Inserting Fence Crossing

I hope this is a simple question, but how do I select text using the fence crossing feature within the below code.

(setq ss (ssget '((0 . "MTEXT,TEXT"))))

(setq ss (ssget "_F" pntlst '((0 . "MTEXT,TEXT"))))

you need to provide a list of points of the fence vertices for pntlst

what if you don't know what the points are? i am trying to select text in a coordinate that has been placed like this:

abc

n

e

el

i want to be able to select all of lines and convert them into one mtext object while still keeping them in the order that appear.

The Express Tools' command Txt2Mtxt should do that

you are so right. it did not work like that when i used it previously. thank you. do you happen to have or know where i can find the actual code for txt2mtxt command?

I think the code is in Leaderex.arx found in the Express folder.

The command called :

convert text to mtext

And from Express menu -> Text -> convert text to mtext

i want to use the code below, but to be able to select a group of text all at once and still be able to keep their same order from top to bottom. any thoughts?

(defun Merge()
 (if (and (setq ss (ssget '((0 . "MTEXT,TEXT")))) ;Select both MText & DText
  (> (sslength ss) 1) ;Check if more than one selected
   ) ;end of and
   (progn
     (setq n 1 ;Initialize counter
    en (ssname ss 0) ;Get 1st selected
    ed (entget en) ;Get its DXF data
    txt (cdr (assoc 1 ed)) ;Get its textvalue
    ) ;_ end of setq
     (if (= (cdr (assoc 0 ed)) "TEXT") ;If the 1st is a DText
(progn
  (command "txt2mtxt" en "") ;Convert it to a MText     
  (setq obj (vlax-ename->vla-object (entlast)))
  (vlax-put-property obj 'LineSpacingFactor 1)
  (vlax-put-property obj 'LineSpacingDistance 0.25)
    (vlax-put-property obj 'LineSpacingStyle 2)
  (setq en (entlast)) ;Get the new MText
  ) ;_ end of progn
) ;_ end of if
     (setq eo (vlax-ename->vla-object en)) ;Get the ActiveX object of the 1st text
     (while (< n (sslength ss)) ;Step through the rest of the selected text
(setq en (ssname ss n) ;Get the nth text
      ed (entget en) ;Get its DXF data
      ) ;_ end of set
(setq txt (strcat txt "[url="file://\\P"]\\P[/url]" (cdr (assoc 1 ed)))) ;Append its string to add to the 1st text
(entdel en) ;Delete the nth text
(setq n (1+ n)) ;Increment the counter
) ;_ end of while
     (vla-put-TextString eo txt) ;Modify the 1st text to the concatenated string
     (command "_.justifytext" pause "" "ML")
    ) ;_ end of progn
   ) ;_ end of if
 )

Would you please try this,And I hope it would give a sense.

(defun c:Merge (/ ss)
 (if (setq ss
     (ssget "_:L" '((0 . "TEXT"))))
    ((lambda (i / ent )
                   (while
                  (setq ent (ssname ss
				    (setq i (1+ i))))
                        (command "_.txt2mtxt" ent "") 
                      )
              )
                 -1
                 )
   )
 (princ)
 )

Tharwat

Express Tools commands are LISP's in themselves and hence cannot be called using command.

You will need to call the LISP function directly.

Sort your selection set by Y value of each insertion point.

(defun _SortSSbyYcoord (ss)
 ;; Alan J. Thompson, 09.22.10
 (if (eq (type ss) 'PICKSET)
   (vl-sort
     ((lambda (i / e l) (while (setq e (ssname ss (setq i (1+ i)))) (setq l (cons e l)))) -1)
     (function (lambda (a b) (> (caddr (assoc 10 (entget a))) (caddr (assoc 10 (entget b))))))
   )
 )
)