Misha at Autodesk wants input on the LAYFRZ, LAYOFF and LAYISO tools

Let him know your thoughts. Your input needed Guys, I have a question for you. I am doing some research on the usage of certain tools/commands in AutoCAD and was wondering how many of you have ever used LAYVPMODE express tool to change default behavior of LAYFRZ, LAYOFF and LAYISO tools. I would like to hear from those of you who used these three express tools (no matter if you were aware of LAYVPMODE tool or not). Thanks, Misha Belilovskiy AutoCAD Test Development

On History of Lisp

This document by John McCarty the designer of LISP can be interesting for those using AutoLISP and Visual LISP or any other Lisp dialect.

AutoCAD 2006 script bug

I run into an introduced bug in AutoCAD 2006 today. When using the command Close in a script the execution stops. This didn't happen in AutoCAD 2005.
The below script will stop after running the first close:
OPEN "drawing1"
dosomething here
CLOSE
OPEN "drawing2"
etc.

If you find a bug make sure to notify Autodesk of it so it can get fixed.
One way is: http://www.autodesk.com/submitbug

Update 2005-05-02:
One workaround is to use is to add a space after the CLOSE command so it becomes "CLOSE " instead of "CLOSE". This only works for 2006 so you have to have separate scripts for 2006 and older versions.
Another workaround that works for all versions is to use the code below instead of CLOSE
(command "VBASTMT" "Application.ActiveDocument.Close(False)")
or
(command "VBASTMT" "Application.ActiveDocument.Close(True)")
The first one is if you want to close and don't save the drawing.
The other one is if you want to save the drawing.

NBC Universal, Rhoditech and BouwtaaK KennisCentrum selects JTB FlexReport

NBC Universal in US, Rhoditech in France and BouwtaaK KennisCentrum in Netherlands has selected JTB FlexReport as their solution to have better control on their network licenses. This for applications like ADT, AutoCAD, IBM Rational tools, Mathlab, Fluent and others.

SmartPurger awarded 5 stars

SmartPurger has been awarded the TOP score by the TopShareware editor. SmartPurger is great when you want to purge and batch multiple drawings. You can run audit, zoom extents, create preview icons. Convert between versions. Purge Blocks, Dimension styles, Layers, Linetypes, Mline styles, Shapes, Text styles, Plot styles, Page Setups, Filter states, Layer states, Layer manager states (Express Tools), Line objects without length, Text objects without text, embedded VBA code, registered applications collections, Anonymous Groups, Groups. It's possible to restore the date and time of the file to what it was before the scripting. Delete .BAK and other temporary or garbage files. And much more. SmartPurger works for AutoCAD 2006 and it's verticals down to AutoCAD r14 as well as LT.

Refactor! in VB 2005

I look forward to get my hands on VB 2005 Beta 2. 3 minute video showing Refactor! that will be included. Refactor! for VB 2005 Beta 2 is here. And here is more about it.

Autodesk DWF Viewer 6.0 released

Autodesk DWF Viewer 6.0 is now released. It includes print preview among other things.

AutoCAD 2006 flip dimension arrows

AutoCAD 2006 introduced a new functionality related to dimensions. The command is aidimfliparrow and it lets you flip the direction of an arrowhead. This is sometimes useful as the image shows.

The command is available if you select a dimension and right-click on it. Make sure that you select the dimension on a point that is close to the arrowhead that you want to flip. Only one arrowhead at a time can be flipped.
Note that ADT 2006 doesn't have this command on the right-click menu.
A minor bug is related to this command. If the aidimfliparrow command is run from the command line it accepts multiple objects but it only works if you select one dimension object.

Upgrade Autodesk Network License Manager within minutes

AutoCAD 2006 requires a new version of the NLM executables. lmtools.exe is version 10.1.5.0 now.

Here is a quick way to use when you need to upgrade NLM. It could be from AutoCAD 2005 to AutoCAD 2006, other versions or products that uses Macrovision's licensing technique. There is no need to uninstall the old Autodesk Network License Manage and install the new if you don't want to.

