December 14, 2020
by Tibor Lorántfy

Getting started with Archicad-Python Connection

This tutorial shows you how to write a Python script from scratch based on the Archicad Automation API. Archicad Automation API Basics The goal of the Automation API is to support workflow automation. A Python wrapper is provided by Graphisoft, but you can use any programming language to access this…


March 16, 2020
by Tibor Lorántfy
modified at June 23, 2021

How to get MDID for my Add-On?

All add-ons must have a resource named ‘MDID’ with a resource ID of 32500. This resource defines the unique ID of the add-on.The ‘MDID’ is composed from two parts: Developer ID: the ID of the developer, given by GRAPHISOFT after a successfull registration. Local ID: the ID of the add-on,…


September 11, 2019
by Tibor Lorántfy
modified at June 23, 2021

Browser control in ARCHICAD and JavaScript connection

Since ARCHICAD 23 the Dialog Manager modul was extended with a Browser control. The Browser control uses the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF). Using this control an embedded browser can be implemented inside ARCHICAD, which can load any site from a given URL. Using JavaScript the loaded site can communicate with…


June 26, 2019
by Tibor Lorántfy
modified at July 19, 2019

New API features in ARCHICAD 23

This outline summarizes the major new features and changes in the API available with ARCHICAD 23. Technical changes [Windows only] ARCHICAD 23 uses the Visual Studio 2017 toolset for building Add-On projects. Do not worry, you can use Visual Studio 2019 also for building! Make sure to set “Visual Studio…


January 16, 2019
by Tibor Lorántfy
modified at January 21, 2019

How to Create Multi-Language Add-On

Content Windows platform macOS platform Name of Add-Ons folder in different Language versions of ARCHICAD Windows platform Introduction Before ARCHICAD 22 an ARCHICAD Add-On was a single “.apx” executable file which contained both executable code and resources. That prevented to create multi-language Add-Ons, the Add-On developers have to build separate…


July 5, 2018
by Tibor Lorántfy
modified at July 19, 2019

Hello, world! Part 2: Dialog with text, SVG icon and button

Ákos Somorjai has already written a post about “Hello, world!”. It helps to create a simple text element with “Hello, API world!” content. Now, in this post, I will show you how to create a simple dialog with a “Hello World” text label on it. And this will be also…


June 12, 2018
by Tibor Lorántfy
modified at December 12, 2019

HDPI support using DG module

macOS HDPI Environment So called “Retina” display gives users ultra-sharp text and graphics without making the interface too small to see. To achive this the system renders the user interface with four times as many pixels (twice the vertical and twice the horizontal resolutions). ARCHICAD supports perfect high resolution display on…


June 12, 2018
by Tibor Lorántfy
modified at March 6, 2023

Tools for debugging (updated)

The API depends on other modules (which are also part of the Development Kit) which support platform independent development. Many API structures and functions use the GS::UniString class from GSRoot module for Unicode strings, or the IO::Location class from the InputOutput module which represents file system independent file locations. GRAPHISOFT publishes…


January 12, 2017
by Tibor Lorántfy
modified at January 17, 2017

ARCHICAD GUI Icon Style Guide

ARCHICAD Icon Style Guide is a handbook for both GRAPHISOFT’s Product Designers and ARCHICAD Add-On manufacturers to help maintain a consistent visual appearance for the icons in our products that we want to reserve in the future. The purpose of this document is to list and detail all the rules…


December 21, 2016
by Tibor Lorántfy
modified at June 12, 2017

Life of ARCHICAD Add-Ons

An Add-On is a DLL or shared library which is not loaded into the memory by default. ARCHICAD loads a normal Add-On into the memory only when the user invokes one of it’s commands. When the Add-On has finished its operation ARCHICAD unloads the Add-On again (unless certain conditions are…