Transparent Find w/ more options

Anyone seen anything like this? It would be nice to be able to find a text string then move it around or put a circle around it for later modifying and then continuing your search to other text matching criteria and also implementing the typical "F3" as a find next. There could be numerous powerful options applied to the find command, like maybe searching on a preferred layer(s). There are more but I can't think of them right now.
Thnx for any info,
Shawn

 

I wrote this is a hurry a while back for a specific task, but never went any
further with the programming. It isn't as elegant as your request, but it
does allow you to find any text string or text style

;FTC = input specific text & layer to locate & zoom to
(defun C:FTC ()
(setq CHES nil)
(setq CHET (strcase (getstring T "\nInput Text String to Search for or
[ENTER]=All Text ? ")))
(setq CHEL (strcase (getstring "\nInput Text Layer Name or [ENTER]=All
Layers ? ")))
(if (= CHEL "") (setq CHEL "*"))
(setq CHKSS (ssget "X" (list (cons 0 "*TEXT") (cons 8 CHEL))))
(if CHKSS
(setq CHKK 0 CHKS (sslength CHKSS))
(setq CHKK 0 CHKS 0)
)
(princ (strcat "\n" (itoa CHKS) " TEXT found on Layer " CHEL "."))
(princ)
)
;FTS = input text size & layer to locate & zoom to
(defun C:FTS ()
(setq CHET nil)
(setq CHES (getreal "\nInput Text Size to Search for or [ENTER]=All Text ?
"))
(setq CHEL (strcase (getstring "\nInput Text Layer Name or [ENTER]=All
Layers ? ")))
(if (= CHEL "") (setq CHEL "*"))
(setq CHKSS (ssget "X" (list (cons 0 "*TEXT") (cons 8 CHEL))))
(if CHKSS
(setq CHKK 0 CHKS (sslength CHKSS))
(setq CHKK 0 CHKS 0)
)
(princ (strcat "\n" (itoa CHKS) " TEXT found on Layer " CHEL "."))
(princ)
)
;GT = zoom to text located by FTC & FTS (one at a time)
(defun C:GT (/ EG P0 TT HH ZOOMTO)
(if (not ZOOM)
(setq ZOOM (getvar "VIEWSIZE"))
)
(cond
((and CHET (/= CHET ""))
(princ (strcat "\nZooming to TEXT [" CHET "] " (itoa (1+ CHKK)) " of "
(itoa CHKS) " [GNUM=" (itoa CHKK) "]."))
)
((not CHES)
(princ (strcat "\nZooming to TEXT Size [" (rtos CHES 2 2) "] " (itoa (1+
CHKK)) " of " (itoa CHKS) " [GNUM=" (itoa CHKK) "]."))
)
(T
(princ (strcat "\nZooming to ALL TEXT " (itoa (1+ CHKK)) " of " (itoa
CHKS) " [GNUM=" (itoa CHKK) "]."))
)
)
(while (< CHKK CHKS)
(grtext -1 (strcat "Text " (itoa (1+ CHKK)) " of " (itoa CHKS)))
(setq EG (entget (ssname CHKSS CHKK)))
(if EG
(progn
(setq P0 (cdr (assoc 10 EG)))
(setq TT (strcase (cdr (assoc 1 EG))))
(setq HH (cdr (assoc 40 EG)))
(cond
((and CHES (equal CHES HH 0.001))
(setq ZOOMTO T)
)
((and CHET (= CHET "?") (wcmatch TT "*[?]*"))
(setq ZOOMTO T)
)
((and CHET (/= CHET "?") (wcmatch TT (strcat "*`" CHET "*")))
(setq ZOOMTO T)
)
(T (setq ZOOMTO nil))
)
(if ZOOMTO
(progn
(command "ZOOM" "C" P0 ZOOM)
(redraw (cdr (assoc -1 EG)) 3)
(cond
(CHES
(princ (strcat " Text=[" TT "] - Size=[" (rtos HH 2 2) "]."))
)
((and CHET (= CHET "TEXT"))
(princ (strcat " Text=[" TT "]."))
)
)
(getstring "\nHit [ENTER]=Find Next text or [ESC]=to stop and modify
{GT}to resume ? ")
)
)
)
)
(setq CHKK (1+ CHKK))
)
(princ)
)

 

Thnx Alan. Looks like a good project for my spare time and a place to start.