• Identify the location of these files on your server(s):
  adskflex.exe, lmgrd.exe, lmtools.exe, lmutil.exe
• On the AutoCAD 2006 CD the files are located here
  \Bin\acadFeui\support\nlm\Program Files\Autodesk Network License Manager
• On the AutoCAD 2006 CD run Setup, select Network Deployment and install the Network License Activation Utility. With this utility you can easy and quick request a new license file or append to your existing license file the new feature.
• When you have made the change to the license file go to the license server and stop the FLEXlm/FLEXnet service(s) using lmtools.exe.
• Now copy the 4 exe files mentioned from the CD (DVD) to your server.
• Run lmtools.exe and start the service(s).

If you do the above quick enough (stopping the service, copying the files and starting the service again) and is cool you can do it even when users are using AutoCAD. I don't recommend it but I have done it so I know it works. Recommendation is to do it at a time so you can recover the errors that might happen.

To better control the license usage give JTB FlexReport a try.

Hyperlinks web-performance tip using /

I just learned a new thing from the IEBlog. "PS: Another web-performance tip: When generating hyperlinks, always include a trailing slash if possible. For instance, navigating to http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie takes one more roundtrip than http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie/. When the browser navigates to the /ie url, the server merely sends down a 301 to the /ie/ url. Both links work, but the second version is faster. "

Nearly a top AutoCAD 2006 Beta Site

Congratulations to Lee Ambrosius for his no. 1 position! According to Shaan Hurley I was close though. This was not to forget with the help of several users at Pharmadule Emtunga that used the beta version of AutoCAD 2006 in full production for several months. The beta participation was well worth the effort. It is a great opportunity to influence the development of the next AutoCAD. If you want to be a part of it go here and you might be a part of the AutoCAD 2007 beta program or some other beta.

AutoCAD 2006 and access to the hatch area using API

The area is available but the property is available using the IAcadHatch2 interface. Here is a small sample in VBA showing it.

Sub Example_HatchAreas()
    Dim oSset As AcadSelectionSet
    Dim oHatch As IAcadHatch2
    Set oSset = ThisDrawing.SelectionSets.Add("TEST_SSET1")
    oSset.SelectOnScreen
    For Each oHatch In oSset
        Debug.Print oHatch.Area
    Next
End Sub

Press release: JTB World releases JTB FlexReport 2.0

2005-04-11 - JTB World releases JTB FlexReport 2.0 that helps IT or CAD Managers to reduce license costs and have better control of the license usage.
Now with even better functionality and reports:

Advanced grouping of features, users or servers.

Separate usage per server.

Detailed user usage logging.

Borrow usage is logged.

Ability to run as a service.


JTB FlexReport is a report tool for applications using the FLEXnet / FLEXlm software licensing. Do you want to optimize your software purchases tomorrow? JTB FlexReport is a inexpensive solution that will help you. By the tracking JTB FlexReport does and the graphic reports that can be produced JTB FlexReport will helps you to manage and forecast license usage at your company. Is SAMsuite or SAMreport a too expensive product? Then take a good look at JTB FlexReport.
JTB FlexReport will help you to see the license usage over the time. This will help you to decide when and how many licenses you will need to purchase next time. Instead of guessing and purchasing more licenses than you really need you can save your money using JTB FlexReport.
JTB FlexReport can also produce HTML reports showing who uses the licenses right now. Click here for a sample.
Data is also logged so you can track the usage per user.
Lets say you have 10 licenses of your software that costs $3,000. Now you have 20 users that shares these licenses. Do you know if you really need these 10 licenses or if you need more now when 2 more users are coming in? If you have JTB FlexReport it will be easier to make a correct decision. If you just need to purchase 1 less license imagine your benefit of using JTB FlexReport.
Applications and companies that uses FLEXnet / FLEXlm from Macrovision (formerly Globetrotter Software) are many. Over 2500 independent software vendors have used the FLEXnet / FLEXlm family of products. Among them are companies and/or applications from Autodesk, AVEVA (PDMS), Borland, Cadence, CADopia (IntelliCAD), Cognos, EDS, I-Deas, Macromedia, Mathsoft (MathCAD), Mathworks (Matlab), Pixar, Platform, Progman/Cadcom, PTC (Pro-Engineer), Rasterx (RxView), Softimage, Solidworks, Sybase, WindRiver, etc.
Look at the PowerPoint presentation about JTB FlexReport Make sure you view the show since it's animated. Press F5 in PowerPoint.
Get JTB FlexReport and join other users around the globe like VOLVO IT, Imation, Leica Geosystems, COWI AS, Boyle Engineering, WD Partners, Siemens Logistics and Assembly Systems and Berkley Lab.

