Advice about upgrading - automation requirements

[Anonymous]

We are currently using ACAD 2002 together with a collection of VB6 and VBA software programs. Most importantly for us, we are using an old AcadX.arx add-in.  AcadX allows us to very easily access deeper levels of information about the drawing primatives (eg measuring distances along curves from specific locations, deriving the co-ordinates of a point located at any position along a curve, deriving the first and second order derivatives of curves at any location along the curve parametrically, etc).  These were properties and methods that did not appear to be available to anyone using the usual VB/VBA system of automation.

We are looking to upgrade to a newer version of ACAD, but as AcadX is not available now, I need to know if this sort of functionality is now available when using VB.NET and ACAD, or wether we have to look at something like ObjectARX?

I have looked on-line and the information I have found so far suggests that the latter is likely to be true.   

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> I need to know if this sort of functionality is now available when using VB.NET and ACAD

The listed curve-functions are available with dotNET and LISP (vlax-curve-XXX).

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

Thank you Alfred. I wouldn't want to rewrite all the applications in LISP, we would want to use VB.NET for that so we can leave VB6 and VBA behind.  Would this mean that we would write small Autocad LISP routines which would act in the same manner as AcadX - ie acting as functions which can pass data from VB.NET to and from the drawing objects?

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

I didn't say you have to use LISP now, the functionality is available in dotNET AND in LISP, so chose wich of these you want to use (besides of ARX, of course).

If you want it for VB.NET or with C# or any other dotNET-based language you can access the curve functions

Hope it's more clear now, - alfred -

[Anonymous]

Ahhh I see. Thanks for your help.

Robert