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AutoLisp/VBA Drawing
Setup
A well written drawing setup routine
can save hours in any drawing office and is invaluable when it comes to
enforcing drawing office standards. There is nothing worse than a
drawing office where everybody "does there own thing"
in regards to drawing setups. As well as this, a setup routine and
template drawings/drawing sheets can be given to third party companies
to ensure that they comply with your standards and specifications. This
month we're going to have a look at a simple but powerful setup routine
first written in plain old AutoLisp and then written using the Dark Side
- otherwise known as VBA for the uninitiated. Let's have a look at the
program in action :
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Usage :
Select your
Drawing Sheet type first, then the Drawing Size, select a Scale
and then the OK button and away you go.
To use your
own drawing sheets in this routine, please refer to the Readme
file which is included within the downloadable drawing sheet zip
file. (The download link is at the bottom of the next page -
hey, we have to make sure you read everything.)
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This program not only inserts a chosen
type and size of drawing sheet into your drawing, but also sets your
text height and dimension scaling to suit the scale factor.
You can even preset your own system variables within the program. Go for
it, it's yours for ever and ever to do with as you wish.
First the DCL coding.
Copy and paste this into Notepad and save it as "ALSetup.dcl."
//DCL CODING STARTS HERE
alsetup : dialog {
label = "CAD Encoding Drawing Setup";
: row {
: boxed_radio_column {
label = "Choose Sheet";
: radio_button {
label = "&Engineering Sheets";
key = "rb1";
value = "1";
}
: radio_button {
label = "&Architectural Sheets";
key = "rb2";
}
: radio_button {
label = "&Electrical Sheets";
key = "rb4";
}
: radio_button {
label = "&Blank Sheets";
key = "rb5";
}
}
: boxed_radio_column {
label = "Choose Size :";
: radio_button {
label = "A&0 - 1189 x 841";
key = "rb6";
value = "1";
}
: radio_button {
label = "A&1 - 841 x 594";
key = "rb7";
}
: radio_button {
label = "A&2 - 594 x 420";
key = "rb8";
}
: radio_button {
label = "A&3 - 420 x 297";
key = "rb9";
}
: radio_button {
label = "A&4 - 297 x 210";
key = "rb10";
}
}
}
: edit_box {
label = "&Enter Drawing Scale :" ;
key = "eb1" ;
edit_width = 8 ;
}
:spacer { width = 1;}
ok_cancel ;
: paragraph {
: text_part {
label = "Designed and Created";
}
: text_part {
label = "by CAD Encoding";
}
}
}
//DCL CODING ENDS HERE
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And next, here's the
AutoLisp coding. No Visual Lisp this time, just plain AutoLisp.
("Phew," I can hear a lot of you saying, wiping your delicate
brows in relief.)
Copy and paste this into Notepad and save it as "ALSetup.lsp."
;CODING STARTS HERE
(prompt "\nCAD Encoding Setup loaded - Type \"ALSETUP\" to run....")
(defun C:ALSETUP ( / userclick dcl_id siz typ x y l size n oldblip
oldecho oldsnap #dwgsc)
;save system settings
(setq oldblip (getvar "BLIPMODE")
oldecho (getvar "CMDECHO")
oldsnap (getvar "OSMODE")
);setq
;set system variables
(setvar "BLIPMODE" 0)
(setvar "CMDECHO" 0)
(setvar "OSMODE" 0)
;load the dialog
(setq dcl_id (load_dialog "alsetup.dcl"))
(if (not (new_dialog "alsetup" dcl_id))
(exit)
);if
;define default settings
(set_tile "rb1" "1")
(set_tile "rb6" "1")
(set_tile "eb1" "1")
(mtile)
(setq siz "A0")
(setq typ "e")
;define radio buttons action statements
(action_tile "rb1" "(setq typ \"e\") (mtile)")
(action_tile "rb2" "(setq typ \"a\") (mtile)")
(action_tile "rb4" "(setq typ \"el\") (mtile)")
(action_tile "rb5" "(setq typ \"b\") (mtile)")
(action_tile "rb6" "(setq siz \"A0\") (mtile)")
(action_tile "rb7" "(setq siz \"A1\") (mtile)")
(action_tile "rb8" "(setq siz \"A2\") (mtile)")
(action_tile "rb9" "(setq siz \"A3\") (mtile)")
(action_tile "rb10" "(setq siz \"A4\") (mtile)")
;define Cancel action statements
(action_tile "cancel"
"(done_dialog)(setq userclick nil)")
;define OK action statements
(action_tile "accept"
(strcat
"(progn (setq #dwgsc (atof (get_tile \"eb1\")))"
"(done_dialog) (setq userclick T))"
);progn
)
;display the dialog
(start_dialog)
;unload the dialog
(unload_dialog dcl_id)
;check the flag setting
(if userclick
;if it's set, do the following
(progn
;set up the sheet size
(cond
((= siz "A0") (setq x 1189.0 y 841.0))
((= siz "A1") (setq x 841.0 y 594.0))
((= siz "A2") (setq x 594.0 y 420.0))
((= siz "A3") (setq x 420.0 y 297.0))
((= siz "A4") (setq x 297.0 y 210.0))
);cond
;Construct drawing sheet name
(setq size (strcat typ siz))
;set system variables according to scale
(setvar "DIMSCALE" #dwgsc)
(setvar "USERR1" #dwgsc)
(setvar "LTSCALE" (* #dwgsc 10))
(setvar "REGENMODE" 1)
(setvar "TILEMODE" 1)
(setq n (* 3.5 #dwgsc))
;define the limits list
(setq L (list (* x #dwgsc) (* y #dwgsc)))
;set up the drawing
(command "LIMITS" "0,0" L
"ZOOM" "W" "0,0" L
"STYLE" "italict" "italict" N "" "" "" "" ""
"INSERT" size "0,0" #dwgsc "" "" )
;inform the user
(prompt "\n ")
(prompt "\nOkay - Setup Routine Complete")
);progn
);if
;reset system variables
(setvar "BLIPMODE" oldblip)
(setvar "CMDECHO" oldecho)
(setvar "OSMODE" oldsnap)
;finish clean
(princ)
);defun
;;;---------------------------
;function to set the focus to
;the scale edit box
(defun mtile ()
(mode_tile "eb1" 2)
);defun
;;;--------------------------
;load clean
(princ)
;CODING ENDS HERE
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Store both files and the
drawing sheet files in a directory within your AutoCAD search path. Now
type (load "ALSetup") at the AutoCAD command prompt,
and then "ALSetup" to run the setup program.
On the next page we'll
have a look at doing the same thing using VBA, but this time we'll make
use of drawing template files.
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