CompuServe Messages

Mike: If "display and look at drawings from within the app" means from within the Clipper application, that's going to be a bit tricky, since Autodesk doesn't document the DWG file format. There are some "viewing libraries" you can compile into another program, as well as stand-alone viewers you might execute in a shell from your app, but in both cases you'll be dependent on the company which cracked the DWG file format to keep you current as Autodesk changes its format with each release. Working with database files from within AutoCAD is an easier job, now that there are several database toolkits available for AutoCAD. These toolkits give you read-write links to DBF files, and in most cases, indices. With most of them you do need some knowledge of AutoLISP, though. There'll be a review of four of these toolkits in the January 92 issue of CADalyst. Holler if you need names and phone numbers. – Mark M.