Beyond the Paper

The cool people say D-W-F, not dwiff

An AutoCAD DWG is called a drawing. An AutoCAD Data eXchange File is called a DXF as in dee-ex-eff (If you get my phonetical drift?). A Design Web Format file is called a dee-double-you-eff. There was a brief moment in time, when we were calling them dwiffs, but that time has passed. The cognoscenti now all say DWF.

If you really think about it, DWF is more like DXF than printing formats like Tiff, HPGL, JPEG, or PDF. The metadata in a DWF that accompanies the geometry makes it an exchange format. The exchange format just happens to be print-ready compared to the original design data such as a DWG.

DWF Programming Samples

While we're on the topic of programming, the DWF Technical Evangelist Team has some samples that are provided on an as-is basis. Other samples were provided by Autodesk discussion group participants. These samples sometimes take advantage of undocumented API calls that may change in future versions.

Create Your Own Application

• BatchDWF.zip
  This C# sample allows you to batch publish DWF files from AutoCAD 2007. It was developed by John Schmier.
• DWFStrings.zip
  This C++ sample from Archana Naik shows how to work with text strings using the DWF Toolkit.
• Form1.zip
  This C# sample code demonstrates how to work with object nodes and collections. OBJECTNODES are available in the API of version 7.0. An interface named CONTENT has been introduced, and objects can be obtained from the CONTENT object.
• List_URLs
  This C++ sample code shows how to run through a DWF file, using the DWF Toolkit, to list the URLs in the DWF file.
• unpack.zip
  This small piece of code shows how to read and unpack the entities contained in a 2D stream inside a DWF file.
• SimpleW3DStreamProcessor.zip
  This C++ sample was omitted from the DWF Toolkit 7.2.1 distribution. It will make its return in an upcoming toolkit release.
• VectorEditor.zip
  This C++ sample is an MFC application that allows a user to sketch simple primitives and then save a DWF file.

Embed DWF Files into Applications

• 2dObjectSample.zip
  This is an example of using JavaScript to build a list of properties from the objects located in a 2D DWF. In addition to the HTML page with JavaScript, the zip file includes the DWG file used, DWF, and Publish settings to get block data into the DWF as properties.
• Brokk_demo.zip
  This is an example of using hyperlinks in a web page to navigate to 3D views in a model.
• Change object Highlight Color.zip
  Discussion group participant, Raghavendra Shetty, created this JavaScript sample by integrating a color picker developed by Matt Kruse.
• detectViewer.html
  This JavaScript sample detects the presence of the Autodesk Design Review or the Autodesk DWF Viewer.
• DWFGoogleMaps.zip
  These JavaScript samples show integration of DWF with Google Maps. They require your own Google Map API key.
• EnableDisableCommands.zip
  This JavaScript samples shows how to enable or disable commands from the Autodesk DWF Viewer user interface.
• frameset.zip
  These HTML pages show how to work with DWF files in frames.
• fullview.html
  This JavaScript sample shows how to load a DWF in full view mode with an URL.
• JavaScriptTransformPoint.zip
  This JavaScript sample shows how to transform points from screen to drawing coordinates.
• Linking 2D and 3D: dwf_materials_demo.zip
  This JavaScript sample shows how to link 2D and 3D objects. It was featured on a "Through the Interface" blog article by Kean Walmsley.
• MaximizeCanvas.htm
  This JavaScript samples shows how to turn off all of the menu toolbars. This example demonstrates how to maximize the DWF canvas area for display of the design data. The right click menu is still available. This sample requires Autodesk DWF Viewer 7.0 or Autodesk Design Review 2007.
• Object Highlight Sample.zip
  This JavaScript sample shows how multiple objects can be selected and highlighted.
• ObjectNameValueSearch.zip
  This JavaScript samples shows how to select objects based on object properties.
• People Finder Facilities Management
  This ASP sample was presented by Brian Mathews and Brian Pene at Autodesk University 2005 and shows how to integrate floor plan DWF files with an employee database.
• Viewer_API_test.zip
  This VBscript and JavaScript sample shows some of the basic functions of working with the viewer API.
• zoomtofit.html
  This JavaScript sample shows how to load a DWF in an HTML file with an automatic zoom to fit.

