[Qgis-developer] Make QGIS interact with LibreCAD.

Mon Apr 22 05:40:15 PDT 2013

I would like to see some changes in the snapping interface. If you got some 30+ layers it is really difficult to find a specific layer. A layer tree for snapping just like for the legend would be great. And add the tree as tab like the browser.

Von: qgis-developer-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:qgis-developer-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] Im Auftrag von antoniolocandro
Gesendet: Montag, 22. April 2013 14:36
An: bernhard.stroebl at jena.de; diego.gnesi at gmail.com
Cc: qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org
Betreff: Re: [Qgis-developer] Make QGIS interact with LibreCAD.

I would say add CAD tools within QGIS,

1. Extend
2. Trim
3. Snapping environment
4. digitise using either icons or commands on a console
5. Intersection, etc.

CAD tools are faster for digitising and more precise, having that possibility from within QGIS would make it so much better, I find digitising in QGIS very limited so for me right now its not to a point I can recommend it since in my industry we do a lot of complex shapes and edits.

Sent from Samsung tablet

Bernhard Ströbl <bernhard.stroebl at jena.de<mailto:bernhard.stroebl at jena.de>> wrote:
Hi Diego,

based on a discussion [1] on this list a couple of months ago I started
coding some of the missing tools as my time allows. This is going to be
a Python plugin made from scratch.
What I do have right now is:
1) Dissolve multi geometries (code from Alexandre Neto's plugin)
2) Split feature with feature of another layer
3) Cut out feature with polygon of another layer

I can share what I have on github. Maybe you want to have a look or join in.

What would be the tools you have in mind (I do not know LibreCAD)?

Bernhard

[1]
http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/more-advanced-editing-tools-td5019552.html

