Getting Started with the API DevKit

[stefan]

I welcome this more open and friendly approach to independent developers, although I still have a few remarks: I started trying to write a simple plugin for Archicad and all I can say is that it stopped at trying. The plugin is compiled but not recognised by Archicad. And I can't seem to find out why.
I wonder if it would be possible to have a few ready-to-compile examples in the Devkit. The samples are not compiling either... and seem to be made for an older version of the DevKit. In fact, I think the resource compiler is crashing...

I'm sorry to say, but I made my first fully working AutoCAD ObjectARX-plugin after stepping through the included ARX-tutorials just half an hour after downloading the SDK. I can't say that about the Archicad DevKit.

I really hope that I can get it at least to work... I wonder why there is no open forum on Developments for Archicad. After all, it's what made AutoCAD and 3DStudio so popular.

-----------------------

Don't see my mail as completely negative. I see that Graphisoft is trying hard to open up the development for other interested parties (e.g. freelancers, academic research), but since I'm not a fully qualified programmer (I have an architectural degree, not a programming degree), it's hard to get started. It's not that I'm a total newbie, since I have written a few programs allready using C++, MFC and OpenGL, but at the moment it's not working either.

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to test the examples which are in the dev kit, but I don't understand how to compile them.
How do you get an .apx file since the examples?

Thanks a lot

[Anonymous]

i forgot to say that i'm using Visual Studio 2008, but I think i found the solution.

When I launch the project , a folder named "debug" is created and it contains the .apx file.

Is this file I have to import in archicad?

I tried to use the helloWorld and to import it in archicad but it still not work, i have a message in the Extension Infos Box which says that the file is already not an extension or it's not updated for using with this version of archicad.

I tried with archicad 9, 10 and 12.

(sorry for my poor english)

[Karl Ottenstein]

atila-diffusion wrote:
i forgot to say that i'm using Visual Studio 2008, but I think i found the solution.

When I launch the project , a folder named "debug" is created and it contains the .apx file.

Is this file I have to import in archicad?

I tried to use the helloWorld and to import it in archicad but it still not work, i have a message in the Extension Infos Box which says that the file is already not an extension or it's not updated for using with this version of archicad.

I tried with archicad 9, 10 and 12.

(sorry for my poor english)

Yes, the examples default to creating the apx in the debug folder. Different project settings result in a release version. Just move the apx into your add-ons folder and restart AC, or load the apx using Options > Add-On Manager.

The apx MUST be compiled with the matching dev kit for the version of AC which you want to test it with.

Further, to run sample apx - if you do not have a developer ID - you must run AC in Demo mode, not licensed mode.

Karl

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I succeeded to build a Hello World Add-On thanks to your Blank Add On.
this one works on windows but not on Mac is that normal? Should I do something to solve it?

thanks a lot.

[Ralph Wessel]

atila-diffusion wrote:
I succeeded to build a Hello World Add-On thanks to your Blank Add On. this one works on windows but not on Mac is that normal? Should I do something to solve it?

What did you use to build the Mac version?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I used Visual Studio 2008 to build the apx. Do I have to build differently the mac version from the windows version?

[Ralph Wessel]

atila-diffusion wrote:
I used Visual Studio 2008 to build the apx. Do I have to build differently the mac version from the windows version?

Yes, you need to use XCode on a Mac. Fortunately Apple provides a full development suite with the Mac OS (XCode, Interface Builder, etc), so it's quite easy to get started (provided you have a Mac).

[Anonymous]

Ok thank you,

so i can write mon plugin on Visual studio and at the end i'll will build it With visual and with XCode.

Thank a lot.

[Ralph Wessel]

atila-diffusion wrote:
so i can write mon plugin on Visual studio and at the end i'll will build it With visual and with XCode.

Just one word of caution - if you want to compile on multiple platforms, you must stick to agreed standards. Microsoft is notorious for introducing subtle changes to standards (sometimes called "standards-poisoning") so that moving to another platform seems very difficult. It is very easy to produce cross-platform add-ons if you are aware of this issue from the start.

[Anonymous]

OK,

A last question.
I aim to create a plugin wich load an external hotlinks Module and past it on the scene. Do you think it's difficult. I've seen the "ModulData Manager" but I don't know if that's what I need, I also tried the example of "Module data manager" but it is written for API 6.1 and I don't succeed to rebuild it for archicad 12 :s

this API is very interesting but, on my opinion, not enough easy to use and to understand when we get started.