.Net CAD component that can read/write dxf/ dwg files

Question

I am looking for .net CAD component that can read/write dxf/dwg files. Besides vector draw, is there any other such components?

Answer 1

Auodesk has a viewer product called Voloview that can be embedded as an ActiveX control. Apparently this is now out of date (I used this in a VB6 App in about 2000) and has been replaced with Design Review but the blurb on the web page doesn't say if this can be embedded within another application.

A quick search for 'DXF Viewer ActiveX' turns up DWGViewX, DwGSee and DWG2ImageX amongst others. Unfortunately I haven't used any of these but you might want to evaluate them as well.

Answer 2

I answered a similar question here.

DXF & DWG are 2 different animals. The DXF format is not as comprehensive as DWG but it is a lot easier to get at - it is basically a variation on an XML format using dotted lists (also used in LISP) to document object properties. DWG files are compressed and encrypted and the format changes every 3 years.

There are basically 3 ways (that I know of) that you can read/write AutoCAD DWG drawings programmatically.

1. Buy AutoCAD (full, not LT), IntelliCAD etc and automatic through its COM interface. Don't expect that to be fast or distributable. AutoCAD runs .NET add-ins as a dll, hosted by the AutoCAD application.

2. Use AutoDesk's RealDWG interface. It has interfaces for COM, .NET and C++ but only runs in Windows 32 & 64. Don't expect that to be affordable. Their licensing is per-application which could suck. It is the most approachable for .NET but bloody expensive. Also, dealing with AutoDesk can be 'interesting' (read:boring).

3. Use the Open Design Alliance's (ODA) libraries. A lot cheaper than RealDWG but not free - their licensing is by units sold. Their .NET library is still a work-in-progress (not released yet) but they have mature C++ and ActiveX (COM) libraries. Their libraries also run on Linux, Macs, SGI, Win CE etc. They have active support forums and have been sued by AutoDesk for quite some time now.

I have heard cases of people managing to automate the AutoCAD viewer which is free. I haven't tried and I don't imagine it would be easy or legal and it probably wouldn't write to DWGs either.

Your approach will also depend on whether you want to display drawings or not. This is tricker and the RealDWG library will generally perform better at this. AutoDesk will not license RealDWG for anything that would compete with them. The ODA encourages that sort of behaviour and is the basis for IntelliCAD and other similar programs.

There are plenty of programs about that can render a PDF from a DWG if that's all you want to do.

So, what did you want to do?

Answer 3

Check out WoutWare: http://www.woutware.com/

We use it to read/write/convert DXF and DWG files. It's 100% .NET code.

Answer 4

If you are also interested in 3D, give a try to Eyeshot: www.devdept.com