nested XREF Layer

Hi all.

How do I get the layer where a "nested" XREF is inserted ??
Is there a quick way to do this ???

 

No quick way, without lisp.

I don't have anything written (on my
things-to-do-when-i've-done-all-the-important-stuff list), but looking into
the ENTGET function would get you the info you're looking for. There would
be a few checks required, etc., that off hand, I couldn't explain.

You need to use NENTSEL to select a nested object, then use ENTGET and work
through the list of parent objects............or something like that. It's
been a while since I've looked into that, so I apologize for the lack of
specifics.

I don't know the VBA method of selecting a nested object, BTW.

I hope my rambling is of some use to you.

 

Thanks Tom.
I need to make a list of all XREFs in a dwg and their insertion layer.
No selection by the user should be necessary.
I'm using VB, so LISP may not be a good idea, but if it's the only way...

--
Saludos, Ing. Jorge Jimenez, SICAD S.A., Costa Rica

 

It is not the only way.

Sub Test()
Dim aEntity As AcadEntity
Dim aBlock As AcadBlock
For Each aBlock In ThisDrawing.Blocks
For Each aEntity In aBlock
If TypeOf aEntity Is AcadExternalReference Then
Debug.Print aEntity.Name & "->" & aEntity.Layer
End If
Next aEntity
Next aBlock
End Sub


--
R. Robert Bell


Thanks Tom.
I need to make a list of all XREFs in a dwg and their insertion layer.
No selection by the user should be necessary.
I'm using VB, so LISP may not be a good idea, but if it's the only way...

 

I think you can do this in VBA. I have a homebrew that reports the resolved xref attachments and the nested attachments. It writes out to a comma delinated text file but it goes only one nesting deep. Perhaps you would have to use recursion to discover the nesting at any depth. It uses a selection set filter for blocks and then checks .isXref to find the first level xrefs. It then uses TypeOf AcadExternalReference to find the first level of nesting. Apparently the .Layer of the object meeting the first level of nesting seems to return the "full" layername (<nested>|<layername>) of the layer the nexted xref is inserted into the first level xref. I just made a quick and dirty check. So I think there is way to acheive what you want at least down to the first nested xref.

 

I made an erroneous assumption about your original post, thinking you needed
to find it by selection.

Never accept anything as the only way.

 

Hi Jorge,

You can do as follows. In the current drawing search for the external references and you can find the layer name directly. For nested external references you need to iterate the Blocks cloolection. If the block's IsXRef property is true then use XRefDatabase property of the block to get the database of the inserted external reference. The XRefDatabase is intern is AcadDatabase which has a property Modelspace, you can iterate the modelspace of that object to find the external-references and there layer property. Also the database also has block collection which you need the iterate for further deep lave external references. You can use the recuision for the same.

I hope this help

Manoj

 

Seems like too much work. See my sample code posted yesterday.

--
R. Robert Bell


Hi Jorge,

You can do as follows. In the current drawing search for the external
references and you can find the layer name directly. For nested external
references you need to iterate the Blocks cloolection. If the block's IsXRef
property is true then use XRefDatabase property of the block to get the
database of the inserted external reference. The XRefDatabase is intern is
AcadDatabase which has a property Modelspace, you can iterate the modelspace
of that object to find the external-references and there layer property.
Also the database also has block collection which you need the iterate for
further deep lave external references. You can use the recuision for the
same.

I hope this help

Manoj

 

Thanks Robert.
I actually thought iterating for each entity in each block would take a very
long time in a big drawing, so I didn't even try it.
I was looking for another way to do it.
I was getting all the xrefs names from the layer collection. That worked
fast
And then I got the block entities from the block collection using their
block name. That also was fast.
But after that, I was looking for more direct way to get to the insertion
layer, like using the owner objectid or something like that, but it got
complicated and time consuming.

Anyway, after giving your sub a try, in a drawing with some 3,000 blocks and
18 xrefs heavily nested (some five level deep and circular references), I
was amazed as to how fast it got thru all the entities.
I underestimated the for each loop

 

Thanks.
I had gotten that far already, but as the nested the levels got deeper the
more time it took for the program to get the info. It got to a crawling
state in a dwg with some 18 xref some five level deep .
--
Saludos, Ing. Jorge Jimenez, SICAD S.A., Costa Rica

resolved xref attachments and the nested attachments. It writes out to a
comma delinated text file but it goes only one nesting deep. Perhaps you
would have to use recursion to discover the nesting at any depth. It uses
a selection set filter for blocks and then checks .isXref to find the first
level xrefs. It then uses TypeOf AcadExternalReference to find the first
level of nesting. Apparently the .Layer of the object meeting the first
level of nesting seems to return the "full" layername (<nested>|<layername>)
of the layer the nexted xref is inserted into the first level xref. I just
made a quick and dirty check. So I think there is way to acheive what you
want at least down to the first nested xref.