Integrate Our ActiveX Controls
VB

• ADV_Collections.zip
  This Visual Basic sample shows how to work with collections of the Autodesk DWF Viewer. It finds all of the URLs in a DWF file and lists them.
• DWF Batch Printer 1.8.zip
  This sample includes the Visual Basic source code for a batch printing application.
• PrintBlackAndWhite.zip
  This Visual Basic example demonstrates how to print in black and white.
• PrintUtil.zip
  This DLL facilitates the printing process from a VB application. Source for a sample C# program that uses the DLL is included. A newer version of the same DLL has been built with Visual Studio 2005: PrintUtil2.zip.
• VB6 SimplePrint PrintEX example.zip
  This Visual Basic sample shows how to interface to the Print function of the Autodesk DWF Viewer. A similar example, SimplePrint PrintEx.zip was created by Senior QA Engineer, Anand Iyer.
• TransformPoint.zip
  This Visual Basic application shows how to transform points from screen to drawing coordinates.

C++

• DetectDWFViewer.zip
  This C++ sample code shows how to detect the presence of Autodesk DWF Viewer or Autodesk Design Review.

The ability to programmatically interface with the files and the applications that result are yet another way that DWF goes beyond the paper.

We are not alone!

Autodesk is currently working with hundreds of companies as DWF partners. Other companies have downloaded the DWF Toolkit from the web and developed a DWF application independently. In either case, there are plenty of applications that support DWF. Although many are still in the works, many have already been released. These applications create, view, or process DWF files. For a list of some of the available products, click here.

DWF is not really about the format in of itself. The applications are what make the difference. Autodesk is pleased to have a wide range of partners who help DWF go beyond the paper.

Programming with the Open DWF Standard

Getting Started
One of the most frequently asked questions I get is "How do I get started programming with DWF?" People have heard about the DWF Toolkit and wonder if it is the solution for them. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't. Many people's needs are better suited to using the API of the viewer instead.

If you are interested in working with the API associated with the Autodesk DWF Viewer and Autodesk Design Review or the DWF Toolkit, then you should visit the Autodesk Developer Center. There you will find developer tools, code samples, a list of other 3rd party vendors, and other resources. The site has been divided into sections:

• Create Your Own Application – These sections are intended for hardcore C++ programmers who wish to download the free Autodesk DWF Toolkit and build their own application. The Autodesk DWF Toolkit can be downloaded at DWF Toolkit download page.
• Embed DWF Files into Applications – These sections are intended for Autodesk DWF Viewer or Autodesk Design Review users who have DWF files and wish to integrate them into HTML pages or Microsoft Office documents.
• Integrate Our ActiveX Control – These sections are intended for Visual Basic or JavaScript programmers who wish to use the API of the Autodesk DWF Viewer or Autodesk Design Review to provide a richer user experience for their DWF files. The API help file can be downloaded as a compiled HTML help file.

An Open Standard
DWF is an open standard. Some people confuse "open" with "proprietary." Autodesk listens to its customers in terms of making changes to the format instead of following a slow-moving committee process. I guess that makes DWF proprietary; however, Autodesk provides the DWF specification, and even the source code for reading and writing DWF files, to anyone free of charge - even competitors. How much more open can you get? Furthermore DWF is based on other industry standards such as ZIP/ZLIB, XML, JPG/PNG/bitonal-G4-Tiff, and HSF. So although there is no specific ISO standard's body for DWF itself, DWF is an open standard made from formats that are industry standards.

The openness of the format contributes to an overall ecosystem around DWF. The ability for Autodesk and others to provide solutions around design data is what allows DWF to go beyond the paper.

New Blog: Between the Poles

Autodesk Infrastructure Solutions Division Technology Directory, Geoff Zeiss, has started a new blog: Between the Poles. Geoff will be focusing on Geospatial IT and how utilities, telecommunications firms, transportation organizations, and others, who have to manage network infrastructures, have used Autodesk solutions to address real-world business problems.

Shaan Hurley has Between the Lines. Chris Yanchar has Between the Walls. Now Geoff Zeiss has Between the Poles. Since one aspect of DWF is committing design data to sheets of paper, perhaps I should have called my blog Between the Sheets? Err... maybe not.

Please welcome Geoff to the Autodesk blogosphere. I am no longer the new kid on the block. :-)

Birth of DWF: "I can have Carol call you."

