Developing plugins for AutoCAD?

Question

Hi all,

I'm thinking about starting to develop a plugin for AutoCAD, but I have absolutely no knowledge of the field. How does the plugin system work? What are the licensing terms? What programming platforms are available?

I'd really appreciate if somebody could give me a primer, or, even better, link to some resources for the total beginner I am.

Thanks!

Answer 1

What type of application are you thinking of writing? I've written a couple WPF user controls that communicate with AutoCad. To do so, I used the AutoCad .NET Developers Guide found here:

http://docs.autodesk.com/ACD/2010/ENU/AutoCAD%20.NET%20Developer's%20Guide/index.html

This is a great blog to with some good video tutorials on it too.

This is a GREAT video if you just want to get started!

Answer 2

There are three basic plugin types for AutoCAD:

1. AutoLisp
2. .Net
3. ObjectARX

AutoLisp can be used with DIESEL scripts/macros to accomplish and automate basically anything that a user can due through the UI, and a maybe a little bit more, but .Net and ObjectARX are much more powerful, allowing you to create your own entities and more advanced behavior.

ObjectARX is a C++ interface, and the .NET classes are actually wrappers to the ObjectARX interface. The .Net interface abstracts things fairly well, but you still have to be concerned with the threading and possibly some other things as you develop more complex applications.

As previously mentioned, Through the Interface is a great blog for .NET stuff.

For ObjectARX, there is a good introduction at ObjectARX & Dummies, but for the deeper material the Developers Forums are a good resource.

If you are developing anything for people other than yourself, you should also seriously consider getting a registered developer symbol to prevent conflicts among different plugins. You can do that at the Symbols Registration page on the AutoDesk website.

Depending on your resources, you may also want to join the AutoDesk Developers Network (ADN), which provides access to software technical support, and early and beta access to upcoming AutoDesk products and APIs.

Answer 3

For specific AutoCAD programming Q & A, search the forums at

• http://forums.augi.com/forumdisplay.php?f=88
• http://www.theswamp.org/index.php
• http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-Customization/ct-p/1002

as well as the previously mentioned http://docs.autodesk.com/ACD/2010/ENU/AutoCAD%20.NET%20Developer%27s%20Guide/index.html