When you want to create a new symbol on your canvas from a symbol file, you can create a new symbol component and pass the file path into its Create() method.

CODSymbolComponent* pNewSymbol = new CODSymbolComponent(); pNewSymbol->Create("C:\MySymbols\Symbol1.sym");

This method loads in the symbol from the file, and then copies the imported symbol's information into the symbol object. You can place this symbol onto the canvas by using a CODInsertCommand or by calling CODModel::InsertComponents().