de·caff Viewer

The de·caff Viewer version 3.x is a pure Java program for viewing AutoCAD® DWG, DXF and SHX files.

It can be used on any computer with a Java Runtime Environment installed. Usage is free, see License for more info.

DXF, DWG and SHX are formats created by AutoDesk, Inc. for their AutoCAD® programs family.

• DWG is the native file format for Autodesk’s AutoCAD® software and is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc.
• DXF (Data eXchange format) was designed for simplifying exchange with other CAD programs, although nowadays it does no longer fulfill this promise.
• SHX (compiled shapes) is an old font format still used by AutoCAD® related software.

Latest News

• 2021, December 13: Because customers asked: No, the viewer does not contain or make any use of Apache Log4J.

Download

Current version is 3.16.10 from Aug 31, 2023.

Click here to download caffviewer.jar

The above viewer requires Java 8. If you are stuck with Java 7 you can use the following download (Version 3.09.08 from May 3, 2018):

Click here to download older version running with Java 7

Installation

To run the viewer you’ll need a Java Runtime Environment installed. Minimum required version is 1.8 (also known as 8).

On Windows you can put the file caffviewer.jar anywhere you want and double-click it to start it.

On other operating systems you might also be able to double-click, otherwise you can use the following command line to start it:

java -jar caffviewer.jar

to improve the memory available for the program you should add a parameter like

java -mx3g -jar caffviewer.jar

This will start the viewer allowing it to use a maximum of 3GByte of memory, which is a good value for a machine with 4GByte installed. It will only work with a 64bit Java installation.

If you like you can append DXF or DWG files to the given command line. These will be immediately loaded.

Recognizing Memory Problems

There is a memory usage indicator in the status bar which shows you how much memory the viewer has allocated and how much of it it is using. If this indicator gets dark red the viewer’s memory is nearly exhausted which will slow down performance dramatically.

Getting an error box displaying “java.lang.OutOfMemory” is the fatal sign. There’s not enough memory available for the operation you are currently running (probably loading a file).

If you have several files open you can close some of them to free memory. The newly freed memory does not show directly in the memory indicator, but it will after the next garbage collection is run. Garbage collection is done automatically so you don’t have to care, but you can enforce one if you click on the memory indicator.

Allowing for More Memory

Basically to be able to use all your machine’s memory you should use a Java 64bit installation on a 64bit operating system. With 32bit Java you’ll always be restricted to some 1.5 GBytes.

Switch On Automatic Restart

In the Miscellaneous tab in the Settings dialog (found in the Options menu) there is a Restart the viewer with improved memory settings? option. If you enable this setting the viewer will try to restart itself with improved memory settings. Effectively it is started twice this way, but modern Java handles this very well, so you’ll not notice it.

See Give Java Applications More Memory if you are a interested how this is done.

Use a Script to Start The Viewer

This works well to give one program (e.g. the viewer) more memory. Basically just create a script which calls

java -mx1400m -jar caffviewer.jar 

When you call this script it will start the viewer with 1400MBytes of memory, which is a good value for 32bit-Java installations on a machine with at least 2GByte of memory. You can also use a g instead of a m to indicate GBytes, so with a 64bit-Java and 8GBytes of physical memory

java -mx6g -jar caffviewer.jar

is a good start.

You can find out whether the viewer is running on a 32bit or 64bit Java by checking the first row of the Java tab in the About dialog.

Allow All Java Programs To Use More Memory

The Java Control Panel (JCP) which comes which each Java installation allows to generally set parameters for all Java applications, including the maximum of memory they are allowed to use. In Windows you’ll find it in the Settings, on other operation systems you might have to search for a program called ControlPanel.

Start it and switch to the Java tab. Click the View… button. This will open a dialog titled Java Runtime Environment Settings. Here you can add Runtime Parameters for each Java version installed on your system. Generally some 75% of yxour physical memory is a good value, but for 32bit Java there is an upper limit, so you should never exceed 1400MB. As above the upper memory level is set with the switch -mx directly followed by the amount of memory, which you can postfix with either m (MBytes) or g (GBytes). So for a 32bit Java on a machine with at least 2GByte of physical memory insert the following into the Runtime Parameters column for each Java installed on your machine

-mx1400m

For a 64bit Java and 8GByte of physical RAM you can use

-mx6g

You can find out whether the viewer is running on a 32bit or 64bit Java by checking the first row of the Java tab in the About dialog.

