Obtaining Plant3d Catalog information using an external EXE

by Fenton Webb

The Plant3d API is actually accessible from your own exe. If you create a simple .NET exe, reference these DLL references…

• PnIDMgd.dll
• PnP3dPartsRepository.dll
• PnPCommonMgd.dll
• PnPDataObjects.dll
• PnPSQLiteEngine.dll

And add this code to your Main()

class Program    {      static void Main(string[] args)      {        // open the catalog        PipePartCatalog repository = PipePartCatalog.OpenCatalog(          "C:\AutoCAD Plant 3D 2013 Content\CPak ASME\ASME Pipes and Fittings Catalog.pcat");             // return all parts that meet this search criteria condition         // "EndType='PL' AND CompatibleStandard = 'ASME B36.19'"        PartQueryResults result = repository.SelectParts("PIPE",             "EndType='PL' AND CompatibleStandard = 'ASME B36.19'");        Part part = null;        // now list them out        while ((part = result.NextPart()) != null)        {          Console.WriteLine("Diameter = " + part.NominalDiameter);        }             // wait for acceptance from user        Console.ReadKey();      }     }

Then if you run the program from DOS, you get…

Diameter = 0.125in
Diameter = 0.25in
Diameter = 0.375in
Diameter = 0.5in
Diameter = 0.75in
Diameter = 1in
Diameter = 1.25in
Diameter = 1.5in
Diameter = 2in
Diameter
= 2.5in
Diameter = 3in
Diameter = 3.5in
Diameter = 4in
Diameter = 5in
Diameter = 6in
Diameter = 8in
Diameter = 10in
Diameter = 12in
Diameter = 14in
Diameter = 16in
Diameter = 18in
Diameter = 20in
Diameter = 22in
Diameter = 24in
Diameter = 26in
Diameter = 28in
Diameter = 30in
Diameter = 32in
Diameter = 34in
Diameter = 36in
Diameter = 38in
Diameter = 40in
Diameter = 42in
Diameter = 44in
Diameter = 46in
Diameter = 48in
Diameter = 50in
Diameter = 52in
Diameter = 54in
Diameter = 56in
Diameter = 58in
Diameter = 60in