Cadalyst - February 2008 - (Page 46)

hottipharry Logging Daily Activities and Other Tips This month’s winning tip lets CAD managers automatically compile and organize work performed in AutoCAD. By Bill Kramer A chilly wind blew in as Harry entered and shut the door behind him. It is winter; time to get some programming done. He was back from his most recent mission with a pile of tips straight from you power users. “Let’s get at ‘em,” he said with a matter-of-fact tone in his voice. by external references. This example is very robust, but it requires some tinkering. This tip is intended for advanced AutoCAD systems managers who want to manipulate quantities of drawings with Visual LISP. Tip 2269: Xref Transfer Ryan Wunderlich shares Xref Transfer, which collects all the external references in a current drawing and makes sure they are inserted on a layer of the same name as the external reference. This function also locks the layer, which further helps to block manipulations to the external reference. To use this tip, load the LISP code and type XFix. Tip 2265: P&ID Linetypes Library Jay Thomas sent in a library of complex piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) linetypes. This tip is a LIN file that can be placed in the AutoCAD search path. The library was developed with the Romans font as the base text style, so you should make it the current text style. Tip 2270: Freeze Layers Currently Not Visible In an attempt to make drawings regenerate faster, Gordon Reichhardt developed Freeze Layers Currently Not Visible. Load the LISP code and type FrzAllButVis to freeze all layers that are not visible. Running this macro results in faster regeneration times. When not used, invisible layers are processed, which causes slower regeneration times. Tip 2266: Cross Lock Hatch Pattern Cross Lock is a hatch pattern from regular contibutor Watson Kilbourn for drawing pavement-type sections of locking cross shapes. Locate the PAT file in a folder AutoCAD knows. Tip 2267: Mtext Framing Mtext Framing from Charles Hakari uses the masked border option of Mtext to construct a polyline frame around the text. To use this tip, create text with the Mtext command and enable the masked border options. This routine works best when the normal drawing background is used. Load the LISP code and type MTF to activate the command. Tip 2271: CAD Manager’s Log Harry’s Top Tip of the month is CAD Manager’s Log by Richard Grainer. CAD Manager’s Log is a tool for recording your daily activities, whether for personal tracking purposes, client billing, or reporting to management. This program will create a CSV file based on your selection of the activities you want to record. It does not record elapsed time; instead it compiles and organizes your notes and comments so you can retrieve them later using a spreadsheet program. To use this tip, load the LISP code into AutoCAD’s Visual LISP editor (VLIDE) and edit it to match your output preferences. Toward the end of the source code, you will find the full name and folder of the file this program creates. Change this name and save the program so you don’t have to repeat this step. Now just load the code as a normal LISP program and type DLog to activate. The associated dialog box file (DCL) should reside in a folder searched by AutoCAD. c Cadalyst contributing editor Bill Kramer has been programming AutoCAD solutions, writing magazine articles and books, and teaching CAD/CAM/CAE customization for more than 20 years. Bill wrote the first article about AutoLISP in Cadalyst back in 1986. Tip 2268: Mass Drawing Clean-Up Michael Kolomiyets submitted Mass Drawing Clean-Up, which consists of one LISP and one dialog box DCL file. This program will process drawings in a folder and remove the $ strings from table references (layers, blocks, etc.) caused Get the Code! Download Harry’s February 2008 code at www.cadalyst.com/code. Downloads are free, provided as is without warranty or support. Tips included in “Hot Tip Harry” are tested with AutoCAD 2008, unless otherwise noted. Review tip submission guidelines at www.cadalyst.com/tips and then submit your AutoCAD tip to harry@cadalyst.com. Authors of all published tips will receive a Cadalyst T-shirt. The author of Harry’s Top Tip each month will win a $100 cash prize, and all published authors will be entered in the Hot Tip Harry 2008 Hot Code Contest random drawing for a chance to win a trip to Autodesk University 2008. 46 February 2008 | cadalyst | www.cadalyst.com http://www.cadalyst.com/code http://www.cadalyst.com/tips http://www.cadalyst.com

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Cadalyst - February 2008 Contents Editor's Window CAD Central Tech Trends More than Meets the Eye — A Look at Today's CAD Viewers IronCAD v10 — 3D Modeling Software AcceliArch with AcceliCAD — Add-In Architectural Drawing and Modeling Software CAD Manager MCAD Modeling AEC Insight CAD Cartoon Issue Indexes Hot Tip Harry

Cadalyst - February 2008

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