Blog readers responded positively to my entry about the Autodesk Viewing History. I suppose they like hearing stories from an insider. So in that vein, here is one about the birth of DWF.

In 1995 when Autodesk pondered how to best utilize the internet, we realized that non-AutoCAD users would like to be able to see design data on the web. We were so excited about this prospect, we did not give ourselves much time to provide it. After only a few weeks of development, CEO Carol Bartz, then CFO Christine Tsingos, and DWF inventor Brian Mathews flew to New York for one of our frequent press briefings. Our aim was to explain the DWF strategy and provide a technology preview.

The technology preview was to consist of a downloadable/executable installer for our WHIP! Netscape Navigator Plug-in. As no Autodesk products possessed the ability to generate DWF files yet, the Autodesk web site would host one or two sample files that Netscape browser users could view after installing the plug-in. Although this sounds simple by today's standards, preparation and execution of this technology preview was being done in terms of days instead of weeks or months.

We were developing the Netscape Navigator Plug-in in our office in Alameda, California. The press briefing was on a Monday at 1:00 PM New York time which would make it 10:00 AM California time. After a long week and an even longer weekend, viewing of local DWF files was working but not viewing from a file server. At 10:00 PM Sunday night, I sent the programming team home. As this was a technology preview, I figured we could place links to the DWF files on the Autodesk web site, have people download the DWF files in addition to the installer, and let them view the files locally. They could understand the DWF strategy using the files on their own computers. At about 11:00 PM California time, I got a call at home from Christine Tsingos who asked "How's it going?" I explained, not well, and shared my plan for either putting up a "DWF section under construction" page (which was popular for web sites at the time) or allowing users to download the DWF files themselves. Not satisfied with that, Christine said (and I'll never forget this): "I can have Carol call you." Understanding what that meant, I assured her that was not necessary. I told her we'd get back on it.

I called and awoke Tanvir Hassan, one of the original WHIP! programmers who met me at the Alameda office. Tanvir had a theory that the plug-in was not working, because the DWF MIME type was not registered on the server. This seems so obvious now, but recall that this is 1995, and mime was most well known as a strange and silent type of street performance. So Tanvir modified the WHIP! code to respond to JPEG instead of DWF and rebuilt a test version of the plug-in. The JPEG MIME type was already in place on servers. We renamed our DWF files to have .JPG extensions. We tried them on the server. It worked! So Tanvir's test demonstrated that it was indeed the missing MIME type.

So now all we needed to do was to get the drawing/x-dwf MIME type added to the Autodesk web servers, and our DWF files would work with .DWF extensions. By this time it was 4:00 AM on Monday. I called IT Administrator Susan Kwong at home and woke her up. I told her that I needed her to add a MIME type to the production Autodesk web servers. She said she would be glad to do that on some staging servers, test them for 2 weeks, and then make the change to the production servers. I explained that we did not have 2 weeks. We had only hours. Although I really had no idea how to do so, I told her: "I can have Carol call you." Susan updated the Autodesk web servers at 7:00 AM California time. The press briefing was held. The technology preview worked. We made it with 3 hours to spare.

Comparison of Commercial Printing Formats

Last year while I was working as a DWF Technical Evangelist, Dale Carlin of PacBlue Reprographics asked me to compare the various file formats used in the commercial printing industry - also known as reprography. Together he and I, along with fellow Autodesk employee Jennifer Toton, came up with the following chart.

As the DWF format gains acceptance in more and more workflows, customers will want to send those same files to reprographers. Autodesk continues to work with its various partners in the commercial printing industry. Although our customers have historically sent plot files to reprographers for printing, more and more customers are generating DWF files instead of plot files. Customers have various options based on the software in use at the reprographic shop.

• The downloadable and free Océ Client Tools batch process DWF files into LDF files. The LDF files can then be sent to a reprographer via Océ Plan Center. Alternatively, reprographers using Océ Repro Desk Server 1.6.3 can accept DWF files and automatically convert them to LDF using a makeldf.exe utility. For these reprographers, customers send them DWF files directly. Océ Repro Desk 2.0, whose release is imminent, supports DWF files right out of the box.
• PLP PlotWorks 5.5.1 features a PlotWorks DWF to Tiff module. This module is available at no cost to reprographers who have a maintenance contract with PLP. For these reprographers, customers send them DWF files for printing.
• The KIP 3000 includes DWF support via the KIP Powerprint 6 software and has been shipping since October 2005. Powerprint supports DWF on a variety of KIP devices.

