javaautocaddxfdwg

AutoCAD library in Java to read .dwg files?


Is there any open-source Java or JavaScript library available to parse .dwg files and get the objects from it.

I would like to extract data from a table of text for my project.

It seems that the AutoCAD developer community prefers .NET and C/C++ over JAVA.

The only free alternative I found is by converting .dwg to .dxf first and using the Kabeja lib to read from it.


Solution

  • Credits to all who have answered, I've tested all your proposition and here's what I've found , as of 2015:

    There is currently no free AND reliable solution to read and manipulate .dwg and .dxf files. This applies especially to latest versions of AutoCAD, ex : Autocad 2010, Autocad 2013 etc, RF 2013, RF 2010.

    Reliable (and expensive) solutions would be Teigha by ODA (2000$ a year) and RealDWG in C# by Autocad (5000$ a year)...

    Cheaper alternatives are as such :

    Open-source libraries such as Kabeja and YCad may be able to deal with older AutoCAD versions but do not expect much from them as these projects are inactive since a few years ago. It's worth to keep an eye out for Apache Tika though, since they started writing parsers for .dwg files but development has been slow.

    On a personal note, I think that AutoDesk has a strong and selfish monopoly on the CAD market now and they are making it difficult for others to join in. The format's version of .dwg files changes so often and I guess open-source developers will have to give up at some point and use the official product instead.

    Let's hope for more open-source solutions in the coming years