A tough one for you (maybe)

For those willing to try I will be grateful...

I need a lisp that will let me select a layer and isolate that layer along with 2 other layers. Say I have a layer named Road, I want to isolate Road, Road - cen, & Road - edg. Any ideas ... ?

 

The Express tools has an isolate routine with the multiple layer selection option: _layiso

To un-isolate: _layon

If you put this in your mouse ***pop0 options you have a really quick way of manipulating your layer display.

Robert Good
www.good-online.com

 

Why do you have so many layers?

times. I need a more automated way.

 

Good question. I asked him the same thing
a week ago in the "Layer Creator" thread and
haven't received a reply.

 

Doug and Tony,

Possible scenario regarding why so many layers. A set of Civil drawings pertaining to
a large residential sub-division, maybe 3000 houses. It's done in phases, maybe 150
houses per phase. Each phase needs a unique set of 150 layers. Civil typically needs
that many on a new project like this. So 20 phases times 150 layers equals 3000
layers.

I've been working, on and off, on a project like this for the last five years. My
work is on the Architectural end. It includes placing the houses on the lots, so I'm
familiar with the Civil drawings.

It's not a question of layer mismanagement. It's just the nature of the beast.

Joe Burke

 

If the 2 other layers are always the ONLY other layers starting with the
same base name (in other words, if there are NOT also layers called Road -
striping, or Road-curb, or Roadway, or something), then you could do:

(setq layerbasename (cdr (assoc 8 (entget (car (entsel "Select entity on
Base Layer: ")))))) ; to pick the base-version layer and save its name
(setq layergroup (strcat layerbasename "*")) ; to make a wildcard layer
group name starting with the base-version name
(command "-layer" "s" layerbasename "of" "*" "N" "on" layergroup "") ; to
make it the current layer, turn off all others, then turn on the others
whose names start the same way

Kent Cooper, AIA

with 2 other layers. Say I have a layer named Road, I want to isolate Road,
Road - cen, & Road - edg. Any ideas ... ?

 

Or, if you don't want to pick an entity on the "base" layer, but have it set
current some other way:

(setq layergroup (strcat (getvar "clayer") "*")) ; to make a wildcard layer
group name starting with the base-version name
(command "-layer" "s" layerbasename "of" "*" "N" "on" layergroup "") ; to
make it the current layer, turn off all others, then turn on the others
whose names start the same way

Kent Cooper, AIA

 

Yep that's the way it is. Makes us poor mapping/gis guys turn into basket
cases when we get those files to add to our maps. Really hard to use the
layer standard tools when there are so many different layers and names are
base on the subdivision names. My biggest headache is with the lot numbers
and 911 address, in one section they need the lot no displayed then in
another they need both lot numbers and 911 address while in the rest they
only want to see the 911 numbers. Then theres the cases where section 8 gets
built before section 4, and section 8 now includes lots from section 4 only
with a different lot number.

Murph

 

Why not? There are many reasons why a company might need hundreds if not
thousands of layers.

 

Tony and Doug ... The reason for so many layers is because I am taking aerial photos along with some very bad data and creating a map of a city. I am mapping road edges and center lines for a GIS database. That way city planners can tell what roads are where, how much sq. ft. the road is, & and at some point it will go to ems, fire, and police for more accurate mapping and response times. Each road has to have its own layer for it to work, therefore there are thousands of layers. Sorry I didn't explain myself before.

Eric

 

So... did my lil routine work like a charm?

photos along with some very bad data and creating a map of a city. I am mapping
road edges and center lines for a GIS database. That way city planners can tell
what roads are where, how much sq. ft. the road is, & and at some point it will
go to ems, fire, and police for more accurate mapping and response times. Each
road has to have its own layer for it to work, therefore there are thousands of
layers. Sorry I didn't explain myself before.

 

Murph and Joe,

Thanks for the explanations.

How feasible are xref's in your application? I would tend
to try doing each phase in its own file and xref them together
for matchlining purposes.

I've noticed that the 2005 layer manager is slow with even
10 layers. How slow is it when you have 3000 layers?
Are you using layer filters to simplify the layering toolbar
or is everything about layering automated? ADT 2005
seems to create filters automatically by finding prefixes or
multiple xrefs with the same layer names.

Joe,
If xref's are not feasible for the phasing, have you developed
a cellular automated layering scheme? How else do you deal
with 3000 layers?

