This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (99 messages)
#VBPLAY.VBX
Message #184162
Can someone tell me what VBX version the VBPLAY VBX animation player is (e.g, 1, 2, or 3)? -TonyT.
Mike – Thanks.
#C2 Beta Area?
Message #4342
Is there an area for C2 BETA? If so, can I get access please? -TonyT.
#91388-
Binary DXF vs. DXB?
Message #91418
DXB files do not convey an AutoCAD drawing in its entirety. They only convey basic geometry. So, a comparison of the relative file sizes of DXFB and DXB isn't too meaningful. The DXB format is relatively unpopular as well, and I wouldn't recommend it for much. -TonyT.
Brian – Yes, You can pass XLISP.EXE the name of a .LSP file, and it'll execute it without putting you into the interpreter's read-eval-print loop. It will also automatically execute a file called INIT.LSP if it is found. -TonyT.
Dan – Ahhhh yes. XLISP 2.0 is a relatively more-robust subset of Common LISP, which is somewhat different from the LISP dialects that earlier versions of XLISP (and AutoLISP) are based on. For example, you won't find (while), (foreach) or (repeat) in XLISP, but you will find (do), (dolist), and…
Bill – Many of us have problems with network traffic, because AutoCAD keeps the temporary working database file in the same place as the .DWG file you're editing. It does this to ensure that you don't run out of disk space (e.g, if it were to place the workspace files…
Mark – Well, that's not a valid argument to (command). It looks like the programmer was trying to "Undo" the first leader segment, in which case, you should replace that expression with this one: (command ".dim" "lea" from to "u") -TonyT.
Mike – It's not a flame, its just a "heated discussion" – that's all. I'm not getting hostile with Peter or anyone else, on this subject, I just happen to have a difference of opinion with the visretain stuff. I think it stinks ande it makes XREFS into a real…
Brian – I've no feathers to ruffle . I've created plenty of DOS applications with XLISP. If you mean, can they "stand alone" without the XLISP interpreter, no they can't, but I can still use them anytime I want at a DOS prompt. Lisp Compilers are rather expensive, or at…
Peter – For what you're trying to do with XREF's I've been doing for several years, using AutoCAD blocks, and S::STARTUP. In R11, I revised my code to use XDATA to tell my startup procedure where the drawing that defines each block is, and every one of them is automatically…
Randy – No, there's no way to predict what the next handle will be. And, you can't rely on the assumption that they are allocated linearly or sequentially either. You would be putting yourself on thin ice if you did. I'm not sure why you need to put the handle…
Peter – "A third type of block"? Well, that's what they'll view it as, if you choose to name such a feature that way, but that's not necessarily the way it would/could/should work. It could, for example, be called "backdrop", or "background", or what have you, which helps to make…
Craig – You assumed correct. If you scale the distance 1.0 by 3.5x, the resulting distance is 3.5 units. -TonyT.
Scott – I'm not sure about your characterization of the "only fair way to judge it", but I can tell you that I think in terms of $$$$, because if AutoCAD were as inexpensive as Generic CAD, you wouldn't be where you are right now, reading this message. -TonyT.
Jeff – I think I responded to your first message on this, along with Duff. Did you receive it? Anyways, both Duff and myself asked you to provide a specific example, and you haven't done that. We see the (entmod) expression, but you cannot ask us to *guess* exactly where…
Bill – I think Tom was referring to the amount of memory that a drawing file consumes when it is loaded into the editor. The complexity of the fonts used will have an effect on that. -TonyT.
Peter – I hate to tell you this, but you're going to have some dissent on your hands. I for one am not interested in any further bastardization of External references. They were designed as a means of including a canonical representation of one drawing, in another. I will instead…
Bill – I think your observation could be clarified a bit. When you redefine a text style, existing text that references that style is not redefined to reflect the new style's attributes, with the exception of the font. That's how it works for all text, and that's how it was…
Mr. MacLeod: > If I had a copy..it would not have taken money from anyone's > pocket.. AutoDesks loss is incurred when a firm or entity that > would have otherwise purchased a copy, instead gets and uses one > illegally. Whenever I come across someone who is using a…
Brian – I'm not sure I understand your point. I told Daniel that he could get LISP compilers for both DOS, and Windows. I also mentioned to him, that he could get a LISP interpreter over on AIEXPERT, for free. There are quite a few LISP compilers available, most of…
Brian – Huh? Borland "or someone" dosn't make a LISP compiler. There are many compilers available for Common LISP, most of them will cost you an arm and a leg, because of the extensive work that goes into the development environment that comes with the compiler (e.g., embedded interpreter and…
Tom – You've got a 25+ megabyte swap file there, buddy! I don't know if its the font, or not, but if you can make some of the attributes hidden, or use ROMANS for editing, and ROMANT for plotting, that might help. Essentially, you've got a drawing that's probably generating…
Craig – That's exactly how it works right now. The AutoCAD SCALE command will by default, use an implied "Reference length" of 1.0, meaning that the distance from the basepoint to the cursor _IS_ the scale factor. You can see that distance and have it updated dynamically, by toggling your…
Mark – No, there's no way to have text that dynamically responds to changes in plotting scale. And, its rather difficult to do. If for example, your plotting scale were to change drastically from a large scale to a smaller one, then the text would have to become larger. And,…
Robert – You can get a LISP interpreter (and compiler I believe) for DOS and for Windows. You can also download David Betz's XLISP 2.0, from the AIEXPERT forum here on CompuServe (GO AIEXPERT). They also have a LISP section there complete with resident hard-core Common LISP and SCHEME freaks.…
Thomas – Something is causing the LOADING of ACAD.LSP to be terminated. It can also be a symbol conflict as well, where you are using the name that is assigned to one of the three routines somewhere else. If the file is not too large, and not proprietary, post it…
Jeff – You must manually examine all input that is destined for (entmod) (or just about any other AutoCAD operation), and validate it, to be sure that it is the proper type of data, an within the range that is accepted for whatever operation is using it. Without a more…
Phil – What you got was my opinion on nesting definitions. I can't be "right" or "wrong" on that, I don't think. I usually can spot the "stump the band" type of questions, and try to let someone else deal with them. I've made my share of mistakes, however. Down…
Evan – Fine, I'll take your word for it. -TonyT.
