Thread: PostgreSQL and AutoCad

On 10/24/07, Bob Pawley <rjpawley@shaw.ca> wrote:
> Is there any way of converting text from an AutoCad (.dwg ot .dxf) file into
> a PostgreSQL  Database??
>
> Bob Pawley

I know nothing of AutoCad, but your message has been sitting for a
while without response, so I'll throw out the suggestion that you
probably want AutoCad to export the text to some more common format
(like a ASCII or UTF8 file or some such) and import that.

-Josh/eggyknap

On Thu, 2007-10-25 at 08:57 -0600, Josh Tolley wrote:
> On 10/24/07, Bob Pawley <rjpawley@shaw.ca> wrote:
> > Is there any way of converting text from an AutoCad (.dwg ot .dxf) file into
> > a PostgreSQL  Database??
> >
> > Bob Pawley
>
> I know nothing of AutoCad, but your message has been sitting for a
> while without response, so I'll throw out the suggestion that you
> probably want AutoCad to export the text to some more common format
> (like a ASCII or UTF8 file or some such) and import that.
>

Stupid list!
I guess my response went directly to the poster instead of the list.

DXF is Text that can be parsed if I remember correctly.

Look it up on Wikipedia, it has some info, but there are AutoDesk
manuals that detail the format.

Josh Tolley wrote:
> On 10/24/07, Bob Pawley <rjpawley@shaw.ca> wrote:
>> Is there any way of converting text from an AutoCad (.dwg ot .dxf) file into
>> a PostgreSQL  Database??
>>
>> Bob Pawley
>
> I know nothing of AutoCad, but your message has been sitting for a
> while without response, so I'll throw out the suggestion that you
> probably want AutoCad to export the text to some more common format
> (like a ASCII or UTF8 file or some such) and import that.
>
> -Josh/eggyknap

I think .dxf is text, its a vector image description (lines, line
styles, layers, etc, etc).  But being text or not, you can store it into
a bytea field no problem.

Bob:  Do you just want to store the file as-is in the database?  Then
yes you can.  Or are you looking to break it up into tables so that you
can query it somehow?  In that case, I'd say not likely (or at least not
cheaply).

Do you want AutoCad to edit the drawings right out of the database?  How
would you want to put them in/get them out, of the database?

-Andy

--- On Thu, 10/25/07, Andy <nospam@noplace.com> wrote:
> >> Is there any way of converting text from an
> AutoCad (.dwg ot .dxf) file into
> >> a PostgreSQL  Database??
> Do you want AutoCad to edit the drawings right out of the
> database?  How
> would you want to put them in/get them out, of the
> database?

I think the more traditional problem is to extract information embedded (within blocks) in a drawing to produce a bill
ofmaterial.  As long as the text is stored in a block it is a trivial task.  On the other hand, if the text is free
floatingin the drawing, finding it is a little more difficult but still possible using lisp or vba. 

Auto cad has prebuilt tools to extract/link data from blocks to any ODBC compliant database.  Of course, the holy grail
wouldbe to eliminate auto cad altogether and then render drawings from the data stored in the database. :-) 
Regards,
Richard Broersma Jr.

If your holy grail is the ability of using infomation to drive drawings I
have to ask if you have any idea what that could lead too?

- Design productivity would increase by factors of hundreds - perhaps
thousands.

- Information would be infinitly adaptable.

- Structure that information properly and knowedge will result.

- We would begin to realize the full potential of computing power.

Is that what you were saying??

Bob





----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Broersma Jr" <rabroersma@yahoo.com>
To: <pgsql-general@postgresql.org>; "Andy" <nospam@noplace.com>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 9:13 PM
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL and AutoCad


> --- On Thu, 10/25/07, Andy <nospam@noplace.com> wrote:
>> >> Is there any way of converting text from an
>> AutoCad (.dwg ot .dxf) file into
>> >> a PostgreSQL  Database??
>> Do you want AutoCad to edit the drawings right out of the
>> database?  How
>> would you want to put them in/get them out, of the
>> database?
>
> I think the more traditional problem is to extract information embedded
> (within blocks) in a drawing to produce a bill of material.  As long as
> the text is stored in a block it is a trivial task.  On the other hand, if
> the text is free floating in the drawing, finding it is a little more
> difficult but still possible using lisp or vba.
>
> Auto cad has prebuilt tools to extract/link data from blocks to any ODBC
> compliant database.  Of course, the holy grail would be to eliminate auto
> cad altogether and then render drawings from the data stored in the
> database. :-)
> Regards,
> Richard Broersma Jr.
>
> ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend

Ilan Volow wrote on 30.10.2007 23:01:
> I'm personally interested in the idea of versioning for a drawing.
> Instead of storing the entire drawing for each version, one could
> theoretically just store the vector additions/changes/deletions that
> happen from one revision to the next.

Which could also be done using a versioning system like Subversion which will
also only store the difference between two files (especially if they are text files)

Thomas

----- Original Message -----

From: Ilan Volow

To: pgsql-general@postgresql.org

Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 3:01 PM

Subject: Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL and AutoCad

As I have a vested interest in storing AutoCad stuff in PostgreSQL, I searched for something like this a while ago and I ran across this.. I haven't really had a chance to play with it yet

http://sourceforge.net/projects/dxf2postgis/

I'm personally interested in the idea of versioning for a drawing. Instead of storing the entire drawing for each version, one could theoretically just store the vector additions/changes/deletions that happen from one revision to the next.

-- Ilan

On Oct 30, 2007, at 11:34 AM, Bob Pawley wrote:

If your holy grail is the ability of using infomation to drive drawings I have to ask if you have any idea what that could lead too?

- Design productivity would increase by factors of hundreds - perhaps thousands.

- Information would be infinitly adaptable.

- Structure that information properly and knowedge will result.

- We would begin to realize the full potential of computing power.

Is that what you were saying??

Bob

----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Broersma Jr" <rabroersma@yahoo.com>

To: <pgsql-general@postgresql.org>; "Andy" <nospam@noplace.com>

Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 9:13 PM

Subject: Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL and AutoCad

--- On Thu, 10/25/07, Andy <nospam@noplace.com> wrote:

>> Is there any way of converting text from an

AutoCad (.dwg ot .dxf) file into

>> a PostgreSQL  Database??

Do you want AutoCad to edit the drawings right out of the

database?  How

would you want to put them in/get them out, of the

database?

I think the more traditional problem is to extract information embedded (within blocks) in a drawing to produce a bill of material.  As long as the text is stored in a block it is a trivial task.  On the other hand, if the text is free floating in the drawing, finding it is a little more difficult but still possible using lisp or vba.

Auto cad has prebuilt tools to extract/link data from blocks to any ODBC compliant database.  Of course, the holy grail would be to eliminate auto cad altogether and then render drawings from the data stored in the database. :-)

Regards,

Richard Broersma Jr.

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TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend 

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TIP 5: don't forget to increase your free space map settings

Ilan Volow

"Implicit code is inherently evil, and here's the reason why:"