Regards,
Doug

 

Murph,

I hear you. It's a headache for all of us outside the Civil discipline who need to
deal with this mess. On the other hand, I must give credit to the Civil crew for
dealing with a nasty situation to the best of their ability. They are certainly more
disciplined when it comes to layer management than most architects are. I guess
because they have to be, or things would go totally out of control.

From the GIS perspective, you may or may not be aware of the fact the lot numbering
issue is controlled by two different processes. The first process is sort of a rough
guess at the subdivision lots. The second process refines the first process. It nails
things down with accurate metes and bounds for each lot. The local government review
of these two submissions is typically handled by two distinct local agencies
concerned with different issues.

Then again, maybe that's what you said.

Joe Burke

 

Thanks Eric. Pardon my asking but how does using
a different set of layers for each road rather than each
road class(secondary, primary, interstate..) help?
I am ignorant here but would really like to know.

As to your solution, Doug Barr's looks good to me.
Here are two more alternatives that are slightly
different than your request. I'm not sure which would
be faster with so many layers.

Code:

(defun c:liso (/ es obj doc lays layname laywild n)
;;D.C.Broad - Demonstration
(if (setq es (entsel "\nPick road: "))
(progn
(setq obj     (vlax-ename->vla-object (car es))
doc     (vla-get-document obj)
lays    (vla-get-layers doc)
layname (vla-get-layer obj)
laywild (strcat layname "*")
)
(vla-put-activelayer doc (vla-item lays layname))
(vlax-for n lays
(if (not (wcmatch (vla-get-name n) laywild))
(vla-put-layeron n :vlax-false)
;;note: to freeze rather than turn off, use
;;vla-put-freeze
)
)
)
)
(princ)
)

(defun c:liso2 (/ es)
(if (setq es (entsel "\nPick road: "))
(progn
(command "_.-layer" "off" "*")
(if (> 2 (getvar "expert"))
(command "y")
)
(command "on"
(strcat (cdr (assoc 8 (entget (car es)))) "*")
""
)
)
)
(princ)
)
[\code]

[QUOTE="jb4pres"]
Tony and Doug ... The reason for so many layers is because I am taking aerial photos along with some very bad data and creating a[/QUOTE]
map of a city.  I am mapping road edges and center lines for a GIS database.  That way city planners can tell what roads are where,
how much sq. ft. the road is, & and at some point it will go to ems, fire, and police for more accurate mapping and response times.
Each road has to have its own layer for it to work, therefore there are thousands of layers.  Sorry I didn't explain myself before.

 

Doug,

Since I'm on the Architectural end, I don't know exactly how the Civil engineer deals
with this massive set of data. I'm fairly sure they draw each phase in a separate
file as you suggested. When they need to show multiple phases together, they would
use xrefs. But it's not as simple as that. Where phases interface with each other,
there's often a need to show common data in two or more files. The matchline idea
often falls apart, resulting in duplicate information shown in various files. Ugly.

Ignoring that issue and assuming xrefed matchlined drawings would work, you'd still
be faced with 3000 layers in drawing which xrefs all phases into a single file.
Keeping in mind, there's no way to avoid the fact each phase needs its own set of
unique layer names.

Joe

 

Doug,
Xrefs would work for "me" but not the engineers that don't have the time to
learn it. Sure they could be taught but also the third party app that they
use does not support xref very well. The way I handle it is I let them use
what ever method they feel comfortable with in "their" dwgs. After they
completed their projects I go in and either clean up the layers (express
tools are great) or wblock by objects. Then that info gets added to the
"real" maps that we use. If I know that a subdivision is being developed in
phases/sections and know that it wont be a certain length of time I'll wait
until its all built before adding the info on the maps.
I haven't noticed that much of a problem with 2005 and the LM. When it gets
to the point of cleaning up the layers I insert a template dwg with the
correct layers and use the express tools to merge everything to the correct
layer(s). And yes all the stuff that we add is automated with layers so
anything the engineers adds are on the correct (standard) layer. It's those
dwg that we get in from the developers that cause us the problems.

Murph

 

Joe,
You must have a little better luck with your civil firms there. We cover
five counties and at least half a dozen or so civil firms from each. Trying
to get them all to standardize to even the same software would be nice.<g>
What has happened in the past was the developers would give us the dwgs
prior to approval from the local boards.We now require them to provide not
only lot numbers but make it their responsibility to get the 911 address as
well. That cut down on a lot of the headaches. We still make have corner
lots that may have two different 911 address until a home is built but when
you are dealing with underground electrical lines and gas lines for that
matter, the developers, zoning boards, and 911 people realize why we want
them to be correct before we do any work.

Murph