 

Thanks againg

I usually don't.

 

Thank Manoj.
I already was doing it that way, but it took way to much time when the
nested levels were more than 3 or 4

--
Saludos, Ing. Jorge Jimenez, SICAD S.A., Costa Rica

references and you can find the layer name directly. For nested external
references you need to iterate the Blocks cloolection. If the block's IsXRef
property is true then use XRefDatabase property of the block to get the
database of the inserted external reference. The XRefDatabase is intern is
AcadDatabase which has a property Modelspace, you can iterate the modelspace
of that object to find the external-references and there layer property.
Also the database also has block collection which you need the iterate for
further deep lave external references. You can use the recuision for the
same.

 

The ActiveX interface can be amazingly fast, huh?!

Glad I could help.

--
R. Robert Bell


Thanks Robert.
I actually thought iterating for each entity in each block would take a very
long time in a big drawing, so I didn't even try it.
I was looking for another way to do it.
I was getting all the xrefs names from the layer collection. That worked
fast
And then I got the block entities from the block collection using their
block name. That also was fast.
But after that, I was looking for more direct way to get to the insertion
layer, like using the owner objectid or something like that, but it got
complicated and time consuming.

Anyway, after giving your sub a try, in a drawing with some 3,000 blocks and
18 xrefs heavily nested (some five level deep and circular references), I
was amazed as to how fast it got thru all the entities.
I underestimated the for each loop

 

Robert, why would this exact same routine run in 3 seconds in VBA but take
for ever in a VB DLL ??
I thought that a VB dll, loaded in the same application space as acad, would
run just as fast as any VBA macro.
I'm I wrong ??

 

<hmm> Me too (or nearly as fast). Can you email me a sample drawing
etransmitted/zipped up for some testing? (Remove the obvious from my
address.)

--
R. Robert Bell


Robert, why would this exact same routine run in 3 seconds in VBA but take
for ever in a VB DLL ??
I thought that a VB dll, loaded in the same application space as acad, would
run just as fast as any VBA macro.
I'm I wrong ??

 

Robert, why would this exact same routine run in 3 seconds in VBA but take

IME it depends heavily upon how you acquire your reference, or pointer, to
AutoCAD. If you've sent it to Robert, I'm sure he'll get you fixed up!

-- Mike
___________________________
Mike Tuersley
CADalyst's CAD Clinic
Rand IMAGINiT Technologies
___________________________
the trick is to realize that there is no spoon...

 

Robert, the dwg and xrefs are quite big, and IMHO they don´t seem to be the
problem here
Why would the VBA macro run so fast and the VB dll crawl, on the same dwg,
using the same code (just replacing thisdrawing with acaddoc) . ??
The VB dll is loaded using lisp, which passes the acadapp to the function.

(setq acd (vlax-get-acad-object))
(setq dibserv (vlax-invoke acd "getinterfaceobject" "SCAD.dwgs"))
(vlax-invoke dibserv "Fstart" acd)

I've done some testing with several dwgs and got the same result: the VBA
macro blazes and the VB dll crawls.

 

Hi Mike
The VB dll is loaded using lisp:

(setq acd (vlax-get-acad-object))
(setq dibserv (vlax-invoke acd "getinterfaceobject" "SCAD.Dwgs"))

then a Sub is called the same way:

(vlax-invoke dibserv "Fstart" acd)
-----------------------------------------
Inside the VB dll class

Public withevents AcadApp as AutoCAD.AcadApplication

Public Sub Fstart (Mapp as AutoCAD.AcadApplication)
set AcadApp = Mapp
..
..
..
End Sub

 

Never mind me !!! My brain was fried !!
I was running the dll in debug mode.

Thanks for the help !!

 

Ahh. Glad you figured it out.

--
R. Robert Bell


Never mind me !!! My brain was fried !!
I was running the dll in debug mode.