What's New in 2005 (VBA)?

Does such a document exist anywhere? I've just had a look at a copy of 2005 that a colleague got recently and I see the Help has a Workshop for what's new in 2005 itself, but I was interested to know if there have been updates to the VBA Object Model and the like.

Thanks

Wayne Ivory
IT Analyst Programmer
Wespine Industries Pty Ltd

 

Once you've paid for licensing the product you have to pay AutoDesk
hidden fees -- annually -- to obtain the documentation that they will
not provide with their product. Right?

--
<%= Clinton Gallagher
A/E/C Consulting, Web Design, e-Commerce Software Development
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin USA
NET csgallagher@ REMOVETHISTEXT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/

 

The documentation is not provided with the products we pay for.
If it was I would not be told that I have to pay hidden costs to
join some ADN or to have access to secret newsgroups not available
to me as a customer.

What does this ADN actually provide? The way I see it -- from the
outside -- a few code samples, the documentation that should be
provided with the product and one or more newsgroups for others to
discuss issues of concern.

--
<%= Clinton Gallagher
A/E/C Consulting, Web Design, e-Commerce Software Development
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin USA
NET csgallagher@ REMOVETHISTEXT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/

 

Clinton,

When joining ADN member receives new releases of every Autodesk vertical and
add-on (either on CDs or via FTP). Member gets an access to ADN web site
(access to every platform and language pack released by Autodesk up to now)
and ADN web-based forums. Even more important is the fact that ADN member
may download and license the software for developing purposes. There's also
a special "showcase" room for developers products and Autodesk partners. Not
to mention documentation you may download from one place (otherwise you need
to gather scattered chunks of it around the Web).

I'm not telling that Autodesk does the job perfectly, but as being part of a
team that uses Microsoft's and Oracle's developer network services they're
not far from it. The major drawback is the obvious lack of experts and ACAD
developers (some of the dev. pools may be found in Germany, Portugal, South
America, India and Russia).

Regards,
Maksim Sestic

 

Are you claiming you cannot find the API documentation? And that Autodesk
has informed you that documentation is available for an additional fee?

 

As far as I've been able to determine no, I have not been able to
locate any API documentation regarding how to use ObjectARX,
VBA or C# with the product I have already purchased but am
unable to modify or use the way I want and need to.

At the moment I don't want to pay AutoDesk any more hidden fees.


--
<%= Clinton Gallagher
A/E/C Consulting, Web Design, e-Commerce Software Development
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin USA
NET csgallagher@ REMOVETHISTEXT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/

 

Thank you for taking your time to explain. Microsoft does not charge
for documentation for any of their products. Yes, there are fees required
to obtain an MSDN subscription you are referring to but comparing
MSDN subscriptions to product documentation is not

I know this to be correct because I have had MSDN subscriptions and
have been involved in Microsoft partner programs. Microsoft does not
charge for product documentation.

Well, let me put it this way, I can get product documentation free from
Microsoft via msdn.microsoft.com or on CD/DVD but all I'd have to
pay for is the nominal cost of recordable media and shipping which
as I recall has never ever ever been more than $20.00.

No secret website. No ridiculous 'showcase' where nobody except
those who pay the bribe moneycan see anything. No major vendor that
is doing business ethically and honestly makes customers pay hidden
fees to learn how to use their products.

I already paid AutoDesk for the AutoCAD/ADT 2004 software and I
can not do any development on my own for my own use without paying
hidden fees for documentation.

At the moment, I do not want or need any other AutoDesk software
applications. I only want to be able to use the software I already paid for.
As I customer I should be provided with complete documentation for
ObjectARX, VBA, C#, LISP and any other interface to the software
I have already paid for.

--
<%= Clinton Gallagher
A/E/C Consulting, Web Design, e-Commerce Software Development
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin USA
NET csgallagher@ REMOVETHISTEXT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/

 

Clinton, I'm afraid you're misinformed !!.

The manual included in the program CD explains LISP and VBA.
(.NET samples are not included, nor for Delphi, or for any other progamming
language)

ObjectARX can be downloaded (both docs and core files) from
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=773180
and
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=785550

No hidden fees!

If you want support and the latest versions and betas of software then you
need to join ADN

 

The ObjectARX API is a free download and includes documentation for both
C++ and C#.

The ActiveX API documentation for VBA is built directly into AutoCAD itself
as is the documentation for the AutoLISP and VisualLISP languages.

I'd be surprised if you could find the hidden fees considering you can't
locate the F1 key.

 

The F1 key is the first approach I tried when wanting to learn how to
create and access a Hyperlinked drawing element only to discover
the help files are outdated and contain incorrect information. At that
point I did stop looking for the time being as I'm just getting restarted
with this software after a long hiatus.

