CompuServe Thread

#Entmake

4 messages in this thread
#28482From: Anil GupteJan 13, 1992 7:42 PM
Ooops!! Yes, I inadvertently deleted the line containing the 40 and 70 group codes, when I put in the 1 and 2 groups. Should have checked the ARM more carefully. Thanx, it works just fine now! Anil P.S. I have another one for you. I am trying to send two files to a card punch device. One is a header (ascii) file generated by my program, from questions asked of the user. The other is a plot file generated by AutoCAD. I know that I can do a "copy file1+file2 lpt1". However, the customer wants the whole thing to be one command. Obviously, if I start the plot command from a script or something I don't have any way to return control back to my program. So, the only way I can think of to do this (other creating plot scripts for every eventuality) is to append a plot file to the header file. Is there anyway to do this? I have already tried typing "<<lpt1" in the AutoCAD command but that did not work. Any ideas? And speaking of this, please, please consider adding plotting support to AutoLISP in 12 or 13. (Is there really going to be a 13!?)
#28531From: Duff Kurland [Adesk]Jan 14, 1992 12:36 AM
Anil – "Is there really going to be a 13?" Of course…and a 14 and a 15… One of the changes due in R12 (the elimination of the Main Menu) may also make it possible to use AutoLISP to run the PLOT command. Expect *lots* of improvements involving plotting. As for how to do what you want today, in R11…I'm not sure. Shouldn't it be possible to write a plot script which, at plot completion, returns to the drawing editor and invokes an AutoLISP function again? It's been so long since I tried stuff like this…
#28628From: Anil GupteJan 14, 1992 4:42 PM
Duff, yes, I could write a plot script(s). But that means I would have to write more than 20 different plot scripts (different scales and sheet sizes alone), and I am still preventing the user from modifying any of the other parameters in the plot command. I know it's not possible to do what I am doing in the traditional AutoLISP/Script tools. I was hoping there was something out there that I did not know about. Anil P.S. What I meant about Release 13 was, what are you going to do about peoples' trisakedophobia (I don't know if I spelled that right, but you can guess what it means). Also, rumour has it (Cad Report, December Issue) that AutoCAD will be replaced by another product entirely…..Comments?
#28699From: Duff Kurland [Adesk]Jan 15, 1992 3:12 AM
Anil – If you believe everything you read in the CAD Report, well, the best I can say is good luck to you. Mr. Wolfe can be entertaining, but I view much of his reporting as inflamatory, bordering on slander. He has misstated our products' capabilities often enough that it makes me wonder why. We've made numerous requests for retractions and corrections, to no avail as far as I know. But then, he doesn't really seem to like any product on the market. His "can't the nation that put the first man on the moon come up with a CAD program better than AutoCAD?" comment (paraphrased — I don't have the issue handy) just about says it all, I guess; he basically agrees that AutoCAD is the best that's available today…and we ourselves are always working on the next release, to far surpass any AutoCAD that's come before. I see your point about release #13. I don't know for sure what we're gonna do about that; maybe we'll redo the numbering scheme again as we did between V2.6 and R9, but I kinda doubt it. If that release delivers the performance and features that current and prospective customers are looking for at the time (and it'd better!), it won't really matter what we call it. We have a team of programmers cooking up the recipe for the next generation of AutoCAD; a new development environment, database structure, and entity generation pipeline designed to take AutoCAD well into the next century. In this process, the needs of existing users and their sizeable investment in drawings, applications, and training are never far from the front burner. <'scuse me, I'm late for dinner <g>>