Speed question

is it faster to entmake something and then vlax-ename->vla-object or vla-add(object)?

Example:

(vlax-ename->vla-object
 (entmakex
   (list
     (cons 0 "line")
     (cons 10 (list 0. 0. 0.))
     (cons 11 (list 10. 10. 0.))
   )
 )
)

or

(vla-addline
 (vla-get-modelspace
   (vla-get-activedocument
     (vlax-get-acad-object)
   )
 )
 (vlax-3d-point (list 0. 0. 0.))
 (vlax-3d-point (list 10. 10. 0.))
)

The ent* functions are quicker for modification to the drawing database, the difference will be made more significant if you are repeatedly retrieving the application, document and modelspace objects.

I entmake lines, polylines, mtext and leaders a lot.

I really have it setup like

(defun polyline ( pointslst layer flag / e )
 (and pointslst (laycheck layer)
   (setq e 
     (entmakex
       (append
         (list
           (cons 0 "LWPOLYLINE")
           (cons 100 "AcDbEntity")
           (cons 100 "AcDbPolyline")
           (cons 90 (length pointslst))
           (cons 70 1)
           (cons 8 layer)
           (cons 43 0.0)
         )
         (mapcar
           (function
             (lambda ( x ) 
               (if (listp x)(cons 10 x)
                 (cons 42 x)
               )
             )
           ) pointslst
         )
       )
     )
   )
 )
 (if (and e flag)
   (vlax-ename->vla-object e) e
 )
)

and Thanks for the

(setq *acdoc*
 (cond  ( *acdoc* )
   (  (vla-get-activedocument (vlax-get-acad-object))  ) 
 )
)

I use this whenever I can

It's also nicer when using ent* because you can create the object with the properties you want, rather than put'ing them after the object has been created. Of course, if the object is annotative (*text, blocks, mleaders, dimensions) I recommend vla all day.