Reading .DXF files

Question

Does anyone know of source code, ideally in C# or similar, for reading .DXF files (as used by AutoCAD etc)? If not code, then tables showing the various codes (elements / blocks / etc) and their meanings?

I am writing a reader myself, and have dead tree documentation detailing the format, but am trying to avoid writing e.g. a converter from each of the 255 ACI colours to RGB... Thanks!

Answer 1

Fortunately AutoCAD publish the DXF format information here: DXF Formats

Answer 2

You may want to try the Open Design Alliance. It's a while since I looked at it myself, but they had a load of C libraries for dealing with various AutoCAD files.

Answer 3

Here is a link to a CodeProject dxf reader; it seems very limited (and not particularly well done) though.

Answer 4

Here is another open source dxf reader, in Java. Buggy however!

Answer 5

Cadlib2.0 from WoutWare have I been using for a couple of projects with good results.