(Java) Security Issues

You may have heard about Java being unsecure in the press. This is true for Java running inside your browser like Applets or Java Web Start (JWS). In that case Java tries to shield your computer from harm, but it had problems fulfilling that promise to 100% in the past. So if you don’t need to run Applets or JWS programs you definitely should disable Java in your browser.

The de·caff Viewer is like any program you run locally on your machine: it may do anything you can do. As with any program you download from the internet you’ll have to trust its provider. There is nothing much else shielding you from harm, and things you get for free should raise your caution.

I make my living as a freelancing programmer selling my time and also licenses for libraries and source code to other companies. The idea behind the viewer you can download here for free is that it is a good tool to show what I can provide.

Applets

At the moment there is no applet version of the viewer like my old DXF Viewer provides. The simple reason is that I consider Applets a doomed technology.

If there is any interest let me know if you consider otherwise. But be prepared that this will not come for free.

License

The viewer is not Open Source, but the usage of the viewer is free of any charge. You may download it and use it at your own risk. Although doing my best to make it a useful tool there is no guarantee for this.

Redistribution

Although I’d strongly recommend to download the viewer only from this web page because then you have the latest version (switch on automatic updates in the Settings to always have the latest version), and you can be sure that nobody tampered around with it.

Nevertheless, you may redistribute the file caffviewer.jar downloaded from this website if

• you don’t change it in any way.
• you take care to fulfill the licenses of 3rd party code used by the viewer as shown directly below.

If you want to redistribute the viewer you should take care of including the latest version. The viewer understands some command line arguments which may help with keeping itself up-to-date (this is an excerpt of what you get when you start the viewer with java -jar caffviewer.jar -help):

[...]
COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS:
Usually all arguments are interpreted as paths or URLs of DWG and DXF files.
These files are loaded into the viewer after startup.

There are some special constellations which start completely different behavior:
-help
	Print out this help and exit.
-version
	Print out the current version and exit.
-release
	Print out the release date and exit.
-uptodate
	Check whether the viewer is up-to-date.
	This prints an according message and exits with a dedicated code:
	0	there is a newer version available
	1	caffviewer is up-to-date, there is no newer version available
	2	an error occurred, up-to-date status is unknown
-getupdate <out.jar>
	Check whether an update is available and download it to file <out.jar>.
	Using caffviewer.jar as output might result in strange behavior of already
	running viewer processes (including this one) and is therefore discouraged.
	Exit codes:
	0	a a newer version was available and is written to <out.jar>
	1	caffviewer is up-to-date, there is no newer version available
	2	an error occurred
[...]

3rd Party Code

The viewer uses a few Open Source libraries. They run under the following licenses.

Apache 2.0 License

For unpacking files packed with bzip2 code from the Apache Ant project extracted by Kohsuke Kawaguchi is used. For displaying WMF (Windows Meta File) data code extracted from the Apache Batik project is used. Both are provided under the Apache 2.0 License. Thanks a lot!

Python Software Foundation License Agreement

One of my libs included in the viewer uses a port of the TimSort algorithm ported from Python. This code comes under the Python Software Foundation License Agreement:

PSF LICENSE AGREEMENT
1. This LICENSE AGREEMENT is between the Python Software Foundation ("PSF"), and
   the Individual or Organization ("Licensee") accessing and otherwise using Python
   3.11.1 software in source or binary form and its associated documentation.

2. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License Agreement, PSF hereby
   grants Licensee a nonexclusive, royalty-free, world-wide license to reproduce,
   analyze, test, perform and/or display publicly, prepare derivative works,
   distribute, and otherwise use Python 3.11.1 alone or in any derivative
   version, provided, however, that PSF's License Agreement and PSF's notice of
   copyright, i.e., "Copyright © 2001-2023 Python Software Foundation; All Rights
   Reserved" are retained in Python 3.11.1 alone or in any derivative version
   prepared by Licensee.

3. In the event Licensee prepares a derivative work that is based on or
   incorporates Python 3.11.1 or any part thereof, and wants to make the
   derivative work available to others as provided herein, then Licensee hereby
   agrees to include in any such work a brief summary of the changes made to Python
   3.11.1.

