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I am new to AutoCAD programming. I need to build software to automate some task for AutoCAD 2012. But I am confused with the following:-

  1. Should I start to develop a plugin for AutoCAD or should I develop a standalone software?
  2. ObjectARX SDK is available for AutoCAD 2014 and later versions only. Can I use this ObjectARX SDK to develop tool for AutoCAD 2012?

Thanks to all for your valuable suggestions and time.

Vishal Goyal
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Welcome to AutoCAD development! Indeed there is a getting started tutorial at http://www.autodesk.com/myfirstautocadplugin and a blog with lots of samples for various scenarios as http://adndevblog.typepad.com/autocad and a broader overview of the all the APIs available at http://www.autodesk.com/developautocad

About your questions:

  1. You can do a plugin or external app, but notice that only plugins can use the pure .NET API, the external apps can only use COM API, which is not as good and quite old. If you need to automate from external apps, check the AutoCAD Console, available on AutoCAD 2013+
  2. The SDK is very similar, but Autodesk made a major remodeling of the API on 2013 release, therefore anything developed for 2012 will not work on 2013 (you need to rebuild, at least). If you have a code developed for 2013, it can work until 2016 (but testing is recommended).
Augusto Goncalves
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