VBA to convert DWG files to PDF

[Glenn_Suggs]

Hello everyone... I'm trying to convert AutoCad DWGs to PDFs using VBA (in Access). I have a reference set up to the Adobe Acrobat 10.0 Type Library but I'm trying to get the correct syntax to do a CreatePDF on all DWGs in a folder. This would include subfolders and this does work when going through the Adobe UI. Does anyone know the code for this, or would it take a loop with as many iterations as there are DWGs? I've looked through all the documentation I can find and I can't seem to get a handle on this. Thanks in advance... Glenn

[ranman256]

IF Autocad allows vb, then you must print thru Autocad to the PDF printer.

[Glenn_Suggs]

Actually, I was thinking of doing this without going through AutoCad. It can be done in Adobe's user interface without having Autocad installed on the machine. Adobe has Autocad filters included to work around that. So I figured it must be possible to automate with VBA. I just can't find the VBA syntax for Adobe's object model.

[ItsMe]

Hello Glenn,

I believe what you will want is OLE Automation via the AcroExch class. I have not tried to manage DWG files within Acrobat. I know Illustrator can handle these...

If I were trying to get the job done, I would start with the reference guide linked to in this post.
https://www.accessforums.net/code-re...tml#post222559

There may be an updated version of the reference but that is where I would start. Also, yes, you will want to iterate your DWG files within a given directory.

[Glenn_Suggs]

Thanks, ItsMe... It looks like that will do the trick. I ran the code you referred to me on one dwg and it worked saving one dwg as a pdf file. However, do you know how I might adjust the parameters so that it saves all pages that were in the original document? I took off all the parameters and no pages were saved with the pdf. So I got an error when I tried to open it with Adobe. Thanks, Glenn... How's everything on the west coast?

[ItsMe]

Things are going strong out here, Glenn. I have some things to take care of, at the moment. A little later I will review your post and see what I can come up with.

[ItsMe]

OK, that was not simple. Well, actually, it is simple. I just don't know where to find good documentation. Anyway, you may need more functionality than just creating the PDF. The following is not going to let you add comments, play around with layers, etc. There are other references that can be made to take advantages of additional libraries. I had to add PDFMaker API 1.0 Type Library

Also, I stumbled across something about acrobat no longer supporting 3D edits directly and you need a third party add in. Anyway, this worked for me. I used Illustrator to create a simple DWG and all the layers were in the PDF when all was said and done.

'Reference PDFMaker API 1.0 Type Library
Dim strGetFile As String
Dim strMakeFile As String

strGetFile = "\\ServerName\Folder\Sample.dwg"
strMakeFile = \\ServerName\Folder\Result.pdf

Dim objPDFMaker As New PDFMAKERAPILib.PDFMakerApp
Dim lngResult As Long

lngResult = objPDFMaker.CreatePDF(strGetFile, strMakeFile)

'Returns 0 if good
'Returns -1 if bad

[Glenn_Suggs]

Now THAT looks like it definitely worked. No AutoCad on this machine and yet it appears to have completely converted the DWG to PDF. And by the way, the intent WAS to convert the file as is... no need for added comments, layer manipulation, etc. We just need a job that will make PDF copies of all DWG files that reside in a folder or any of its subfolders. And I have code that will iterate through all subfolders of a main folder. Then keeping the file name and only changing to the .PDF is all that is left to do.
Thanks again and... left's hear it for the west coast one more time... hip hip... hooray... hip hip...