AutoLoader 101: #5 – Component AppType for .NET Assembly

AutoCAD has provided so called AutoLoader for a while. It is announced to be environment friendly (no need to mess up the Windows Registry anymore), support multiple versions, support both AutoCAD and its flavors (such as AutoCAD Mechanical and AutoCAD Architecture) at the same time in a single place, support various AutoCAD applications such as .NET, ARX, DBX, and AutoLISP, support multiple Operating Systems (such as Microsoft Windows 64, Microsoft Windows 32, and even Apple Mac), and more.

It sounds huge and complex, but in fact, it is nothing but an XML file that is supposed to specify what the application/addin/plugin is, what it does, and what it needs. That is about it in a single sentence. 

Though simple, it has many subtle details for us to sort out due to lack of good documentation, not open at all the AutoLoader schema if any, and far from set yet at this time. Thus, mysteries about the AutoLoader are here and there in spite that the XML format itself is not a thing at all to most developers.

We used the .NET AppType for our test .NET assembly before in the simple but working AutoLoader sample. Does it really matter?

Let’s sort it out here. Change the AppType from .NET to ARX and follow all other steps to deploy the following AutoLoader/ApplicationPackage:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ApplicationPackage xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
     HelpFile="./Application/UsersGuide.chm"
     OnlineDocumentation="spiderinnet1.typepad.com"
     Name="TestApp"
     Description=""
     Icon=".\Application\app.ico"
     Author="spiderinnet1">
 <CompanyDetails Name="nss"
     Url="http://spiderinnet1.typepad.com"
     Email="spiderinnet1@nss.com">
 </CompanyDetails>
 <Components>
  <RuntimeRequirements OS="Win64" Platform="AutoCAD" SeriesMin="R18.0" SeriesMax="R18.2" />
  <ComponentEntry
   ModuleName=".\Application\TestApp.dll"
   LoadOnAutoCADStartup="true"
   LoadOnCommandInvocation="false"
   AppDescription="This is assembly TestApp."
   AppName="TestApp"
   AppType="ARX">

   <Commands GroupName="CmdGroup1">
    <Command Local="Command1" Global="Command1" />
   </Commands>

  </ComponentEntry>
 </Components>
</ApplicationPackage>

May or may not out of people’s expectations, the AutoLoader still works. Good or bad!

Therefore, the AppType does not really matter for .NET assemblies. We can safely skip it.

By the way, the TestApp project and the sample command were all generated by the leading edge AutoCAD .NET Addin Wizard (AcadNetAddinWizard) automatically in a moment. AcadNetAddinWizard provides various project wizards, item wizards, coders including a Ribbon Creator, and widgets to help program AutoCAD .NET addins.

Comments

[Richard Pruitt]

Do you have a version of the AutoCAD Addin Wizard that works for Visual Studio 2012?

[Spiderinnet1]

Currently no such a version. It will be considered in future for sure.