Am 22.04.2013 13:29, schrieb Diego Gnesi Bartolani:
> Hi Bernhard,
>
> I'll take your opinion into account. I'm still in a preliminary phase
> and I'm still deciding. I verified that adding shapefile support to
> LibreCAD is relatively simple, due to the good architecture of
> LibreCAD's IO and geometry classes. Now I'll test how hard is adding
> advanced cad tools to QGIS and how much time it can require to me.
> Then I'll compare all the pros and cons of the two solutions and I'll
> start to work. I need to finish the work before september, when I'll
> have to use it in my job).
> I'm not an expert of the QGIS API, and I need to study the source code
> and the documentation in order to know precisely how can I interact
> with QGIS while drawing:
>
> - changing the snapping behavior and override the default one when required;
> - having context menus with CTRL + right click (like on AutoCAD);
> - drawing temporary entities (i.e. to trace extension lines);
> - forcing the pointer to move along specific directions inside the map canvas;
> - fast accessing to vertices, lines and angles of the existing shapes,
> also for polygons.
>
> I also need to understand if I can do all these things from a plugin
> or do I need to make changes to the QGIS source code (I'll try to
> avoid this).
> I'll update this threads with all my progresses in the next days.
>
> Diego
>
> 2013/4/22 Bernhard Ströbl<bernhard.stroebl at jena.de<mailto:bernhard.stroebl at jena.de>>:
>> Hi Diego,
>>
>> some of my users with more complex editing tasks (and familiar with CAD
>> software) are complaining about not having similar possibilities in QGIS and
>> I admit that our CAD has much more to offer in that respect (snapping,
>> construction), so thanks for the move.
>> IMHO the best would be to have CAD-like functions in QGIS (strategy #1)
>> because
>> 1) many people missing these functions already might use some CAD or another
>> to get their work done and are exchanging data between the two systems (with
>> all problems), so strategy #2 would simply exchange their CAD software (if
>> they are willing to change)
>> 2) and more important: many things that work in CAD do not work in GIS and
>> vice versa, e.g. CAD: line color, hatching, dimensioning...., GIS:
>> attributes. Splines could be resolved into polylines, resembling the
>> original spline, though. In short words: CAD is about drawing, GIS is about
>> data modelling. So if you have the functions in QGIS you can more easily
>> prevent users from doing silly things.
>>
>> my 2 ct
>>
>> Bernhard
>>
>> Am 21.04.2013 12:52, schrieb Diego Gnesi Bartolani:
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Yesterday I posted in a wrong thread, so I'm opening a new one. I'll
>>> copy and paste the previous message and add some notes. Sorry for the
>>> mess!
>>>
>>> Original post:
>>>
>>> I am an Italian archaeologist and an enthusiastic QGIS user. I do what
>>> I can to spread the knowledge about QGIS and other open source
>>> softwares to my university students (I am a contract professor at the
>>> Basilicata University and some days ago I've become contract professor
>>> at the Specialization School of Archeology of Udin, Venice and
>>> Trieste). The main difficulty I have with open source GIS is the
>>> advanced editing of vector layers. QGIS doesn't offer too much support
>>> for digitizing, the CAD Tools plugin has some useful functions but is
>>> far from being complete and the kind of interaction that it proposes
>>> is not very productive and time-saving (it's not a critic: CAD Tools
>>> saved my life a lot of time, and I want to thank the developers and
>>> maintainers). Many times, I had to convert my vector layers to dxf and
>>> back in order to perform some complex tasks (with all kind of
>>> conversion problems, like the preservation of the attributes values,
>>> etc.).
>>> I have some experience in programming (about ten years of
>>> developement, mainly in C# with the .NET Framework, before I switched
>>> to Linux), and I would like to try (only try, without promising
>>> anything!!) to implement complete CAD tools and functions (If there
>>> isn't and analogous project already active; in that case, nevermind!).
>>>
>>> I think that developing a CAD plugin from scratch is very hard to me
>>> and maybe not the better way to get good results, so I'm oriented to
>>> try to augment the interaction between QGIS and an existing CAD
>>> software (I'm thinking to LibreCAD). I thought to two possible
>>> strategies:
>>>
>>> 1. Use the LibreCAD library and source code to develop a C++ QGIS plugin;
>>> 2. Create a shapefile/spatialite/postgis driver for LibreCAD in order
>>> to edit those formats inside LibreCAD.
>>> 3. Convert some layers of the QGIS project in a dxf file and back
>>> (each QGIS layer in a different layer of the final dxf file).
>>>
>>> I'm asking your opinion about which of those ways could be the faster
>>> or the better to implement, or which one is impossible to undertake
>>> according to your knowledge of the QGIS API.
>>>
>>> My doubts are:
>>>
>>> Strategy #1: Probably the ideal one, but does the implementation of
>>> complex snaps or constraints against the features of other layers
>>> (i.e. midpoint, parallels, etc.) require changes to the QGIS API, or
>>> all these operations can be contained on a plugin? Is it better to
>>> work directly on QGIS vector layers or to create a plugin layer, edit
>>> it and then commit the changes to the vector layer? The conversion
>>> could help me to manage geometries in the way LibreCAD wants. Is it
>>> possible in your opinion to have an interactive shell (i.e. draw the
>>> first point, and then inserting the coordinates of the second point)?
>>>
>>> Strategy #2: Probably the easier, but I should find a way to disable
>>> some LibreCAD functions (i.e. the drawing of splines, or the drawing
>>> of points on a line layer) without disseminating my changes all over
>>> LibreCAD's source files. For this kind of solution I'll ask to the
>>> developers of LibreCAD.
>>>
>>> Strategy #3: The problem is on committing the changes of the dxf file
>>> to the original layer: how to specify that a line in the dxf file must
>>> replace the geometry of and existing record of the original spatialite
>>> layer? Maybe it's impossible, it doesn't seem to me that I can put on
>>> a dxf file the necessary metadata to preserve a link to the original
>>> features.
>>>
>>> What do you think? And what do you actually do when you have to draw
>>> complex shapes on shapefiles or other vector layers?
>>>
>>> NEW COMMENTS:
>>>
>>> - Antonio Locandro is compiling a list of required CAD features. It
>>> would be very useful, so please Antonio, get me a link to this list
>>> when it's finished.
>>> - The more I explore QGIS and LibreCAD source codes, the more I'm
>>> convincing that integrating LibreCAD's tools on QGIS is very
>>> difficult, and it would be easier to develop those tools from scratch.
>>> To get the best results in a short amount of time, I think that I
>>> could work to make shapefiles and other vector layers editable in
>>> LibreCAD (using GDAL). This solution has the issue that it doesn't
>>> allow to snap to other QGIS layers, nevertheless it could be of great
>>> help and available in a reasonable amount of time. Then, when I have
>>> more practice with QGIS and LibreCAD APIs, I'll try to do something
>>> better (i.e. develop a "QGIS driver" for LibreCAD in order to open the
>>> whole QGIS project in LibreCAD, organized by layers).
>>> I'm waiting for the answers to an analogous thread in LibreCAD's mailing
>>> list:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://forum.librecad.org/Using-LibreCAD-s-tools-on-GIS-vector-layers-td5707930.html
>>>
>>> I think that I'm going to work on this project in a few weeks.
>>>
>>> Let me know what do you think and if you have suggestions.
>>>
>>> Diego Gnesi
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