Parsing ACADDatabase

Is it possible to look through a drawing file's database in VBA, without
loading it and generating the model. I'm trying to parse information out of
a whack of files and loading all the graphics takes time and is unnecessary.

Regards,
Rob

 

I don't have a specific program to refer you to, but I would recomend
serching for a translator program that can accept a DWG and export a
DXF. Then, I would use the VBA on the DXF version. You may be able
to control the translation software through VBA as well.

Joe Dunfee

 

Hi Rob,
Typically developers use a library that allows loading the DWG file
into a 'database'. Then your code can query the database and retrieve
the required information. We at CAD & Company (in the Netherlands)
started to use the official RealDWG library by AutoDesk, available
only to selected developers for a yearly fee. Other libraries are
available, but I believe none are free.

An other option to get data from a specific file is to use an IFilter.
Actually IFilters are developed to be used by search indexers such as
Windows Desktop Search or SharePoint, but anyone can use the ifilter
in custom code. The IFilter serves as a translater and would read the
textual contents from the file for you, and you can then
programmatically extract the text from the IFIlter.

We are developing a new version of our DWG IFilter. The new version is
able to read files up to AutoCAD 2007 and 2008 - and is expected to be
released in a couple of weeks. A free trial will be available, also it
is free for non-commercial desktop use. For now, you can start testing
with our 2005 trial DWG IFilter, available at www.cadcompany.nl/ifilter

I have not seen VBA samples to use the IFilter in such a way, I would
be interested in helping you here - especially when this results in
cool code samples I can publisch on my IFilter support site. Some
samples in C# and VB are available. I believe you may be able to use
the code sample from the next article:
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/DesktopSearch1.asp?df=100&forumid=190772&exp=0&select=1661650
additionally, the article seems to point to more code samples.

So, if the information you need is text-based, you can use our IFilter
and go with the IFilter trick. You can try this for free.
Alternatively you would need to purchase a dwg reading library.
Good luck, and please keep us posted!

 

Thanks for all the responses. I'm going to try using ObjectDBX. I've just
started but initial tests are promising. It opens the file without
rendering the model.

I may give that a try as well. Thanks for the pointer.

Noted, if I head in that direction I'll keep you in mind. I've been
side-tracked with other things for the next while, but I know where to find
you now.

Cheers,
Rob