SYSWINDOWS command

I sometimes work with 10 or more drawings open. When I need to compare two drawings I tile them with the command "SYSWINDOWS", or pick the option I want from the "Window" pull-down menu.

I was wondering if anyone knows how I can make this work better or faster. The way I was imaging it working was:
After you start the command a dialog opens up with all the drawings listed (that are open in the current session of acad) with a toggle on the bottom for "Vertical" because I use "Horizontal" more so that would be my default.
Then select the drawings that I want to tile.
Right now it will tile all the drawings open, and then I have to minimize then ones I don't want to compare.

I'm not sure how to do this, and only really need some direction, but if someone has a lisp, why reinvent the wheel. I'm willing to do the work, I'm just stumped where would I find out how to use the command "SYSWINDOWS" to my advantage, or if there is another route I have to take.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Tim

 

try docbar from this location...

http://www.cadwerx.net/

works great.

 

That looks pretty cool but not big enough for me to compare drawing info.

Thanks.
Tim

 

not a solution, but a question..

Does "Ctrl+Tab" not suffice?

 

For C Witt,

Not really, because all it does is cycle through the drawings. If I only had the two open I
was comparing, then yes that would work, but since I have 10 open I would have to cycle through all 10 to get back to the first one.
I was looking for something that will allow me to select a couple of drawings, then it would only tile those drawings.

I couldn't post through outlook, not sure why could just be I don't know what I'm doing there, so I posted on the web site.

Tim

ps. this thread is out of sync.

 

I got it to work, but I get this error on the original drawing
; error: bad argument type: VLA-OBJECT nil
I have tried all I could think of, and I still get it. If anyone can get rid of it it would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has anycomments on it please post. I don't know much about the vlax-.. functions, but I used them here, but not sure if there is a better way of doing it.

Here is the code:

(defun c:TileSelect(/ tx1 tx2 tx3 tx4 tx5 tx6 tx7 tx8 tx9 op1 tlng1 tlng2 nowopen newdwg)
;

(setq tx3 nil
tx4 nil
tx5 (vla-get-documents (vlax-get-acad-object))
nowopen (vla-get-activedocument (vlax-get-acad-object))
)
(vlax-for item tx5
(setq tx3 (vla-get-name item))
(setq tx4 (append tx4 (list tx3)))
(while (/= (vlax-get item 'WindowState) 2)
(vlax-put item 'WindowState 2)
)
(vlax-release-object item)
)

(if tx4
(progn
(setq tx4 (vl-sort tx4 '<))
(setq op1 (load_dialog "CloseDwg.dcl"))
(if (not (new_dialog "Cdrawings" op1))
(exit)
)
(start_list "tx2" 3); clear the list
(mapcar 'add_list tx4)
(end_list)
(action_tile "accept"
"(progn
(setq tx2 (get_tile \"tx2\"))
(setq tx9 (get_tile \"d-save\"))
(done_dialog 1)
)"
)
(action_tile "cancel"
"(progn
(setq tx2 nil)
(setq tx9 (get_tile \"d-save\"))
(done_dialog 1)
)"
)
(start_dialog)
(if tx2
(Tiling)
(setq tlng2 "0")
)
)
)
(princ)

)

;================================================================

(defun Tiling()

(setq tx7 (read (strcat "(" tx2 ")")))
(setq tlng1 (vl-list-length tx7))
(setq tlng2 (itoa (fix tlng1)))

(repeat (fix tlng1)
(setq tx6 (car tx7))
(setq tx8 (nth tx6 tx4))
(vlax-for item tx5
(if (= tx8 (vla-get-name item))
(progn
(vlax-put item 'WindowState 1)
(setq newdwg item)
)
)
(vla-activate nowopen)
(vlax-release-object item)
)
(setq tx7 (cdr tx7))
)
(vla-activate nowopen)
(command "_.syswindows" "_H")
(vlax-release-object newopen)
(vla-activate newdwg)

)

Here is the dcl I used to test it (don't worry about the button on the bottom, it does nothing with this routine).


Cdrawings : dialog{
label = "Select Drawings";
: row {
: list_box {
label = "layers";
key = "tx2";
width = 80;
height = 20;
multiple_select = true;
}
}
: toggle {
label = "Save drawing?";
key = "d-save";
}

: row {
: spacer { width = 1; }

: button { // defines the OK button
label = "OK";
is_default = true;
allow_accept = true;
key = "accept";
width = 8;
fixed_width = true;
}

: button { // defines the Cancel button
label = "Cancel";
is_cancel = true;
key = "cancel";
width = 8;
fixed_width = true;
}

: spacer { width = 1;}
}

}

Thanks,
Tim

 

I made a couple of changes, but I still can't get it to finish right. It seems to not switch back to the original drawing I have open. I used the (vl-bb-set... to set the original drawing so that I can switch back from any drawing that is open, but it doesn't seem to work. I need it to switch back because it won't work right if it doesn't. It lags on this line "(command "_.syswindows" "_H")", but yet it still sets the drawings to be tiled horizontal.