--
<%= Clinton Gallagher
A/E/C Consulting, Web Design, e-Commerce Software Development
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin USA
NET csgallagher@ REMOVETHISTEXT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/

 

I'll say I've been misinformed. Thanks for referring me to documentation
resources. The ADT2004 helpfiles are GFS.

Do you know how often the documentation you refer to is updated?
Is it accurate? The helpfiles are not.

When there are errors and ommission they should be documented
using errata. If missing, that will be my next problem. Again, thank you...

--
<%= Clinton Gallagher
A/E/C Consulting, Web Design, e-Commerce Software Development
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin USA
NET csgallagher@ REMOVETHISTEXT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/

 

They are quite accurate, and updated for each release, but not for each
software update.
But still pretty good to get you going.
In case you need further clarification, the folks who visit this NG and the
ObjectARX NG do have allot of experience and a search for the correct
subject will most likely lead you to the info you require, if not, someone
will sure jump in and help you out.

 

Help files should be considered as the starting point, and as you say,
contain errors.
Ask over here if you get stuck.

About the HyperLinks, this was posted by TomD last year on this NG.
There are tons more if look around.

Dim eCircle As AcadCircle, eTxt As AcadText
Set eCircle = ThisDrawing.ModelSpace.AddCircle(vInsPnt, 0.0015)
Set eTxt = ThisDrawing.ModelSpace.AddText(" " & sPid, vInsPnt, 0.001)
'================================HYPERLINK PART
'Add hyperlink to circle
Dim eHLnx As AcadHyperlinks, eHLnk As AcadHyperlink
Set eHLnx = eCircle.Hyperlinks
Set eHLnk = eHLnx.Add("P:\Quads\NGSDataSheets\" & sPid & ".txt")
'FYI: sPid is just a string, such as "KY2045"
'================================END HYPERLINK PART
eCircle.Update: eTxt.Update
Set eHLnk = Nothing: Set eHLnx = Nothing
Set eCircle = Nothing: Set eTxt = Nothing


--
Saludos, Ing. Jorge Jimenez, SICAD S.A., Costa Rica

 

"clintonG"

It's not the documentation that they don't provide with
the product that represents the 'hidden' cost.

In order to use most of the API's effectively, you have
to know about the known defects and issues, and whether
there are any workarounds for them.

Autodesk restricts access to critical information related
to APIs; defects; and related issues, and provides that only
to ADN members. IOW, you must pay them for the privilege
of knowing what's wrong with their product.

Not only does this represent a hidden cost, it serves to
do significant, widespread harm to customers. To call this
practice despicable, is an understatement.

 

Sorry to hijack my own thread back ;-) but I guess the fact that nobody directly responded means that there isn't such a document. Anybody who's got into it want to offer a short precis on (VBA) differences they've noticed?

Thanks

Wayne

 

Wayne,

There's no document named "AutoCAD API Workarounds" neither on ADN nor at
any other place on the Net. This is one of the major differences between,
say, ADN and MSDN (except the magnitude, but that's understandable when
we're talking about Microsoft). I said once, back up the thread, that
Autodesk suffers a serious lack of experts. The company services "average
users", whatsoever the meaning of mentioned group, but professional
developers need more. I'd warmly suggest Autodesk hiring more professionals
(programmers, developers), getting more in-depth studies of their basic
platform functionality, etc, etc. Sometimes it seems as they just can't bear
the burden of standard setters, although they are one, willingly or not.

Regards,
Maksim Sestic

directly responded means that there isn't such a document. Anybody who's
got into it want to offer a short precis on (VBA) differences they've
noticed?

 

Sorry Maksim, I think you misunderstood my question. The "document" I was referring to was the one in the thread title, ie "What's New in 2005 (VBA)". Even if there is no such document, I was hoping somebody (or bodies) might care to comment on differences they've noticed themselves.

Regards

Wayne

 

Better late than never Clinton responds...

Thanks for clarifying comments Tony but I consider disclosure
of known defects and the like to be included as documentation.

The rest of the world -- those that are not low life pimps --
refer to those parts of the documentation as errata.

-
<%= Clinton Gallagher
A/E/C Consulting, Web Design, e-Commerce Software Development
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin USA
NET csgallagher@ REMOVETHISTEXT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/

 

BTW -- not referring to Tony Tanzillo but to AutoDesk corporate...

--
<%= Clinton Gallagher
A/E/C Consulting, Web Design, e-Commerce Software Development
Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin USA
NET csgallagher@ REMOVETHISTEXT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/