slow performance with vb6 vs. same code in vba???

I am writing a routine that gets a file list from dialog boxes of
architectural backgrounds that need to be cleaned up and used for our
engineering drawings. It then loads each file, saves a new copy in a new
location (specified in the dialogs), runs the clean up process, saves, then
closes, next file, etc. etc. For some reason this takes an incredible
amount of time to execute, almost 5 minutes for a basic drawing. If I just
enter the cleanup portion of the code into vba and run it, it executes in a
matter of seconds on the same drawing file. Not sure why.

This is the basic part of the code:

..
..
..
Set AcadApp = GetObject(, "AutoCAD.Application")
If Err Then
Err.Clear
MsgBox ("AutoCAD is not running. Please exit and start AutoCAD.")
Else
Set ThisDrawing = AcadApp.ActiveDocument
End If

Dim obj As Object
Dim lyr As Object
Dim blk As Object
Dim piece As Object
Dim DimSt As Object

AppActivate AcadApp.Caption

For Each oFile In CleanFileList

FileCopy SourceLoc + "\" + oFile, WorkingLoc + "\" + oFile
AcadApp.Documents.Open (WorkingLoc + "\" + oFile)

Set ThisDrawing = AcadApp.ActiveDocument

For Each obj In ThisDrawing.ModelSpace
obj.Color = acByLayer
Next obj

For Each lyr In ThisDrawing.Layers
lyr.Color = 8
Next lyr

For Each blk In ThisDrawing.Blocks
For Each piece In blk
piece.Color = acByLayer
Next piece
Next blk

For Each DimSt In ThisDrawing.DimStyles
ThisDrawing.ActiveDimStyle =
AcadApplication.ActiveDocument.DimStyles(DimSt.Name)
ThisDrawing.SetVariable "DIMCLRD", acByLayer
ThisDrawing.SetVariable "DIMCLRE", acByLayer
ThisDrawing.SetVariable "DIMCLRT", acByLayer
Next DimSt
ThisDrawing.SendCommand ("Dim" & vbCr & "Update" & vbCr & "All" &
vbCr & vbCr & "Exit" & vbCr)
ThisDrawing.Save
ThisDrawing.Close

Next oFile


Thanks in advance for any input!!

Jason Smith

 

If you do a Google search of this group, using "In Process" as your
keywords, you will undoubtedly find a trove of data on this subject.

Basically your performance problem is coming from the fact that you are
moving data across process boundaries. You can deal with it by
converting your VB6 Executable to an ActiveX DLL and loading into
AutoCAD's process space using VBA. There is another method, which I am
not familiar with, that involves moving only the AutoCAD-centric code
from your EXE into a DLL. You might find more information about that
in your Google search.

Good luck in your endeavor.