How to find blocks in a dwg

Hello forum...

I'm beginner in autoCAD and I'm writing a little Test-Program based on C#.

Im trying to get the Blocks and their positions out of a drawing.

Til now I'm able to get the names of the blocks but only one time.

There are two identical blocks in the drawing and I'll have to get the positions of each, also the attribute-values.

culd somebody help me solving this problem?

If there are VBA-Codesnippets, this would perhaps help too.

many thanks

Telefisch

Try Eattext (or Attext if 2004 doesn't have Eattext)

thanks for the answer.

is this an ACAD Command?

I need something to red this info by code.

It's an Autocad command. If you need code, someone will probably be along soon to help.

or try here ; a good source for programming, you'll need to register, but it's free.

Thanks...

looks interresting.

If someone has an idea, let me know.

since then I'll search in theswamp.

Telefisch

Perhaps this:

(defun c:blocext (/ fpath)
   (setvar "cmdecho" 0)
   (setq fpath (getstring t "\nSpecify Filepath to Save to: "))
   (command "-eattext" "C" "Y" "Y" "" "Xls" fpath)
   (setvar "cmdecho" 1)
   (princ)
) ; end blocext

This will write all block information to an Excel Doc, and save it in the specified location.

Specify you location like this:

"C:\XXX\XXX\filename"

And the LISP will create an Excel doc called "filename", and save it to "C:\XXX\XXX"

Or, if you are using the same location every time:

(defun c:blocext2 (/ fname fpath)
   (setvar "cmdecho" 0)
   (setq fname (getstring t "\nSpecify Filename: "))
   (setq fpath (strcat "[b][color=Red]C:\\Users\\[/color][/b]" fname)) ; <<---<< Change this line for a different Location
   (command "-eattext" "C" "Y" "Y" "" "Xls" fpath)
   (setvar "cmdecho" 1)
   (princ)
) ; end blocext2

Let me know if this helps at all

first, many thanks to lee mac and lpseifert...

I was searching for a way to solve this with an activex-control of Open Design Alliance.

Because its similar in many points, I hoped that I can find a little help here.

I'm still thinking this DWGdirectX-Control isn't very different to ACAD-Api so I think my way solving this problem could be helpfull to others...

So, thats it in C#:

try
           {
               foreach (IAcadEntity blk in oDoc.ModelSpace) //iterate thru all Entities in Modelspace
               {

                   if (blk.ObjectName == "AcDbBlockReference") //If the Entity is a Block Reference, go on.
                   {
                       IAcadBlockReference blkRef = (IAcadBlockReference)blk; //Cast Entity to BlockReference
                       if (blkRef.EffectiveName.Substring(0, 4).ToLower() == "pdms") //just filter the needed Blocks
                       {
                           //List Name of Block in Listview
                           strItem[0] = "Name";
                           strItem[0] = blkRef.EffectiveName;
                           item = new ListViewItem(strItem);
                           lvw.Items.Add(item);
                           
                           //Get InsertionPoint and Cast it to double-array
                           double[] dblPosition = (double[])blkRef.InsertionPoint;
                           
                           //insert the Position in Listview
                           strItem[0] = "Position X";
                           strItem[1] = Convert.ToString(dblPosition[0]);
                           item = new ListViewItem(strItem);
                           lvw.Items.Add(item);

                           strItem[0] = "Position Y";
                           strItem[1] = Convert.ToString(dblPosition[1]);
                           item = new ListViewItem(strItem);
                           lvw.Items.Add(item);

                           strItem[0] = "Position Z";
                           strItem[1] = Convert.ToString(dblPosition[2]);
                           item = new ListViewItem(strItem);
                           lvw.Items.Add(item);
...

HTH,

Telefisch

What about accessing the drawing's database using the arx index?

In VBA you could use this Code:

Public Sub BlocksSearch ()

Dim Block as AcadBlock

For Each Block in ThisDrawing.Blocks

MsgBox "The Block Name is: " & Block.Name & " The Insertion Point is: " Block.InsertionPoint"

Next Block

The Vba and C are very similar using Zeusovsky above you would search for all blocks then make a list then sort the list by block name before outputting the result.

rather than foreach

Dim SS As AcadSelectionSet
Dim Count, Cntr As Integer
Dim FilterDXFCode(0) As Integer
Dim FilterDXFVal(0) As Variant
Dim basepnt, pt1, pt2, pt3 As Variant
FilterDXFCode(0) = 0
FilterDXFVal(0) = "INSERT"
Set SS = ThisDrawing.SelectionSets.Add("MyBLOCKS")
SS.Select acSelectionSetAll, , , FilterDXFCode, FilterDXFVal
For Cntr = 0 To SS.Count - 1
BLOCK_NAME=SS.Item(Cntr).Name