Inserting a block from a DWG in LISP

I'm sure this can be done, but not sure how:

Through a macro or LiSP, I want to insert a block that is in a drawing. The
same as pulling a block from a DWG in Design Center, but at the command
line. Any ideas?

TIA!

 

Yep....... use a lisp routine that utilizes ObjectDBX. There are a number of
examples that have been posted in the past year, or so. If you need help
implementing after you've looked around feel free to ask for specific help.
There is also an example I posted back in July in the "Lost in Stupid
Parenthatheeth" forum at the site in my sig line that should be of help.

 

You didn't say which version of AutoCAD you are using. This will work in
2002 an up.
The block name is case sensitive and the drawing must be in the support file
search path.

(defun get_blk (blkname blkdwg / *acad* doc bimport odbx Doctest path source
blocks blist blkname lbklist)
(vl-load-com)
(setq blkdwg (vl-filename-base blkdwg))
(setq
*acad* (vlax-get-acad-object)
doc (vla-get-activedocument *acad*)
source (findfile (strcat blkdwg ".dwg"))
)
(if source
(progn
(vlax-for oDoc (vla-get-documents *acad*)
(if (= (vla-get-fullname oDoc) source)
(setq Doctest t)
)
)
(if (not Doctest)
(progn
(if (> (atoi (getvar "AcadVer")) 15)
(setq
oDBX (vla-GetInterfaceObject
*acad* "ObjectDBX.AxDbDocument.16")
)
(progn
(if (not (vl-registry-read
"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\ObjectDBX.AxDbDocument\\CLSID"))
(startapp "regsvr32.exe"
(strcat "/s \"" (findfile "axdb15.dll") "\"")
)
)
(setq oDBX (vla-GetInterfaceObject *acad* "ObjectDBX.AxDbDocument")
)
)
)
(vla-open oDBX source);; "opens" source for our use
(setq names nil)
(setq blocks (vla-get-blocks oDBX));; source block table
(vlax-for name blocks
(setq names (cons (vla-get-name name) names))
)
(if (> (vla-get-count blocks) 0);;ensure there are views to import
(progn
(vlax-for b blocks ;; cycle thru table & check if name exists in this
drawing, omit if so
(if (not (tblsearch "block" (vla-get-name b)))
(progn
(if (= (vla-get-name b) blkname)
(setq blist (append (list b) blist ))
);end if
)
);if
);for
(if blist
(progn
(setq bimport
(vlax-safearray-fill
(vlax-make-safearray vlax-vbObject
(cons 0 (- (length blist) 1))
) blist
)
);; create safearray for use in ActiveX method
(vla-copyobjects oDBX bimport (vla-get-blocks doc))
;;import the block
);progn
);if
(setq blkfound 1)
);progn
(princ "\nSorry, no blocks found in source drawing, try again.")
);if
(setq names nil)
(setq blocks (vla-get-blocks oDBX));; source layer table
(vlax-for name blocks
(setq names (cons (vla-get-name name) names))
)
(vlax-release-object oDBX);; we're done with it
(if (tblsearch "BLOCK" blkname)
(command ".insert" blkname)
(alert (strcat "Block " blkname " Not found"))
)
);progn
(alert "\nYou selected a file in use by Autocad, please close and try
again....")
);if
);end progn
(alert (strcat "Block Drawing " blkdwg " not found"))
);end if
(princ);; exit quietly
)

 

Wow! I was thinking it would be a one-liner! Thanks for the code!

Scott

 

**<<sigh>>**
Why do people strip off the headers of lisp routines?

Here is what should have preceded the code that Jim posted (although the
original code WAS modified slightly from what was originally posted).

;| Import block from another drawing, block name and
path\drawing are passed as arguments
(imp_blk "blockname" "path\\tp\\blocks.dwg")
Jeff Mishler, Dec. 23, 2003
Check for ObjectDBX installation by R. Robert Bell
|;

(defun imp_blk (bname source / *acad* doc odbx Doctest
blocks blist bimport)
(vl-load-com)
;;rest of code here.........

 

Sorry about that Jeff. The header info was not there when I picked it up.
I didn't know where it originated.
The original code picked up all blocks in a drawing. I modified it to get
just one.

 

No problem, Jim. I didn't think it was you, hence my use of 'people'....

Heh, I just noticed that this was an early version that I had re-worked from
another routine I'd made for importing views and still has the misleading
comment in this line:

(if (> (vla-get-count blocks) 0);;ensure there are views to import

Take care,

 

This may be easier

(command "insert" "<<<full path and filename of block to be inserted>>>" "1" "1" "0")

you may want to change the attreq system variable befor this to keep from having to input any possible attributes.

 

While this will, of course, insert a Drawing as a Block in the drawing.
However, it will NOT insert just 1 Block defined in another drawing to the
current drawing.

 

I added the credits so it won't happen again (at least not from me).
I also removed the misleading comment.

 

Seems like this should be easier....maybe something like:

Command: -insert
Enter block name or [?]:
F:\CAD\AutoCAD\R2005\Library\Architectural\symbols.dwg&blockname=ROOMTAG
Specify insertion point or [Scale/X/Y/Z/Rotate/PScale/PX/PY/PZ/PRotate]:

OR

Command: -insert
Enter Source Drawing:
F:\CAD\AutoCAD\R2005\Library\Architectural\symbols.dwg
Enter block name or [?]: ROOMTAG
Specify insertion point or [Scale/X/Y/Z/Rotate/PScale/PX/PY/PZ/PRotate]:

 

Here is a link to the way I did it. You will need the dcl file and the lisp file. It will ask you to pick a file, then it will load the dialog with all the blocks you could copy over. One thing that got pointed out is that if it already exist it won't over write it.

http://discussion.autodesk.com/thread.jspa?threadID=367202

Hope it helps.
Tim

 

Forgot to mention it is set up to work on 2004 and 2005 Object BDX.

Tim

 

Thanks Tim! I will try it out!

 

Scott,

I just posted the final version for now.

Tim