RSS support in Autodesk Discussion Groups

Have you noticed this little icon in the discussion groups? This gives you the ability to subscribe to the RSS feed with your favorite RSS aggregator or "blog reader".

New ADT e-Learning

Chris has posted about the new ADT e-Learning. It's worth giving a try if you are a subscription customer.

VBRun

Microsoft has recently created the site VBRun to make the transition from VB6 to VB.NET easier. It's worth to put in your link collection.

Mark Douglas about Dynamic Block Hatch's

Mark shows a smart usage of dynamic blocks to create custom hatches on his blog http://mdouglas.blogs.com/in_the_dynamic_interface/2005/04/dynamic_block_h.html

Comparision sheet between C# and VB.NET

Steven Swafford has put together a comparision sheet between C# and VB.NET that is really good.

Copying files from internet using VBS

I got a question on how to do this from my fellow worker Robert and thought I should put the answer here.
One way is using the XMLHTTP object combined with adodb.stream like this using VBScript:

' Requirements: ADO 2.5+ and IE 5+
sSourceUrl = "http://www.jtbworld.com/images/"
sDestFolder = "c:\temp\"
sImageFile = "jtbworld.gif"
Set oXMLHTTP = WScript.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")
oXMLHTTP.open "GET", sSourceUrl & sImageFile, False
oXMLHTTP.send
Set oStream = CreateObject("adodb.stream")
Const adTypeBinary = 1
Const adSaveCreateOverWrite = 2
oStream.Type = adTypeBinary
oStream.open
oStream.write oXMLHTTP.responseBody
oStream.SaveToFile sDestFolder & sImageFile, adSaveCreateOverWrite
Set oStream = Nothing
Set oXMLHTTP = Nothingx

ICCNewsletter for April

Read it by downloading this PDF It's about AutoCAD 2006, Architectural CAD practices, Using fields, Subscription program The Good, the Bad, the Reality. It's worth reading! Want it every month? Sign up here.

Lisp for .NET for the Lisp geeks

Did you know that you can create managed .NET code using Lisp? If you have VS.2003 check here: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\SDK\v1.1\Tool Developers Guide\Samples\clisp You can also look at DotLisp or RDNZL for Common Lisp.

ColorPicker.NET a nice free tool

Here is a free small useful tool that is like Photoshop's color picker. http://sano.dotnetgeeks.net/colorpicker/ The source code is also available.

AutoCAD 2006 and image frames

AutoCAD 2006 made a change to the command IMAGEFRAME. Before it could be On or Off. To display and plot the images or not. Now there are three states 0, 1 or 2 so you can show the image but not having it plotted. This command is saving the value in the drawing in the dictionary ACAD_IMAGE_VARS. Observere that AutoCAD 2006 has three states now 0, 1 or 2 but the dictionary value is 0, 1 or 3 A simple way to retrieve the value is:

(defun imageframe ()
  (setq dict (dictsearch (namedobjdict) "ACAD_IMAGE_VARS"))
  (if (not dict) 
    0 
    (cdr (assoc 70 dict))
  ) 
)

AutoCAD 2006 and formulas in fields, tables and the calculator

A great addition is formulas that can be used in fields, tables and the calculator. The question is what functions can be used? I've searched the documentation and found that the QuickCalc Calculator, CAL supports some standard numeric functions. Here is the list: abs,acos,asin,atan,cos,d2r,exp,exp10,ln,log,pi,r2d,round,sin,sqr,sqrt,tang,trunc as well as these operators: ^,*,/,+,-,(,). Even though it's not specifically documented these functions and operators can be used in formulas in fields and tables. When checking further on the formulas in fields I found that when you are editing a formula you can insert new fields. In the sample showed on the image I've grabbed the length of a line and rounded it to the nearest value that is a multiple of 5.