The future of DWF is best summed up by a posting from Aitor Olaso of Cianoplan Reprographics on the Apprentice [Reprographics] Yahoo discussion forum:

I like the DWF idea. It’s an 'intelligent' file, and this means our clients will use it for sending information. Making PLT files for us, and only for us, must not be a good job for our clients. The best way that will improve their job is using the same file (DWF in this case) for several things (sharing information, order printing, asking for quotes, and so on).

Autodesk will continue to work with its partners in the commercial printing industry to ensure that as well as integrating with workflow solutions that go beyond the paper, DWF files make it to paper with accuracy and efficiency.

Warning: DWF Files Can Be Measured

While we are on the topic of Autodesk Inventor, there was a recent discussion.autodesk.com thread in the autodesk.inventor newsgroup regarding DWF files and their ability to be measured.

For 2D measurement, Autodesk Design Review provides a length tool, a polyline tool, and an area tool.

• The length tool measures the distance between two points. Because DWF files retain the intelligence of the original design, measurements can be taken by snapping to appropriate shapes.
• The polyline tool measures the cumulative length of multiple polyline segments, including rectangles.
• The area tool measures the area of a polygon or rectangle.

For 3D, Autodesk Design Review can measure:

• distances between points, edges, center points, or any combination of these,
• angles between edges, and
• radii of circles and arcs.

Autodesk Inventor produces very precise DWF files that can be accurately measured. Although some discussion group members felt that additional information may be required, others felt that the combination of rich metadata (such as material properties) and the ability to accurately measure, could allow an unscrupulous person to reverse engineer a product from a DWF file. They felt that DWF files should be posted to the general public with this in mind. Autodesk is working with its customers on ways to allow or disallow measurement for specific DWF files.

A DWF file is an artifact of the design process. It is certainly not as intellectually rich as original 3D part model or 3D assembly model data with constraints and interrelationships among the components. On the other hand, a DWF file is certainly richer than something like a plot file. Even so, given an adequate set of plans on paper, products can be reverse engineered. Thus it is important to safeguard intellectual property regardless of its form. Autodesk Inventor R11 DWF Extension, available to Autodesk Inventor subscription customers, provides the ability to create a measurement-disabled DWF. Autodesk Design Review 2007 honors the disablement.

Object Properties from Autodesk Inventor

With Autodesk’s DWF file format, the new industry standard for sharing design information, it’s about more than just a pretty picture. Yes it is true that design information is visually rich. For example, 3D models typically have texture, bump, environment, and reflection map rendering requirements. Even 2D contains high fidelity geometry and raster images. As a result, DWF includes sophisticated graphics rendering capabilities; however, DWF also harnesses the underlying design intelligence of design data in the form of object properties. Object properties are attached directly to 3D objects and 2D geometry using Autodesk Inventor. All of the object property data is transferred to the DWF file when the model is published from Inventor. When a user views the resulting DWF file and selects an object, the object properties display within the user interface of Autodesk DWF Viewer and Autodesk Design Review.

This additional information gives users an even better understanding of the graphical information presented.

Users have a variety of options when working with object properties. The properties can be used to provide additional information to address common issues related to mechanical design:

To Answer a Mechanical Design Question	Use Object Properties such as
What are the physical characteristics of this part?	area, center of gravity, density, mass, material, matter, volume
Where can I order this part?	catalog web link, forward to, mailstop, part number, part type name, received from, revision number, stock number, source, telephone number, vendor
Who worked on this part?	author, designer, editor, engineer, checked by, client, engineering approved by, manager, manufacturing approved by, office, publisher, recorded by, typist
When and for whom is this part being made?	owner, date completed, destination, recorded date, user status
To what project does this part belong?	authority, cost center, department, division, document number, group, project
How is this part to be used?	category, comments, description, disposition, keywords, language, purpose, subject, title

All of the property data gets automatically transferred to the DWF file when the model is published from Inventor. With intelligent data, workflow solutions based on DWF go beyond the paper for the mechanical industry.

Autodesk Viewing History

Since this is a historic day, how about a little Autodesk history? Autodesk DWG TrueView represents another chapter in the Autodesk history of viewing design data. Over the years, the Autodesk viewing strategy has constantly been adapted to meet customer needs.

