Open & Close a drawing in VB.net

It seems like Net might be a little overwheming for the AutoCAD operator that just wants quick routines to get something done. Maybe VBA & lisp is a better fit but I want to stay in the programming main stream with AutoCAD. The fact that AutoDesk plans to drop VBA is another reason to keep plugging at this. I guess the main thing to do is keep plugging and don't give up.

 

I think the biggest gain I made last week was to convince my company's network administrator to put the VS Express on my machine at work. Now I have excess to vb.net and AutoCAD at my workstation.

It isn't easy to do .NET development well, even for someone adept at Visual LISP, VBA, etc. Despite the difficulty however, it becomes more rewarding as you learn, and can quickly prove to be a factor in production gains.

Knowing how to utilize the resources available to you to look up and even explore the Object Model paired with critical path logic is the most valuable assets you can have as a developer... That goes for Visual LISP, VBA, .NET, and ObjectARX (C++ for AutoCAD)... That's not something that is easily taught in my limited experience.

As I understand it, you've just started out with .NET API, and you've done quite well thus far... Don't give up. Keep at it. Get frustrated, and figure out how to solve the development problems you face. Get yourself a book on .NET Framework (not AutoCAD related), and master the development concepts necessary to be proficient with .NET (i.e., inheritance, properties vs. fields, scope, polymorphism, etc.).

I think you'll find, as I did when first starting out, that having even Visual Studio Express (free) available to you at your workstation is invaluable - it lets you introduce your curiosity in real-world production scenarios - just be mindful to not break something, and your network admin won't have any issues.

Cheers

This might have been said already but I will say it again. VB.NET is easier for the beginner coming from VBA but for the AutoCAD API i believe that C# is easier. This is not because C# is easier to learn then VB.NET (it isnt) but it is because the majority of the sample code out there for the AutoCAD .Net API will be done in C#. Since you are just starting to learn then now is the time to make the switch. I tried starting with VB.NET because i came from a vba background but made the switch very early on. Don't get me wrong there are a few developers out there using VB for autocad development but the vast majority of them are using C#.