IDE For Custom Apps!

As we continue to lay down the stepping stones for building a streamlined design environment, I would like to interject one of my favorite activities - developing custom AutoCAD applications (apps). The apps that we develop will fit seamlessly into our environment without having to re-configure or install anything on the client machines.

Before we develop our first app however, we should briefly discuss the development environment. A few years ago I transitioned from developing AutoCAD apps in the LISP environment to using C#.net. The AutoCAD API offers some very powerful control for developing custom apps.

To get started with C#.net you can download the Microsoft Visual Studio Express environment for free!

Install Visual C# Express Edition.

Launch Visual C# Express Edition.

Create a new project by selecting File -> New Project 

Select Class Library as the template for the new project and select OK.

You should now have a new solution that looks like this:

In the Solution Explorer (right side of screen) expand References.

Right click on References and select Add Reference.

Select the Browse tab on the Add Reference dialog box. Then browse to the install folder of AutoCAD (i.e. C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2010\

From this location we will add two .dll files that will provide the AutoCAD API to develop custom apps in the .net environment. The two files are:

acdbmgd.dll

acmgd.dll

You can select and load both files at the same time. You should now see these added in your References list.

One more step before we can create a custom AutoCAD app! Highlight both of the newly added references and below the Solution Explorer in the Properties pane set Copy Local to False.

This is the basic setup for a new custom AutoCAD app. Here are two excellent resources to find more detailed information and sample code:

1. AutoCAD .NET Developer's Guide

2. Through The Interface

In my next post we will develop a layer creation app.

Streamlined Method for Modifying an Enterprise CUI File

In a previoust post we talked briefly about CUI files. There are 2 primary CUI files used by an AutoCAD user profile: Main and Enterprise. By default the enterprise CUI file is read only. This makes it an excellent option for placing your custom network content in. The main CUI file can be on each user's local C:\ drive. This allows the users to modify their base AutoCAD environment to their preference without inadvertently modifying the shared network CUI file. The .arg file that we created in this earlier post is where the paths to each CUI file are defined.

With a production environment any changes made to the network CUI will be visible to all users the next time they load AutoCAD. So when we want to make a change to the network CUI we probably want to test it in our test environment and then here is a streamlined method to modify the live network CUI file:

1. Make a copy of the production .arg file that all of your designers are using to your local machine (or your test environment).

2. Rename the .arg file with some sort of "admin" tag.

3. Switch the path definitions for the Main CUI and the Enterprise CUI.

production .arg file:

admin .arg file:

This will create a user profile where the acad.cui file on your C:\ drive will be loaded as the enterprise (read only) CUI and the shared network CUI file will load as your main CUI which you can now edit. Just be careful since this is a live shared file. Also be careful for savvy users who get clever (or read this post!) and switch these path definitions to modify the shared network CUI file.

Safety note: Always keep a backup of the current production CUI file. This way if it is modified by a user you can replace it or if you make a mistake while editing the live file you can quickly restore the working file.

You can further streamline this environment by creating 3 desktop shortcuts (on your machine only) and changing the target (profile parameter):

1. (Production) Target = "C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2010\acad.exe" /p "X:\SLD\Profiles\SLD.arg"

2. (Development) Target = "C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2010\acad.exe" /p "X:\SLD_dev\Profiles\SLD_dev.arg"

3. (Admin) Target ="C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2010\acad.exe" /p "X:\SLD_dev\Profiles\SLD_Admin.arg"

This makes each profile accessible quickly depending on the situation. You can now add a UI to a custom (or standard) command and have it available instantly to your designers without having to load anything on their machines.