Dimension extension lines

Does anyone have a lisp routine that will turn off the extension lines when
the dimension is selected. Better yet, a lisp that turns off the selected
dimension extension line (leaving the other extension line unless that is
selected too).

 

NOX = no extension. Turns off the selected extension line. A crude hack
which works, maybe there's a fancy vlisp way of doing the same.

(defun c:nox(/ stillon tryext oce es en pt ed)
(defun stillon (edata pnt / ssp)
(if (setq ssp (ssget pnt))
(equal
(cdr (assoc -1 edata))
(ssname ssp 0))))
;Return T if extension goes away, nil otherwise
(defun tryext (extnum edata pnt)
(command "dim" "override" (strcat "dimse" (itoa extnum)) "on" "" en "")
(cond
((stillon edata pt)
(command "undo" "exit")
nil)
(t
(command "exit")
'T)))
;Main:
(setq oce (getvar "cmdecho"))
(setvar "cmdecho" 0)
(command "undo" "g")
(if (setq es (entsel "\nPick extension line to suppress: "))
(progn
(setq
en (car es)
pt (cadr es)
ed (entget en))
(cond
((notdim ed)
(princ "\nNot a dimension."))
((tryext 1 ed pt))
((tryext 2 ed pt))
((princ "\nNot an extension line.")))))
(command "undo" "e")
(setvar "cmdecho" oce)
(princ))

 

It worked for you?

I tried this and recieved:

Command: nox

Pick extension line to suppress: ; error: An error has occurred inside the
*error* functiontoo many arguments

 

Here's my "crude hack."

Hi, Herman! Yours may be more ambitious than mine, and it can't be any
cruder, I'll have to analyze it.

Mine requires you to pick the extension line itself. Since I had no way of
knowing which dim extension is which, I simply turn off dimse1, then use an
ssget on the picked point to see if the same dimension entity is still
there -- if so, turn dimse1 back on and turn off dimse2. Trial and error!

I'm not exactly proud of this as elegant programming, but hey it works! If
you can't figure out how to solve a problem by pure logic, sometimes an
empirical approach can work just as well.

 

There's one I use called XL-TOGL, that incorporates both XLON and XLOFF to
do just what you ask, but both on and off. It works quite well. You don't
select on the extension line itself (because that wouldn't be possible to
turn it on), but on the dimension line, and it turns on or off the nearer
extension line.

I'm pretty sure I got it from Cadalyst Magazine's "Hot Tip Harry" column,
but I don't remember exactly when -- several years ago now. Maybe you can
find it on www.cadalyst.com.

Kent Cooper, AIA


...

 

This is great. Thanks. I have wanted something like this for a long time and am tired of using
Modify>Properties and changing extension lines to Off.

 

Jeff,
You've gotten a lot of great help. Don't forget you can always
double click on the dimension(s) and click "Lines and Arrows"
and choose "Ext line 1" or "Ext line 2" On/Off

 

Herman,
The ommission of the most important aspects of a dimension from the
ActiveX object model is one the most surprising shortcomings. Autodesk
should receive a "D-" grade on their ActiveX dimension implementation.

I always use DXF data to get that information. Haven't needed to
change that kind of stuff using ObjectDBX yet.

Thanks for informing us that it is available in ARX. It makes me think
that Autodesk has deliberately hobbled the LISP/VBA environment
to limit any serious addon competition to those using ARX/C++...

Regards,
Doug

 

I prefer to believe this is an oversight.

I have no evidence to the contrary. ;-)

Plain LISP still works fine (as you say). It would seem to affect
those using VBA more although I don't use VBA enough to know.

It would be a pleasant surprise to see the ActiveX gaps filled in
but it would also be unexpected.

Nice to talk to you. Take care. Got to go. Need to go buy
a copy of "Catcher In The Rye." ;-)

Regards,
Doug


<clipped above>

 

Now that you jog my memory, I do recall the original hot tip had a quirk
where it "found" the wrong extension line if there was a large difference in
the length of the extension lines (e.g., greater than the dimension length,
give or take). I didn't write the routine, but I did send in a fix to
overcome that problem -- I had forgotten about that. (But there was no
check involved --- or is that something else I'm forgetting?)

Kent Cooper, AIA

 

...

Of course, if you want to use the XLON part to un-suppress an extension line
that's suppressed, you can't pick an extension line, anyway, because it
doesn't appear. Picking on the dimension line (and I think it works on the
dimension text or arrow, too) allows the same approach to be used for both
XLON and XLOFF.

Kent Cooper, AIA

 

Just joshing. Hoping you would pick up the reference
to the movie "Conspiracy Theory".

Have a nice weekend.