Macro to apply hatch

Is there any better way to apply hatching than this toolbar macro which I made into a button:

^C^C-layer;set;a_hatch;^C-h;ansi31;8;0;

I got the idea to create a button for the 6/7 hatches that I use constantly. It seemed like a good idea to save keystrokes. However, this routine forces me to select an object, what about picking inside a boundary. How could that be accomplished?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
PK

 

How about
(command "layer" "m" "a_hatch" "")
(command "bhatch" pause "p" "ansi31" "8" "0" "")

 

While typing in a plain H (if you keep AutoCAD's standard shortcuts) gives
you the BHATCH command, typing in -H gives you the regular old HATCH
command, not BHATCH without the dialog box, and that doesn't allow point
selection. You need to use -BHATCH if you're in a script or macro. Withing
a (command) function, you don't need the hyphen (see petervose's reply).

 

I use these a lot. They were developed by input from this group
Draw a rectangle/pline, set your dimscale to 30 or so, load the lisp and
click inside the rectangle/pline
BHA - hatches with a line ansi31
CHA - hatches with a solid
FHA - hatches with a user hatch
RHA - hatches with a dot pattern

They all capture the current layer, set a new layer, get the dimscale for
hatch scale, perform the hatch, and reset the saved layer.
I load them with the acad.lsp file using a partial load approach:
(defun c:bha()(load "LSP/bha")(c:bha));
To run I just need to type bha

Hope this gets you started
~KRK~

constantly. It seemed like a good idea to save keystrokes. However, this
routine forces me to select an object, what about picking inside a boundary.
How could that be accomplished?

 

Thanks for the fine suggestions.

I ended up using the "command..." routine for my macros. The autolisp routine got me thinking, is it possible to run two bhatch command routines on the same pick area? Such as:

(command "layer" "s" "a_hatch" "")
(command "bhatch" pause "p" "lines_horiz" "1.25" "0" "") (command "bhatch" "p" pause "ansi32" "3.0" "0" "")

Thanks,
PK