AutoCAD Platform Customization

Name: AutoCAD Platform Customization | User Interface, AutoLISP, VBA, and Beyond
Brand: Sybex
Price: 47.99 EUR
Availability: OnlineOnly

User Interface, AutoLISP, VBA, and Beyond

Lee Ambrosius(Autor*in)

Sybex (Verlag)

Erschienen am 16. April 2015

1152 Seiten

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978-1-118-79891-1 (ISBN)

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Beschreibung

Take control of AutoCAD for a more efficient, streamlined workflow
AutoCAD Platform Customization is the most comprehensive guide to streamlining and personalizing the AutoCAD platform. The AutoLISP and VBA programming languages open up a myriad of customization options, and this book provides expert guidance toward applying them to AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Plant 3D, and other programs based on the Autodesk AutoCAD platform. Detailed discussions backed by real-world examples and step-by-step tutorials provide user-friendly instruction, and downloadable datasets allow for hands-on learning. Through customization you can increase screen real estate, streamline workflows, and create more accurate drawings by unleashing powerful programming languages that allow the user to command the software how to work, instead of the other way around.
AutoCAD customization is commonly performed by system administrators and CAD managers, but senior drafters and savvy users are increasingly taking customization into their own hands. AutoLISP and VBA are two popular and versatile tools that allow for going beyond the boundaries of normal user interface customization options, allowing users to:
* Enforce drawing and CAD standards, and automate repetitive tasks
* Customize the workspace, including tool sets, ribbon tabs and panels, and palettes
* Modify graphical objects, set system variables, integrate with external software, and more
* Manage blocks, change the interface, create dialog boxes, and communicate with Microsoft Office applications
The ideal design environment puts the tools you need right at your fingertips, removes unnecessary steps, and fosters precision through good communication. Customizing, including applying AutoLISP and VBA to AutoCAD, enables all of this and much more. For the designer who needs to work smarter because it's impossible to work any harder, AutoCAD Platform Customization provides the key information, insight, and techniques that will help to increase your productivity with AutoCAD.

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Inhalt

Introduction xxxi
Part I AutoCAD Customization: Increasing Productivity through Personalization 1
Chapter 1 Establishing the Foundation for Drawing Standards 3
Chapter 2 Working with Nongraphical Objects 35
Chapter 3 Building the Real World One Block at a Time 69
Chapter 4 Manipulating the Drawing Environment 99
Chapter 5 Customizing the AutoCAD User Interface for Windows 121
Chapter 6 Customizing the AutoCAD User Interface for Mac 167
Chapter 7 Creating Tools and Tool Palettes 183
Chapter 8 Automating Repetitive Tasks 201
Chapter 9 Defining Shapes, Linetypes, and Hatch Patterns 221
Chapter 10 Using, Loading, and Managing Custom Files 249
Part II AutoLISP: Productivity through Programming 261
Chapter 11 Quick Start for New AutoLISP Programmers 263
Chapter 12 Understanding AutoLISP 277
Chapter 13 Calculating and Working with Values 301
Chapter 14 Working with Lists 333
Chapter 15 Requesting Input and Using Conditional and Looping Expressions 359
Chapter 16 Creating and Modifying Graphical Objects 405
Chapter 17 Creating and Modifying Nongraphical Objects 461
Chapter 18 Working with the Operating System and External Files 489
Chapter 19 Catching and Handling Errors 513
Chapter 20 Authoring, Managing, and Loading AutoLISP Programs 533
Chapter 21 Using the Visual LISP Editor (Windows only) 567
Chapter 22 Working with ActiveX/COM Libraries (Windows only) 587
Chapter 23 Implementing Dialog Boxes (Windows only) 611
Part III AutoCAD VBA: Programming with VBA and ActiveX (Windows only) 643
Chapter 24 Understanding the AutoCAD VBA Environment 645
Chapter 25 Understanding Visual Basic for Applications 665
Chapter 26 Interacting with the Application and Documents Objects 701
Chapter 27 Creating and Modifying Drawing Objects 727
Chapter 28 Interacting with the User and Controlling the Current View 757
Chapter 29 Annotating Objects 795
Chapter 30 Working with Blocks and External References 819
Chapter 31 Outputting Drawings 865
Chapter 32 Storing and Retrieving Custom Data 891
Chapter 33 Modifying the Application and Working with Events 923
Chapter 34 Creating and Displaying User Forms 953
Chapter 35 Communicating with Other Applications 983
Chapter 36 Handling Errors and Deploying VBA Projects 1019
Index 1053

Introduction

Welcome to AutoCAD Platform Customization: User Interface, AutoLISP, VBA, and Beyond. Have you ever thought about customizing AutoCAD only to think it is not for you because you're not a programmer? If so, you are not alone, as there are many people that connect customization with programming. However, customization is not the same as programming, but programming can be considered a form of customization.

While using one of the supported programming languages can be useful in implementing custom workflows and new commands, there are many simpler ways to increase your drafting efficiency in a shorter period of time. AutoCAD supports a wide range of customization features that you can learn and begin to leverage in minutes, which can led to improved CAD standards and a decrease in the amount of time it takes to complete a task.

I, like many others, even yourself most likely, have customized AutoCAD without even realizing it. Have you ever created a new layer, text style, or block? Chances are pretty great that you have created one or more of those items before. You might have even stored those items in a drawing template (DWT) file so they would be available each time a new drawing was created. While you might not have thought about these as forms of customization, they are indeed a few of the basic drawing customization features that can be used to enhance the out-of-box AutoCAD experience.

Drawing customization affects the appearance of and settings in a drawing file or drawing template (DWT) file, and should form the cornerstone of your company's CAD standards. Often when people think of customization though, they commonly think of application customization, which contains the support files that AutoCAD uses as well as the tools in the application's user interface. Application customization is not dependent on which drawing is currently open, but which user profile or workspace might be current.