4. PSF is making Python 3.11.1 available to Licensee on an "AS IS" basis.
   PSF MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.  BY WAY OF
   EXAMPLE, BUT NOT LIMITATION, PSF MAKES NO AND DISCLAIMS ANY REPRESENTATION OR
   WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE
   USE OF PYTHON 3.11.1 WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY RIGHTS.

5. PSF SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO LICENSEE OR ANY OTHER USERS OF PYTHON 3.11.1
   FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR LOSS AS A RESULT OF
   MODIFYING, DISTRIBUTING, OR OTHERWISE USING PYTHON 3.11.1, OR ANY DERIVATIVE
   THEREOF, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF.

6. This License Agreement will automatically terminate upon a material breach of
   its terms and conditions.

7. Nothing in this License Agreement shall be deemed to create any relationship
   of agency, partnership, or joint venture between PSF and Licensee.  This License
   Agreement does not grant permission to use PSF trademarks or trade name in a
   trademark sense to endorse or promote products or services of Licensee, or any
   third party.

8. By copying, installing or otherwise using Python 3.11.1, Licensee agrees
   to be bound by the terms and conditions of this License Agreement.

You can find the ported code in the generics module of my de·caff Commons.

GNU General Public License version 2

Another sorting algorithm (dual pivot quick sort) from the OpenJDK project is also included. It comes under the GNU General Public License version 2.

You can find the ported code in the generics module of my de·caff Commons.

Public Domain Code

For displaying files dragged on the viewer FileDrop by Robert Harder is used. It’s in the public domain. Thank you, Robert!

Others

For displaying balloon tool tips the BalloonTip library by Bernhard Pauler and Tim Molderez is used. It is provided under the following license:

Copyright © 2011 Bernhard Pauler, Tim Molderez
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
      documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
    * Neither the name of the Balloon tip Developer Team nor the
      names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
      derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE BALLOON TIP DEVELOPER TEAM BE LIABLE FOR ANY
DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Thank you, Bernhard and Tim!

Source Code and Libraries

If you are a company interested in supporting DXF and DWG in your won Java application you can license various libraries and even the complete source code of the viewer.

See Licensing Information for more.

Automatic Updates

The viewer does not automatically check for updates, but you can enable this in its settings (Options > Settings > Automatic Update). If you enable automatic updates, the viewer will on each start download a small file from this server which contains current version information. Depending on the settings you chose it will either inform you about new versions or download them silently.

Supported AutoCAD® Features

There are various undocumented features in AutoCAD®, so full support is nearly impossible. The viewer does its best, and it is constantly improving.

Format Versions

• Supports textual and binary DXF format from the version written by AutoCAD® R7 up to 2018.

• Supports DWG from the version written by AutoCAD® R13 up to 2018.

• Supports SHX (binary shape files) in all known formats.

Call for Test Data

AutoCAD 2018 where the internal format of DWG and DXF was changed was released in March 2017. Sample files in this and in other format versions are very welcome for testing. AutoCAD has a 35 years history and its formats are very complex with a lot of quirks, so the more test data the better.

Entity Types

Entities are the drawable items in AutoCAD® like lines or arcs.

Even unknown entities not appearing in the above list might be supported when they provide proxy graphics. Usually this graphics creates a simpler rendering compared to the original entity’s rendering.

Even entities read but marked with a NO rendering in the table above might still be rendered somehow if they provide proxy graphics.

There are more than entities in DXF/DWG, see Supported Entities and Objects for a complete list.

ACIS Based Entities

Starting with R13 AutoCAD® uses a 3rd party library for specialized 3D operations and rendering. The entities which wrap this library are

• 3DSOLID
• BODY
• REGION
• SURFACE
  • LOFTEDSURFACE
  • EXTRUDEDSURFACE
  • PLANESURFACE
  • REVOLVEDSURFACE
  • SWEPTSURFACE

These entities are stored in a completely different format, which is even encrypted. The format itself is quite complex, and some of its features require complex mathematical operations, which makes complete support difficult. Therefore at the moment only REGION is supported, because it uses only the subset of the whole format which is necessary for 2D objects.

Properties

History

The de·caff Viewer is the successor of my de·caff DXF Viewer, for which implementation started in 1996. So it celebrated its 20th birthday in 2016. Time for a good program to retire, and make place for something new.

Versions