Organization

This guide is organized by the major features of Autodesk Civil 3D. It consists of the following chapters, each of which includes samples from applicable APIs taken from one or more demonstration programs:

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Explains how to set up a COM and .NET project. Also discusses porting COM to .NET code, limitations of the .NET API, and how to use interop to access COM objects.

Chapter 2: Root Objects and Common Concepts

Explains how to obtain the base .NET objects representing the documents and databases, which are required for all subsequent chapters. Also discussed are objects common to many features, such as ambient settings and label styles.

Chapter 3: Surfaces

Explains how to import surfaces from files, manipulate point data directly, insert breaklines, manage borders, modify contours, and analyze elevation and watershed information.

Chapter 4: Alignments

Explains how to create alignments through layout functions, from polyline entities, or based on an offset from existing alignments, using the .NET API. Includes discussion of stations, design speeds, and superelevation.

Chapter 5: Profiles

Explains the creation of profiles and profile styles, using the .NET API.

Chapter 6: Sections

Explains the creation of sections, section views, and sample lines, using the .NET API.

Chapter 7: Pipe Networks

Explains the creation of pipes, structures, and pipe networks, including interference detection, using the .NET API.

Chapter 8: Corridors

Explains how to gather and modify information about existing corridors, baselines, feature lines, assemblies and subassemblies in a document, using the .NET API.

Chapter 9: Points

Explains how to access and create points in a document's point collection, how to create point groups and populate them using queries, and how to style points using point description keys.

Chapter 10: Creating Custom Subassemblies

Explains how to create and install custom subassemblies using Visual Basic .NET and the creation of catalog files which enables users to access custom subassemblies. You can also convert subassemblies written in VBA to .NET (see the Appendix Converting VBA Subassemblies to .NET for more information).

Appendix A: Converting VBA Subassemblies to .NET

Explains how to convert legacy custom subassemblies written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to .NET.

Appendix B: COM API

Covers the Legacy COM API.