Extended Entity Data Filter

Is it possible to filter for specific extended entity data beyond just the
application name?

(I've tried several times before and haven't had any success beyond the app
name, so thought I'd post the question here before I try again.)

 

Scratch that last question, I think I just figured out why it didn't work
for me, before.

Sample of successful filter variants, for anyone who may be wondering....

vCod(0) = 1001: vVal(0) = kAppName
vCod(1) = 1002: vVal(1) = "{"
vCod(2) = 1040: vVal(2) = 54#
vCod(3) = 1002: vVal(3) = "}"

.....in previous attempts, I had neglected to put in the 1002/brackets

 

You should be aware that it won't work for simpler (older?) entities: point, line, text, circle, arc, ... maybe others.

 

Could you explain a little further, please?

I've run some successful, albeit early, testing on some lightweight
polylines this way, seemingly working fine.

Any hard-learned lessons appreciated.

 

What version of Autocad are you using ?
I would have told you that you could never filter based on
anything other than Application Name, but apparently that is not true.

I am surprised ! Have you successfully filtered on all datatypes ?
(strings, ...)

 

Documentation and received wisdom notwithstanding, it is possible to filter a selection based on extended entity data beyond the appname in versions 2000 through at least 2005 for some entity types. These types include lightweight polyline, mtext, ellipse, etc. but do not include line, text, circle, etc.

 

I've only tested with 2005, but could try 2004 if it would be helpful for
you.

The only successful filtering was by a 1010 3d point, so far. I plan to do
some other testing, relatively soon, though, on something different that I
already have XData in use with.

I should clarify that I'm not doing anything too high end with it, so there
could certainly be caveats. (I'm a "cad guy/designer" first, programming is
an advanced hobby, I guess you could say.)

Some of the code follow. It's simple enough that anyone following this
thread could likely figure it out, fairly quickly, so I'm skipping that.
(Also, if you're thinking that I shouldn't be finding a drainage area by a
point stored in XData, I'd normally agree with you....lol......don't
ask.....just testing an idea.)

Function TagDrainageArea(oEnt As AcadEntity, vXyz As Variant, dCw As Double)
As Boolean
Dim vCod(5) As Integer, vVal(5) As Variant
Dim dPnt(2) As Double
dPnt(0) = vXyz(0): dPnt(1) = vXyz(1): dPnt(2) = vXyz(2)
vCod(0) = 1001: vVal(0) = kAppName
vCod(1) = 1002: vVal(1) = "{"
vCod(2) = 1000: vVal(2) = "DrainageArea"
vCod(3) = 1011: vVal(3) = dPnt 'World Space Position...moves with
entity!
vCod(4) = 1040: vVal(4) = dCw 'Weighted C
vCod(5) = 1002: vVal(5) = "}"
oEnt.SetXData vCod, vVal
End Function

When I ran the initial tests with the following function, I did get the
appropriate entities returned.....at least it appears that I did. Again,
the testing has not been thorough, by any means.

Function GetAreasForPosition(vXyz As Variant) As AcadSelectionSet
Dim vCod(4) As Integer, vVal(4) As Variant
Dim dFocusPoint(2) As Double
Dim oSet As AcadSelectionSet
dFocusPoint(0) = vXyz(0): dFocusPoint(1) = vXyz(1): dFocusPoint(2) =
vXyz(2)
vCod(0) = 1001: vVal(0) = kAppName
vCod(1) = 1002: vVal(1) = "{"
vCod(2) = 1000: vVal(2) = "DrainageArea"
vCod(3) = 1011: vVal(3) = dFocusPoint
vCod(4) = 1002: vVal(4) = "}"
Set oSet = SelSetInit("CEC-SD-STORM-ObjectCollector")
oSet.Select acSelectionSetAll, , , vCod, vVal
Set GetAreasForPosition = oSet
End Function

 

I certainly don't dispute what you're saying, I'm just basically confused as
to why that would be. It wouldn't seem to matter (based solely on my
experience or lack thereof).

Where did you find documentation on this topic? The documentation I've
found, to this point, regarding XData in VBA, is very limited, at best.

Thanks for the info, in any case.

 

Very nice ! That opens new ways of selecting data !
I'll give it a try !

Arnaud

 

I'm just basically confused as to why that would be.

Since it seems that it doesn't work on the more primitive types I would guess that it was a design decision made a little late at autodesk and not back-ported.

It is a bit thin on the ground. It's been a while but for filtering I probably worked mostly with the lisp docs.

 

Thanks for the info. If I happen across anything of interest about XData on
this project, I'll be sure to post.

 

I'm finding the previous logic to be unreliable, at best............thought
I'd warn you.

Peter, we wish you were here!