The original AutoCAD drawing (DWG) viewer was Autodesk View. Back in the days of R12, AutoCAD ran on DOS. You recall DOS - the operating system with the 640K limitation. As an operating system on what we would consider today as primitive hardware, CPU cycles were at a premium. As such, DWG reading functionality was not cleanly separable (as it exists in Real DWG today) from AutoCAD. Autodesk View had its own code base (collection of source files modified by programmers to create a product) that was originally developed by the Sirlin Group.

With the internet boon in 1995, Autodesk customers wanted to share designs on the web. Bandwidth was such that 2400 baud modems were still the rage. This made it impractical for Netscape Navigator Plug-ins to be larger than a megabyte. With this in mind, the plug-in needed to be simple. Anything complicated like reading a DWG would be too large. So Brian Mathews invented the DWF format. The format featured file compression and tessellated (ready to draw) geometry. The easiest way to create such a file was to have the WHIP ADI video driver for AutoCAD R13 dump its display list to a file. Thus the Netscape Navigator Plug-in inherited the WHIP! name from its AutoCAD predecessor. The DWFOut command first appeared as an add-on in the Autodesk Internet Publishing Kit for AutoCAD R13. DWF files were used like JPG files, but users could pan and zoom for additional detail.

So now Autodesk had two different viewers, Autodesk View and WHIP!, with two separate teams maintaining two separate code bases. The decision was made to combine the two products to reduce costs and provide customers with a single viewer that could meet both needs. Customers welcomed the idea. Although WHIP! had a rich API, its architecture could never provide the measurement capability of Autodesk View. The architecture of Autodesk View could not load DWF files as quickly as WHIP!. So Volo View was created by starting with the code base used for the Autodesk Actrix product line. A free version existed, Volo View Express, and one that was sold - Volo View.

As Volo View evolved, so did other Autodesk design products. Autodesk Inventor became popular and its customer base also needed a viewer. The strategy was to make Volo View the viewer for all Autodesk products. So Volo View was updated to read DWG, DXF, DWF, and IDW files. Despite having the file formats in common, the Volo View code base was separate from AutoCAD and Inventor. It was constantly in a race to duplicate the viewing functionality of new releases of AutoCAD and Inventor. Even small differences in functionality such as plotting line patterns were decried by customers. As a product, Volo View grew larger and more complicated than either AutoCAD or Inventor. Even with the improved bandwidth, customers balked at the 25MB download size.

Rather than have Volo View try to view all formats, Autodesk decided to have all products output a common format - DWF. By focusing on one format, the viewer could be small to download. The viewer would be independent of changes to design authoring applications. The format could handle both 2D and 3D. With this in mind, the Autodesk Design Review product was created. It shared a code base with the free Autodesk DWF Viewer and DWF Toolkit. (To make this story a little more challenging, the original name of the Autodesk DWF Viewer was the Autodesk Express Viewer - taking after its free Volo View Express predecessor. Another wrinkle is that Autodesk Design Review was originally named Autodesk DWF Composer.) The shared code base allowed problems corrected in one product to also be fixed in the other. Like its Volo View predecessor, Autodesk Design Review provided markup and measurement capabilities. It also allowed aggregation of DWF content which Volo View did not provide. As a replacement for Volo View, a DWG viewer was also included, so users who received an occasional DWG could create a DWF and leverage Autodesk Design Review functionality. In this case, the DWG viewer was created from the AutoCAD code base, so it inherited any new viewing functionality with new releases of AutoCAD. The Inventor View application is based on the same approach applied to Autodesk Inventor.

Although Autodesk Design Review continues to be very successful, there is still a class of Autodesk customers who prefer to collaborate using native DWG files. This class of user is typically a design team over a LAN. For these users, the 100MB download of a DWG viewer is not an issue compared to a 10MB download of a DWF viewer. To satisfy this class of users, Autodesk DWG TrueView was created. It too is created from the AutoCAD code base. Autodesk DWG TrueView will be included as the DWG viewer on future Autodesk Design Review CDs.

So we have come full circle. Autodesk provides viewers targeted to specific user needs. The current product line does not suffer the woes of its predecessors that were developed and maintained separately. This is good for Autodesk and Autodesk customers alike.