Speed suggestions?

I had the same feeling as others -- the doubled apostrophe smells like a
kludge. But at least it's legal. You'll note that they're also using a dash
instead of an equals sign, for the same reason.

Like Jason, my approach has simply been to name the dimstyle per the
dimscale. It's not as warm and fuzzy as the names they're trying to achieve,
but IMHO users who regularly work with multiple scale ought to be familiar
with dimscale factors anyway.

 

Because not everyone dimensions through
a floating viewport.

or

When Dimassoc = 2, I create a Dim_1 style
which of course works for any scale.

 

;|
There should some way to break the names into stable prefixs

DTYPE IS NOT USED - IS IT NEEDED
CAN UPTONEW BE CALLED REGARDLESS OF THE STATUS

|;
(defun switch (/ e i en el curdim dtype)
;(princ "\nStarting switch")
(and
(setq E (ssget "X" (list (cons 0 "DIMENSION,LEADER"))))
(setq i (sslength E))
(while (not (minusp setq i (1- i)))
(setq en (ssname ss i)
EL (entget EN)
CURDIM (cdr (assoc 3 EL))
DTYPE (cdr (assoc 0 EL)))
(cond
((= (substr CURDIM 1 4) "AT&T")
(setq NEWDIM (strcat CURDIM 5) "'")
(UPTONEW))
((= (substr CURDIM 1 6) "TRKIMP")
(setq NEWDIM (strcat (substr CURDIM 7) "'"))
(UPTONEW))
((= (substr CURDIM 1 8) "TRKMET1-")
(setq NEWDIM (substr CURDIM 7))
(UPTONEW))
)))
;(princ "\nDone switch")
(princ)
)

 

"IMHO users who regularly work with multiple scale ought to be familiar
with dimscale factors anyway"

you would think so wouldn't you ;>

sadly most of the users here, don't. we spoiled them with lisp commands.

 

One way to cure that is to kick the crutches out from under them. After a
month of dealing with Jason's DIM_96 etc. they will have memorized the
common ones and learned to decypher the rest.

It's not like it's rocket science. Most people usually work in the same
limited number of scales most of the time. Once you know that 1/4" scale is
dimscale 48, and 1/8" is 96, and 1/30 is 360, it just isn't that difficult
to extrapolate to another scale that you don't use as often. For those who
are severely dimscale-challenged, get one of thos ubiquitous cheat sheets
like the CADCard.

I believe in making things user friendly, don't get me wrong, but I'm never
comfortable with having to program around the preconception that users
"can't" learn -- and I'm even less comfortable with the notion that their
disability was caused or worsened by the programmer's efforts. It's too much
of a circular argument.for me. We had to give them crutches because they
were a little unsteady, but they're losing the use of their legs because of
depending on the crutches, so now we need to make them better crutches.

Knowing the dimscales at which you nearly always work just isn't that hard.

 

that would only work up to a point..

as soon as it finds (= CURDIM "AT&T1-300FT") you need to do so many
alterations to make "1'' - 300FT".. that time-wise it's not worth it..

correct?

 

you nailed it. i'm always looking for better crutches... (often the
ones made aren't even used, even when they are "required" for office
standards).

 

In our shop we have only one DimStyle, and we set an override for the
DimScale. That way we don't have those dozens of styles floating around.

--
R. Robert Bell


"Jason Piercey" <JasonATatrengDOTcom> wrote in message
Because not everyone dimensions through
a floating viewport.

or

When Dimassoc = 2, I create a Dim_1 style
which of course works for any scale.

 

Can you give me a brief example of code that will establish an override for
primary units?

That's about the only reason I use dimstyles... D2 = setvar dimstyle
"2-place-decimal", etc. Of course a single Insert brings in the definitions for
all those dimstyles (I usually use 4-6 in any given drawing) at the appropriate
dimscale.
-doug

 

I've thought about this technique for non-associative
dimensions before, just never messed with it enough
to get a good feel for how well it would work for us.

 

Hi C Witt

My suggestion:

(defun switch ( / CurEnt CurDim CurSet DTYPE EntLst NewDim)
;(princ "\nStarting switch")
(setq CurSet (ssget "X" '((0 . "DIMENSION,LEADER"))))
(while (setq CurEnt (ssname CurSet 0))
(setq EntLst (entget CurEnt)
CurDim (cdr (assoc 3 EntLst))
DTYPE (cdr (assoc 0 EntLst))
)
(cond
((wcmatch CurDim "TRKMET*")
(setq NewDim (substr CurDim 7))
(UPTONEW)
)
((wcmatch CurDim "TRKIMP*")
(setq NewDim (ConvertScale (substr CurDim 7)))
(UPTONEW)
)
((wcmatch CurDim "TRK*")
(setq NewDim (ConvertScale (substr CurDim 4)))
(UPTONEW)
)
((wcmatch CurDim "AT&T*")
(setq NewDim (ConvertScale (substr CurDim 5)))
(UPTONEW)
)
)
(ssdel CurEnt CurSet)
)
;(princ "\nDone switch")
(princ)
)

(defun ConvertScale (Val)
(cond
((wcmatch Val "1-16") "1-16'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "3-32") "3-32'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-8") "1-8'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "3-16") "3-16'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-4") "1-4'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "3-8") "3-8'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-2") "1-2'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "3-4") "3-4'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "1,1FT") "1'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-1-2,1-1-2FT") "1 1-2'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "2,2FT") "2'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "3,3FT") "3'' - 1FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-1,1-1FT") "1'' - 1''")
((wcmatch Val "1-10,1-10FT") "1'' - 10FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-20,1-20FT") "1'' - 20FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-30,1-30FT") "1'' - 30FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-40,1-40FT") "1'' - 40FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-50,1-50FT") "1'' - 50FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-70,1-70FT") "1'' - 70FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-75,1-75FT") "1'' - 75FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-80,1-80FT") "1'' - 80FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-100,1-100FT") "1'' - 100FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-120,1-120FT") "1'' - 120FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-150,1-150FT") "1'' - 150FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-200,1-200FT") "1'' - 200FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-300,1-300FT") "1'' - 300FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-400,1-400FT") "1'' - 400FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-500,1-500FT") "1'' - 500FT")
((wcmatch Val "1-1000,1-1000FT") "1'' - 1000FT")
)
)

Cheers

 

interesting, don't understand why, but still interesting.

 

I prefer to keep my annotations out of modelspace.

 

Here we have one dimstyle, and with dimensioning thru viewports for with dimassoc set to 2, we never have to change any settings.

 

That's what we like to push as our standard. The only items in model space should be just the geometry of the drawing. All notes and dims should be in paper space. But if dimensions have to be in model space, they are placed thru a open viewport.

 

(setvar "DimScale" 96.0)

--
R. Robert Bell


Can you give me a brief example of code that will establish an override for
primary units?

That's about the only reason I use dimstyles... D2 = setvar dimstyle
"2-place-decimal", etc. Of course a single Insert brings in the definitions
for
all those dimstyles (I usually use 4-6 in any given drawing) at the
appropriate
dimscale.
-doug