPreston]

To programmatically extract data from DWG files, you'll have to either open them in AutoCAD and use one of the AutoCAD APIs (C++, .NET, LISP or ActiveX) to query the drawing, or (as dgorsman says) you can license RealDWG so that you don't need to use AutoCAD. (BTW dgorsman, RealDWG supports .NET and ActiveX (via COM Interop) as well as C++).

You might also look at the DATAEXTRACTION command in AutoCAD to see if that gives you what you need.

See www.autodesk.com/developautocad and www.autodesk.com/realdwg for more information on the APIs I mentioned.

[Anonymous]

If I understand you correctly sound like you got everything you need just use FileInfo

[StephenPreston]

Good point Jeff. It depends what data is needed. I was assuming it was data stored inside the DWG (from title blocks etc), but maybe its just the drawing properties.

[dgorsman]

Stephen, if RealDWG can indeed be used with C# .NET EXE's you may have just sold a license here... I'll have to do some digging.

[StephenPreston]

@dgorsman - it definitely can. It essentially gives you everything in acdbmgd.dll (i.e. full access to the DWG database, but no application or editor functionality). TechSoft 3D are our global distributors for this SDK - http://www.techsoft3d.com/autodesk#section-realdwg.