.NET

BricsCAD (Windows) Pro or higher

 

The BricsCAD .NET API exposes BricsCAD functionality for use by managed code built on the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) platform.

 

Runtime

With BricsCAD V19, the supported .NET framework version is 4.5.1 (CLR version 4).

The .NET 4.5.1 framework is highly compatible with .NET Framework 4. Existing modules compiled for older BricsCAD versions should work in V19 unless version-dependent P/invoke signatures were used to access unmanaged API functions.

Compiler version

For new development on V20, developers must use Visual Studio 2017 or later. Managed modules compiled with .NET 4 for older BricsCAD versions will continue to run on V19 but Visual Studio 2010 and older versions of VS will not recognize the current BrxMgd TD_Mgd modules because they are based on .NET 4.5.1.

For .NET based development it is sufficient to use the free Visual Studio Community Edition.

.NET project setup in Visual Studio

Create a class library using the class library wizard under your preferred .NET language. There are currently two DLLs that must be referenced (BrxMgd.dll and TD_Mgd.dll) plus one optional BREP API DLL (TD_MgdBrep.dll). These DLLs are located in your BricsCAD installation folder.

Important note: when referencing these DLLs, it's important to set the 'Copy Local' property to False.

Note: importing the BricsCAD and Teigha COM type libraries requires TlbImp without the /strictref option!

Sample projects can be found in the BricsCAD install folder, subfolder \API\dotNet.

Bricscad.Internal

Since V18, the Bricscad.Internal namespace has been added, with plans to add undocumented functions upon request.

Changes in V20

BRX18.DLL has been updated as BRX19.DLL, P/Invoke signatures depending on this file will need to be updated accordingly.

Code compatibility

It's generally possible to use the same source code to build assemblies targeting both BricsCAD and AutoCAD. A common technique for resolving differences in namespaces is to use short namespace aliases that are different depending on the target application:

C#
VB.NET

#if BRX_APP
  using _AcAp = Bricscad.ApplicationServices;
  using _AcBr = Teigha.BoundaryRepresentation;
  using _AcCm = Teigha.Colors;
  using _AcDb = Teigha.DatabaseServices;
  using _AcEd = Bricscad.EditorInput;
  using _AcGe = Teigha.Geometry;
  using _AcGi = Teigha.GraphicsInterface;
  using _AcGs = Teigha.GraphicsSystem;
  using _AcGsk = Bricscad.GraphicsSystem;
  using _AcPl = Bricscad.PlottingServices;
  using _AcBrx = Bricscad.Runtime;
  using _AcTrx = Teigha.Runtime;
  using _AcWnd = Bricscad.Windows;
  using _AcInt = Bricscad.Internal;
#elif ARX_APP
  using _AcAp = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
  using _AcBr = Autodesk.AutoCAD.BoundaryRepresentation;
  using _AcCm = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors;
  using _AcDb = Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;
  using _AcEd = Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput;
  using _AcGe = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry;
  using _AcGi = Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsInterface;
  using _AcGs = Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsSystem;
  using _AcGsk = Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsSystem;
  using _AcPl = Autodesk.AutoCAD.PlottingServices;
  using _AcBrx = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
  using _AcTrx = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
  using _AcWnd = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows;
  using _AcInt = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Internal;
#endif

#If BRX_APP Then
Imports _AcAp = Bricscad.ApplicationServices
Imports _AcBr = Teigha.BoundaryRepresentation
Imports _AcCm = Teigha.Colors
Imports _AcDb = Teigha.DatabaseServices
Imports _AcEd = Bricscad.EditorInput
Imports _AcGe = Teigha.Geometry
Imports _AcGi = Teigha.GraphicsInterface
Imports _AcGs = Teigha.GraphicsSystem
Imports _AcGsk = Bricscad.GraphicsSystem
Imports _AcPl = Bricscad.PlottingServices
Imports _AcBrx = Bricscad.Runtime
Imports _AcTrx = Teigha.Runtime
Imports _AcWnd = Bricscad.Windows
Imports _AcInt = Bricscad.Internal
#ElseIf ARX_APP Then
Imports _AcAp = Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices
Imports _AcBr = Autodesk.AutoCAD.BoundaryRepresentation
Imports _AcCm = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Colors
Imports _AcDb = Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices
Imports _AcEd = Autodesk.AutoCAD.EditorInput
Imports _AcGe = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry
Imports _AcGi = Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsInterface
Imports _AcGs = Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsSystem
Imports _AcGsk = Autodesk.AutoCAD.GraphicsSystem
Imports _AcPl = Autodesk.AutoCAD.PlottingServices
Imports _AcBrx = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime
Imports _AcTrx = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime
Imports _AcWnd = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Windows
Imports _AcInt = Autodesk.AutoCAD.Internal
#End If

 

Known differences

There are some known differences that developers should be aware of.

 

Access DBObject after transaction ends

In AutoCAD, objects belonging to a transaction remain accessible in some cases even after the transaction has ended. In BricsCAD, all transaction resident objects are closed when the transaction ends. For example:

using (_AcDb.Transaction tr = db.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())
{
  _AcDb.DBObject space = tr.GetObject(db.CurrentSpaceId, _AcDb.OpenMode.ForRead);
  tr.Commit();
  //now 'space' is closed and no longer transaction resident
  _AcDb.ObjectId idXDict = space.ExtensionDictionary; //works in Acad; eInvalidOperation in Teigha
}

If this situation is encountered, there are two common solutions:

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