Integrating WebView2 with AutoCAD: A Rich UI for Data Visualization

AutoCAD's native UI is powerful, but sometimes we need modern, interactive, and web-based interfaces to enhance productivity.

This sample demonstrates how to integrate WebView2 inside AutoCAD using .NET, enabling developers to display rich HTML dashboards and visualize data extracted from AutoCAD drawings.

Data Extraction Overview

The extracted data is linked to an AutoCAD drawing. In this example, we use the AutoCAD 2025 Sample Drawing:
📂 \AutoCAD 2025\Sample\Mechanical Sample\Data Extraction and Multileaders Sample.dwg
📄 This sample contains the Grill Schedule.dxe file, which stores extracted data in a binary format.

Since .dxe files are binary, we use a new tool shipped with AutoCAD 2025 called BFMigrator.exe to convert them into a human-readable JSON file (.dxex).

The converted .dxex file is then parsed and sent to an embedded WebView2 instance, where a dynamic HTML dashboard is generated.

DXE to JSON Conversion

Below is the C# code snippet used to convert the binary .dxe file into a JSON .dxex file using BFMigrator.exe:

ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo
{
    FileName = BFMigrator,
    Arguments = $"\"{dxeFile}\" \"{dxexFile}\"",
    UseShellExecute = false,
    CreateNoWindow = true
};

Process process = new Process { StartInfo = psi };
process.Start();
process.WaitForExit(); // Ensure migration is complete

Build Instructions

git clone https://github.com/MadhukarMoogala/AcadWebView.git
cd AcadWebView
set ARXSDK_PATH=D:\YourPathToSDK\ARX2025
dotnet restore
dotnet build

Run Instructions

• Launch AutoCAD 2025
• Open the sample drawing
  • 📂 \AutoCAD 2025\Sample\Mechanical Sample\Data Extraction and Multileaders Sample.dwg
• Load the compiled .NET assembly
  • Run the NETLOAD command and select the compiled DLL.
• Run the WebView command
  • Execute WEBVIEWPAL in AutoCAD to launch the WebView2 dashboard.

DEMO

demo-webview.mp4

Once the WEBVIEWPAL command runs successfully:

• The WebView2 UI will launch inside an AutoCAD Palette.

• The extracted DXE data (now JSON) will be parsed and displayed.

• A dynamic HTML dashboard will visualize the extracted information.

Written By

APS Developer Advocate

Madhukar Moogala, LICENSE