To Create a New Project for a CAD Standards Plug-in (ActiveX/CSP)

A plug-in cannot be loaded directly into the AutoCAD program, but you need to make sure specific properties are enabled so it can be loaded into the CAD Standards framework that is part of the AutoCAD program or the stand-alone Batch Standards Checker. Each plug-in project must be based on the Class Library template. After new project is created, you must reference the AutoCAD <release> Type and the and Autodesk Standards Manager Type libraries.

1. Start Microsoft Visual Studio.
2. In Microsoft Visual Studio, on the menu bar, click File menu New Project.
3. In the New Project dialog box, expand Installed Templates and do one of the following:
   • Visual Basic - Click Visual Basic and then select Class Library.
   • Visual C# - Click Visual C# and then select Class Library.
   • Visual C++ - Click Visual C++ and then select CLR Class Library (.NET).
4. In the Project Name field, enter a name for the project and click Next.
5. From the Framework drop-down list, select the framework used by the targeted AutoCAD release and click Create.
6. On the menu bar, click Project menu Add COM Reference.
7. In the Reference Manager - <project name> dialog box, Browse tab, browse to and <drive>:\ObjectARX <version>\inc-<platform>.

   <drive> and <version> represents the location in which the ObjectARX SDK is installed. <platform> should be replaced with x64 for the target platform.

8. Press and hold Ctrl, and then select AcStMgr.dll (which needs to be created from the AcStMgr.tlb file) and axdb<version><language>.tlb. Click OK.
   Note: <version> and <language> represent the version and language of the ObjectDBX library to reference. For example, axdb25enu.tlb represents the English version of the library utilized by Autodesk AutoCAD 2025. English versions of AutoCAD 2021 through AutoCAD 2024-based products utilize the axdb24enu.tlb library file, and English versions of AutoCAD 2019 through AutoCAD 2020-based products utilize the axdb23enu.tlb library file.
9. Click Add again and click the COM tab.
10. On the COM tab, scroll to and select Microsoft XML Type library (Microsoft XML, v6.0). Click OK.
11. Click the Application tab.
12. On the Application tab, click Assembly Information.
13. In the Assembly Information dialog box, click Make Assembly COM-Visible (should now be checked) and click OK.