About This Book

The AutoCAD Platform Customization: User Interface, AutoLISP, VBA, and Beyond book covers many of the customization and programming features that can be found in AutoCAD on Windows and Mac OS X. This book covers most of the customization features available along with two of the easier to learn programming languages that AutoCAD supports. If any of the following are true, this book will be useful to you:

Want to learn about which customization and programming options are available in AutoCAD.
Want to customize the user interface or support files, such as linetypes and hatch patterns, that AutoCAD utilizes.
Want to automate repetitive tasks.
Want to create and manage CAD standards for your company.
Want to learn how to create custom programs with AutoLISP or Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

Customization in AutoCAD

Customization is one of the feature areas that sets AutoCAD apart from many other CAD programs. Even though the product can be used out of the box, configuring the user interface and modifying the support files that come with the product can greatly improve your productivity. By customizing AutoCAD, you can streamline product workflows and create new ones that are a better fit with the way your company works. These workflows might range from importing layers and styles into a drawing to the extraction of drawing-based information into a spreadsheet or database.

Not all of the customization features require you to learn a new tool or skill set; chances are you might have customized AutoCAD and not even realized it. If you have ever created a layer or a block, you already understand some of the customization features of AutoCAD.

The following outlines many of the common customization and programming options available:

Basic

Layers
Annotation styles (text, dimensions, multileaders, and tables)
Layouts
Blocks
Plot styles
Plotters
Page setups
Materials, visual styles, and render presets
Drawing templates
Command aliases
User profiles (Windows only)
Workspaces (Windows only)
Desktop icon customization (Windows only)
Tool palettes (Windows only)

Intermediate

Scripts
User interface (CUIx) and DIESEL
Linetypes and hatch patterns
Shapes and text styles
Action macros (Windows only)
Dynamic blocks (Windows only)

Advanced

AutoLISP
ObjectARX
Visual Basic for Applications (Windows only)
ActiveX/COM (Windows only)
Database connectivity (Windows only)
Sheet Set Manager API (Windows only)
CAD Standards plug-ins (Windows only)
Transmittal API (Windows only)
Managed.NET (Windows only)
JavaScript (Windows only)

AutoLISP in AutoCAD

AutoLISP is the most popular, and is the original supported programming language for the AutoCAD program. The reason for its popularity with new (and even veteran) programmers is that it is a natural extension of the AutoCAD program. There is no additional software to purchase, and AutoLISP can leverage the commands that Autodesk and third-party developers expose at the Command prompt. For example, with a few simple lines of code you can set a layer current and insert a title block with a specific insertion point, scale, and rotation. The block is then inserted on the layer you specified. To perform the same tasks manually, the end user would have to first set a layer current, choose the block they want to insert, and specify the properties of the block, which in the case of a title block are almost always the same.

The AutoLISP programming language can be used to:

Create custom functions that can be executed from the AutoCAD Command prompt
Create and manipulate graphical objects in a drawing, such as lines, circles, and arcs
Create and manipulate nongraphical objects in a drawing, such as layers, dimension styles, and named views
Perform mathematical and geometric calculations
Request input from or display messages to the user at the Command prompt
Interact with files and directories in the operating system
Read from and write to external files
Connect to applications that support ActiveX and COM
Display dialog boxes and get input from the end user

AutoLISP code can be entered directly at the Command prompt or loaded using a LSP file. Once an AutoLISP program has been loaded, you can execute the custom functions from the Command prompt. Functions executed from the Command prompt can be similar to standard AutoCAD commands, but the programmer determines the prompts that should be displayed. It is also possible to use AutoLISP code with a command macro that is activated from the AutoCAD user interface or a tool on a tool palette.

VBA in AutoCAD

VBA is often overlooked as one of the options available to extend the AutoCAD program. There is no additional software to purchase, but you must download and install a release-specific secondary component to use VBA. You can leverage VBA to perform simple tasks, such as inserting a title block with a specific insertion point, scale, and rotation and placing the block reference on a specific layer. To perform the same tasks manually, end users would have to first set a layer as current, choose the block they want to insert, and specify the properties of the block, which in the case of a title block are almost always the same.

The VBA programming language and AutoCAD Object library can be used to do the following:

Create and manipulate graphical objects in a drawing, such as lines, circles, and arcs
Create and manipulate nongraphical objects in a drawing, such as layers, dimension styles, and named views
Perform mathematical and geometric calculations
Request input from or display messages to the user at the Command prompt
Interact with files and directories in the operating system
Read from and write to external files
Connect to applications that support ActiveX and COM
Display user forms and get input from the end user

VBA code statements are entered into the Visual Basic Editor and stored in a DVB file. Once a VBA project has been loaded, you can execute the macros through the Macros dialog box. Unlike standard AutoCAD commands, macros cannot be executed from the Command prompt, but once executed, a macro can prompt users for values at the Command prompt or with a user form. It is possible to execute a macro from a command macro that is activated with a command button displayed in the AutoCAD user interface or as a tool on a tool palette.

What to Expect

This book is organized to help to customize AutoCAD, learn the fundamentals of AutoLISP, and how to use the objects in the AutoCAD Object library with the VBA programming language. Additional resources and files containing the example code found throughout this book can be found on the companion website, www.sybex.com/go/autocadcustomization.

Part I: AutoCAD Customization: Increasing Productivity through Personalization

Chapter 1: Establishing the Foundation for Drawing Standards In this chapter, you'll learn how to establish drawing standards. Drawing standards allow you to enforce consistency across multiple drawings. By enforcing a set of standards, you can easily share your drawings and make them look the same when...

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