Any help is appreciated.
Tim

(defun c:TileSelect(/ tx1 tx2 tx3 tx4 tx5 tx6 tx7 tx8 tx9 op1 tlng1 tlng2 nowopen newdwg)
;

(setq tx3 nil
tx4 nil
tx5 (vla-get-documents (vlax-get-acad-object))
)
(vl-bb-set 'nowopen (vla-get-activedocument (vlax-get-acad-object)))
(vlax-for item tx5
(setq tx3 (vla-get-name item))
(setq tx4 (append tx4 (list tx3)))
(while (/= (vlax-get item 'WindowState) 2)
(vlax-put item 'WindowState 2)
)
)

(if tx4
(progn
(setq tx4 (vl-sort tx4 '<))
(setq op1 (load_dialog "CloseDwg.dcl"))
(if (not (new_dialog "Cdrawings" op1))
(exit)
)
(start_list "tx2" 3); clear the list
(mapcar 'add_list tx4)
(end_list)
(action_tile "accept"
"(progn
(setq tx2 (get_tile \"tx2\"))
(setq tx9 (get_tile \"d-save\"))
(done_dialog 1)
)"
)
(action_tile "cancel"
"(progn
(setq tx2 nil)
(setq tx9 (get_tile \"d-save\"))
(done_dialog 1)
)"
)
(start_dialog)
)
)
(if tx2
(progn
(Tiling)
(command "_.syswindows" "_H")
)
)
(princ)

)

;================================================================

(defun Tiling()

(setq tx7 (read (strcat "(" tx2 ")")))
(setq tlng1 (vl-list-length tx7))
(setq tlng2 (itoa (fix tlng1)))
(repeat (fix tlng1)
(setq tx6 (car tx7))
(setq tx8 (nth tx6 tx4))
(vlax-for item tx5
(if (= tx8 (vla-get-name item))
(vlax-put item 'WindowState 1)
)
)
(setq tx7 (cdr tx7))
)
(vla-activate (vl-bb-ref 'nowopen))
(vlax-for item tx5
(vlax-release-object item)
)
)

 

Ok, I got it to work the way I want it to. Here it is if anyone wants it. Any comments are welcome.

(defun c:TileSelect(/ tx1 tx3 tx4 tx5 tx6 tx7 tx8 tx9 op1 tlng1 nowopen newdwg choice1 nopen)
;

(setq tx3 nil
tx4 nil
tx5 (vla-get-documents (vlax-get-acad-object))
)
(vl-bb-set 'nowopen (vla-get-activedocument (vlax-get-acad-object)))
(vlax-for item tx5
(setq tx3 (vla-get-name item))
(setq tx4 (append tx4 (list tx3)))
(while (/= (vlax-get item 'WindowState) 2)
(vlax-put item 'WindowState 2)
)
)
(if tx4
(progn
(setq tx4 (vl-sort tx4 '<))
(setq op1 (load_dialog "CloseDwg.dcl"))
(if (not (new_dialog "Cdrawings" op1))
(exit)
)
(set_tile "choice1" "Vertical? (check box above)")
(start_list "tx2" 3); clear the list
(mapcar 'add_list tx4)
(end_list)
(action_tile "accept"
"(progn
(setq tx2 (get_tile \"tx2\"))
(vl-bb-set 'tx9 (get_tile \"d-save\"))
(done_dialog 1)
)"
)
(action_tile "cancel"
"(progn
(setq tx2 nil)
(vl-bb-set 'tx9 nil)
(vlax-put (vl-bb-ref 'nowopen) 'WindowState 3)
(done_dialog 1)
)"
)
(start_dialog)
)
)
(if (/= tx2 "")
(progn
(Tiling)
(cond
((= (vl-bb-ref 'tx9) "0")
(command "_.syswindows" "_H")
)
((= (vl-bb-ref 'tx9) "1")
(command "_.syswindows" "_V")
)
)
)
(vlax-put (vl-bb-ref 'nowopen) 'WindowState 3)
)
(vl-bb-set 'nowopen nil)
(vl-bb-set 'tx9 nil)
(princ)
)

;================================================================

(defun Tiling()

(setq tx7 (read (strcat "(" tx2 ")")))
(setq tlng1 (vl-list-length tx7))
(repeat (fix tlng1)
(setq tx6 (car tx7))
(setq tx8 (nth tx6 tx4))
(if (= tx8 (vla-get-name (vl-bb-ref 'nowopen)))
(setq nopen "y")
)
(vlax-for item tx5
(if (= tx8 (vla-get-name item))
(vlax-put item 'WindowState 1)
)
)
(setq tx7 (cdr tx7))
(if (not tx7)
(vlax-put (vl-bb-ref 'nowopen) 'WindowState 1)
)
)
(vlax-for item tx5
(vlax-release-object item)
)
(if (/= nopen "y")
(vlax-put (vl-bb-ref 'nowopen) 'WindowState 2)
(vla-activate (vl-bb-ref 'nowopen))
)
)

....dcl========================


Cdrawings : dialog{
label = "Select Drawings";
: row {
: list_box {
label = "layers";
key = "tx2";
width = 80;
height = 20;
multiple_select = true;
}
}
: toggle {
key = "d-save";
}
: text {
key = "choice1";
}

: row {
: spacer { width = 1; }

: button { // defines the OK button
label = "OK";
is_default = true;
allow_accept = true;
key = "accept";
width = 8;
fixed_width = true;
}

: button { // defines the Cancel button
label = "Cancel";
is_cancel = true;
key = "cancel";
width = 8;
fixed_width = true;
}

: spacer { width = 1;}
}

}


Thanks

Tim

 

A minor style point which doesn't matter on this occasion, but would in
some performance-critical place:

As the order of stuff in tx4 doen't matter here (you sort it anyway), it
would be more efficient to do this as
(setq tx4 (cons tx3 tx4))

- append has to copy all of tx4, cons just adds one cell to the front of
the list.

--

 

Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't know that. I will be more aware now of that situation.

Tim