ghosting text

hi,
i was wondering if anyone knew of a way to ghost
text when writing something that places text in a dwg.
(kinda like the donut command)

 

What you want could be very complex.
Grvecs can be used to draw in xor ink to coordinates in a list.
Grread can read the cursor position.
I don't have what you want but I'll paste a small routine here that might help you get started:

;Bill Zondlo
;program to get input
;and show drag.
;
;----------------;
(defun fig_pts ()
(setq nm 5
ct (cadr pt3)
d1 1.0
an1 (/ 6.28319 nm) ;360d divided by number of points.
an2 (/ an1 2.0) ;different angle for high & low points.
an3 1.5708 ;start star at 90d from center point.
an4 (+ an2 an3) ;angle of first low point
d2 (* d1 0.382) ;distance of first low point.
pt1 (polar ct an3 d1) ;first point.
pt2 (polar ct an4 d2) ;next point.
)
;----------------------------------------------------;
(repeat nm ;
(setq lst (append lst (list pt2))
an4 (+ an4 an2) ;increase angles.
pt1 (polar ct an4 d1) ;& reset points.
an4 (+ an4 an2) ;
pt2 (polar ct an4 d2) ;
lst (append lst (list pt1 pt1 pt2))
)
) ;end repeat.
(setq lst (cons 256 lst) ;add color to list
lss lst
)
)
;----------------;
(defun c:show_drag_star (/ )
(initget 1)
(setq pt1 (getpoint "\nSelect Base Point:") ;select
dif 0
)
;--;
(prompt "\nNext point:")
(while (/= (car (setq pt3 (grread 'T 1 0))) 3)
(setq dif (1+ dif)
)
(cond ((= dif 1)
(fig_pts)
(grvecs lst) ;draw lines
(setq lst nil)
)
((= dif 2)
(grvecs lss) ;cover lines
(setq lss nil
dif 0)
)
)
) ;end while
(grvecs lss) ;cover lines
(princ)
) ;end defun

Bill

 

thanks,
i use grvecs already in the routine for showing linework,
was just hoping for a way to show text for placement.
maybe i can use what you have here with mtext and
just draw a box based on the mtext size or something?

 

The donut command asks for complete specs on the donut
and then asks just for the location. You could do the same.
Just ask for all the text parameters and then put a dummy
text entity somewhere and copy or move the text entity
to the correct location. The move and copy commands
automatically ghost. When finished delete the original
(if copied).

Would that work?

 

yes, but i don't like the rubberband move/copy has

 

The express tools lisp programs have some ghosting tools.
Check them out. Try a google search on ghosting and
this newsgroup and you should find what you need.

 

one of the commands on the menu does this?

and speaking of express tools, i saw a post on
here asking for a folder box and got a reply of
one (acet-ui-something). are there any docs on
stuff like that and what else might be avail.?

 

No. This is the customization group. I assumed you
were writing your own command. You must look inside
the acet*.lsp programs to find the functions that do the
job. I vaguely remember something like acet-ss-drag-move
and acet-ss-drag-copy and acet-ss-drag-rotate.

 

Then you have to:

1. Make your text entity
2. Make Block from it
3. Insert it (without rubber band!)
4. Explode
5. Purge!!!

 

If it's plain Text, then you can use the Change command to ghost its
repositioning from a point in outer space without a rubber band. If it's MText,
then you could temporarily make an anonymous block and use the Change command.

 

Here is a sample of code I use to insert a box of the correct size of text
for placement .
There is a separate block for each text justification that is 1 unit by 1
unit with origin in same location as justification.

(setq TJUST "L")
(setq TTEXT "TESTTEXT")
(setq KL 1) ;number of lines of text
(setq TB (textbox (list (cons 1 TTEXT))))
(setq TXBOX (abs (- (caar TB) (caadr TB))))
(princ "\nPick Text Location ? ")
(command "INSERT" (strcat "NOTEBOX" TJUST) "XSCALE" TXBOX "YSCALE" (* 1.4
TYBOX KL) "ROTATE" 0.0)
(command PAUSE)
(setq EG (entget (entlast)))
(if (and (= (cdr (assoc 0 EG)) "INSERT") (= (substr (cdr (assoc 2 EG)) 1 7)
"NOTEBOX"))
(progn
(setq P0 (cdr (assoc 10 EG)))
(if (= TJUST "L")
(command "TEXT" P0 "" "" TTEXT)
(command "TEXT" TJUST P0 "" "" TTEXT)
)
(entdel (cdr (assoc -1 EG)))
)
)