Michael – Try downloading CHELEV.LSP from Library 2 [AutoLISP/ADS]. -TonyT.
Randy – You say that it happens when you try to pull-down a menu? Hmmmm. It could be the ATI display driver. If you have access to another protected-mode driver, I'd suggest swapping that out first. -TonyT.
Brian – The "MCS" or Model Coordinate System is the coordinate system that a block's defining entities are expressed in. So, if you have a circle with a center at 2,2 in a block definition, that coordinate is in MCS coordinates, and it is translated to WCS coordinates by applying…
Phil – In AutoLISP, there's no benefit to nesting function definitions. The only reason that it is done in other LISP's is because it causes the execution of the nested functions to be dynamically-scoped (e.g., a local declared in a 'parent' function can be referenced from the environment of a…
Evan – Speaking of monitors, in your review in CADalyst, a comment suggests that the Mitsubishi monitor can be driven at resolutions up to 1600 x 1200. I was just curious…. Is this an observation based purely in theory, or have you actually been able to drive the display at…
Randy – Did you happen to notice anything atypical about each case when this happened (e.g., one or a sequence of commands)? -TonyT.
Brian – The "main insert entity name" isn't what she needs to pass to the (tblsearch) function. (Tblsearch) wants the NAME of the block. To transform coordinates from model to world space in nested blocks, is a bit tricky, and requires the composite model-to-world transformation matrix that is currently only…
Mike – Feel free to question my suggestions, integrity, or ability anytime you wish…. I can hack it… If you re-read my comment to him, I suggested that he insert the block first, and then modify the new attributes using (ENTMOD), meaning that he doesn't need to respond to any…
Cynthia – I'll assume that when you say "I have a block named TEMP and within that block is another block named TEMP1", means that the block TEMP contains an INSERTION of the block TEMP1. Be that the case, you can access the defining entities of any block, using the…
Duff – Looking at Phil's question again, I think you're right. Except that in AutoLISP, using this technique to "isoloate" or bind subroutines locally, isn't very effective, since any error condition causes the "local" function definitions to become global. I don't advocate it, because it causes duplication of data (e.g.,…
Ted – Well, if the XREF doesn't have a path, then all you need to do is give the name of the referenced drawing to (findfile), and it should return the fully-qualfied path to the file (I think we could rely on the undocumented aspect that (findfile) will search the…
Another benefit of this 'modular' or layered approach to development is that since a code fragment can appear once, and be referenced or called from many places, it becomes much easier to maintain, modify, and enhance the function or procedure, since all changes are isolated in one single location, and…
Phil – The "secondary" functions, as you refer to them, are more commonly thought of as "subroutines". There are many benefits to them. Mainly, they allow you to write applications in a modular fashion, by breaking down every task or problem into smaller ones, and dealing with each component problem…
Larry – No, you don't need bitwise operators or (minusp) to find out when you've hit the end of the layer table. You should always check to see if you've reached the end of the table, by using (while). For example: (setq tbl-x nil) (while (setq tbl-x (tblnext "layer" (not…
#33640-
AutoLISP/SCript HELP
Message #33690
Daniel – Calling (command) with no arguments is equivalent to issuing ^C from the keyboard, but as you might have noticed, that also terminates execution of a running script file. My suggestion is to only use the script file to get in and out of the editing session, and use…
Gragg – I think your question seems to be more one of how to do conditional looping in AutoLISP. In your case, the problem is that you must know *how many* times to repeat the loop, and if this number of iterations is determined by the number of attribute prompts…
Brian – I don't think you're going to find any decryption routines here. If you do, let me know. -TonyT.
Larry comparing Nil to the integer ZERO is not a valid operation to begin with. Why are you doing this? The expression (< nil 0) should cause an error, since the values can't be compared, but in any case, you should never do this, because the result is always meaningless.…
Mark – Whoooah! Perhaps I didn't understand your original question, but if you're referring to the DTEXT command's prompt for the *initial* text insertion point, where you have the option of specifying the style, or justification/alignment, then that is easily handled by (initget) and (getpoint). I thought you were referring…
#28118-
Non-intersecting INT's
Message #28898
Peter – It's the nature of the beast. -TonyT.
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