Prepareing to program future releases of AutoCAD?

[muck]

If AutoDesk is going to remove VBA from release 2010, What are some good

programs to use with current releases of CAD (2000 to 2009) to help migrate

form VBA to new AutoCAD VSTA which will be in AutoCAD 2010?

 

Can MS visual studio express edition be used with AutoCAD 2009. If so, how can Visual Basic.net be linked to older releases of AutoCAD? Can that be done and would it help those who want to learn how to change their current VBA routines.

 

What options are available now for those who want learn how to migrate form

VBA in older releases of AutoCAD. What is AutoCAD.net? Is there something that I can currently do that start learning for the upcoming changes.

 

Maybe it might be time to consider learning other languages in order

to reprogram my lisp routines in the distant future.

 

Are the any options available now.

[SEANT]

I don’t believe we will see VSTA before 2011, at least. Till then, Visual Studio programming will require NETLOADing (or ARX – LOAD)

 

AutoCAD 2005 was the first release that allowed for .NET programming. I believe significant change happened in AutoCAD 2006, however, that modified the approach to the point that programs compatible with 2006+ would not work on 2005. For the most part, .NET programs should be backward/forward compatible (i.e., 2006 programs run on 2010).

 

If support for pre 2005 is necessary, as well as compatibility beyond the lifecycles of both Lisp and VBA(when?), then C++ (unmanaged ObjectARX) is likely necessary. And, even then, code would need separate compiles for each binary release (2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, ….).

[muck]

So if you installed 2009 on a machine. What do you need to do net

AutoCAD programming. What net programs do you need. How do you

link them. Is there a beginning tutorial on this???

 

Thank you,

[SEANT]

So if you installed 2009 on a machine. What do you need to do net

AutoCAD programming. What net programs do you need. How do you

link them. Is there a beginning tutorial on this???

 

Thank you,

 

Visual Studio 2005 or 2008, including the Express Edition (free). With Express, this link may be of some interest:

 

http://discussion.autodesk.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=716827&tstart=0

 

And for the general help with .NET:

 

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=1911627

 

and

 

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=785550

[muck]

If you have both MS visual Studio.net and AutoCAD 2009 on the same

machine can you link the two together to allow the Ms visual Studio.net

to access AutoCAD for programming. Is that what ARX is for? Is there

some kind of tutorial on that introductary stuff?

[SEANT]

If you have both MS visual Studio.net and AutoCAD 2009 on the same

machine can you link the two together to allow the Ms visual Studio.net

to access AutoCAD for programming.

 

Absolutely.

 

 

 

Is there

some kind of tutorial on that introductary stuff?

 

The video DevTV: Introduction to AutoCAD .NET Programming on the &id= 1911627 link above is a good intro.

[Organic]

So is it worth learning LISP or not, or should I learn something else?

[SEANT]

So is it worth learning LISP or not, or should I learn something else?

 

That depends.

 

 

 

This thread had a very similar question:

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=28448

[muck]

I have used both VBA and Lisp. I think lisp is more direct way to program

CAD but who knows its future after release 2010. I hope they keep it

in future releases. I started with lisp with version 10 or 11 and I still

use those routines.

[Lee Mac]

I found LISP more accessible and also more intuitive to learn - although its applicability to other programs is very limited.

[muck]

I found a good Pdf file on the net that is a good but I cant' find parts

1 and 3. Does anyone have parts 2 and 3 of the attached pdf file. I

went thur part 1.

[Lee Mac]

Muck, I think you forgot to provide the attachment...

[muck]

The document that I am going thru, is too large to post. It is called Autocad.Net Baisics by Stephn Preston. It is a 11 page document. I have part 1 but I don't have parts 2 and 3. I down loaded it form a google

search link that does not have a formal webpage. Part one was a good

tutorial for Hello World type of program. I wish I could find parts 2 and

3 to continue. Is was from AutoDesk University 2007.

 

I am also thinking the object model will be much different than VBA

object model so I will probably be looking for a book on this topic.

 

Thank you,

[Organic]

Part 2, first link

 

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=Autocad.net+basic+stephen+preston+part+2&btnG=Search&meta=

[JohnM]

I think AutoCAD will keep lisp because they control the engine where as Microsoft controls VB. If they get rid of lisp a whole lot of us will be going postal then jumping out of windows. The question I have is since visual lisp uses vl- functions, which is access to VB functions, will it be gone?

C++ is cool but a pain to compile for each time they change gears at AutoDesk

I think we need a petition to let AutoDesk know what we think and they should cater to all of are needs not their own. It is people like us that create new programs and AutoDesk incorporates some of them into future versions which makes them better

Well that’s my 2 cents (after taxes for the bail out that’s -$5,999.98)

[muck]

Thank you Dink87522. That is part 2 of the part 1 that I was going throught

If you know how to get part 3 please let me know. It will take me a little time to get thru that information. Hopefully before 2010 is released. I think I will look at it this weekend.

[CarlB]

Reading the intro, there is only a Part 1 & Part 2. There were other net docs though;

 

DE115-2 – AutoCAD .NET Basics, Part II

DE205-2 – AutoCAD® .NET Show and Tell

DE201-2 – AutoCAD® .NET: Tell Me About It!

DE211-2 – The Best of Both Worlds: .NET and LISP Can Coexist

 

..which can be downloaded by altering the end of the "part 1" link below with the session numbers.

http://augiru.augi.com/content/library/au07/data/paper/DE111-2.pdf

 

[muck]

What books do you recommend for AutoCAD.net programming?

[muck]

Part two of AutoDesk University artical mentions name spaces. What is a Namespace?

 

Looks like there will be a lot more involved in making drawing changes with

AutoCAD.net than VBA for CAD. Looks like you will have to set up a new

transaction and comiit it to make small changes. Looks like a lot to

make drawing changes.

 

Thank you,