Cad and Excel

September 13, 2015

Hi,

I am looking for some info\tutorials on how I would create a dxf from data in an excel spreadsheet?

I have a spreadsheet that calculates data for steel portal frames, within the spreadsheet I have an area of cells that contain x y z data in decimal form.

I had found an excel plugin called dxfert that allows me to select these cells and the cell data is duly converted to a dxf however, the plugin is limited in that it will only output a continuous polyline.

I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction to what I need to learn to allow me to output these points as a complete drawing?

Kind regards

Dave.

September 13, 2015

Forget dxf just go straight to a script and write autocad commands, here is the simplest example points from x y z excel. Steven-G an example ?

point 12,34,0
point 56,78,0
point 99,78,0

note blank line at end to signify end of a command =

PLINE
12,34
45.67
78,89

line
123,456
789,123
45,67

[/code]

September 14, 2015

BIGAL,

Many thanks for the info, I've now started to implement your advice into my spreadsheet, hopefully it will be enough to create the drawings and I won't have to learn programming - as much as I would like to learn, I don't really have enough time however, your advice will get me closer to where I need to be.

I have another question though!

I found another post of yours which I found very helpful using Concatenate, my spreadsheet now looks like this:

Slab		           x	        y	          z				
Start	           0	           0	        0		line		        line 0,0
Low Right	24000	   0	        0		line		        line 24000,0
High Right	24000      20000	        0		line		        line 24000,20000
High Left	   0	       20000	        0		line		        line 0,20000
Home	   0	           0	        0		line		        line 0,0
Grid X								
Start	         305	       -1000	        0		centerx2		centerx2 304.9,-1000
	         305	       21000	        0		centerx2		centerx2 304.9,21000

My problem is centerx2 all the items with line draw as expected however centerx2 does not draw, it only draws if I rename it to line.

How do I get it to draw a centerline or where would i find this information? also is there a way to easily include line colour and\or separate layers?

Apologies for the formating in the code box!

Thanks

Kind regards

Dave.

Edited September 14, 2015 by ddoc
Further problems

September 15, 2015

A couple of ways this is the simplest if by layer and layer exists, I suggest add all your layers at start. Also not sure of above but you do not repeat the LINE each row, only need co-ords.

this saves an extra line which may stuff up your excel rowscolumns 
-layer s "layer2" line 0,0
24000,2000
0,2000

-layer s "layer3" line 304.9,-1000
600,-1000
etc

September 15, 2015

Just a couple of additions, using

-ltype s centerx2
line 304.9,-1000

will allow you to set the new linetype without it being previously loaded,

and it can also be used transparently so you can swap linetypes in the middle of the script, but as BIGAL mentioned, it will mess up your excel rows, because it needs at least 2 rows (any time you use a name it has to be at the end of a line for the script to work, and note that the following line starts with a space to cancel the ltype command)

September 15, 2015

Many thanks for your replies, very helpful.

I have so far managed to draw the floor slab and grid - grid drawn in centerx2 - from the advice you have both provided.

The following screenshot might help explain why I have line in every row - I found a post by BIGAL that showed how to concatenate points albeit I used it for lines.

From the screenshot you will note i opted for Steven-G's option as creating a new linetype suits what I am trying to do.

Rows 9 - 14 are my attempt at adding a new layer, giving it a name and giving it a colour however, this is not working how I would like it - the best I can get it to do is open the layer applet and the colour applet, where I have to manually select a colour three times and manually create a new layer.

Is it possible to automate a new layer giving colour and a name?

As I am only just starting out with this spreadsheet, having to add in additional rows is not currently a problem, my spreadsheet contains only 56 rows including spaces. I am really happy at having the grid drawn, just looking to learn how to format it automatically.

September 16, 2015

Just blank out the "Line" to only as required the concatenate will still work

Column F only 1st line -layer layer2 so now becomes

January 8, 2016

Hi, still trying to refine this further though, I have made some changes but still not understanding why it is not doing what I want it to do, perhaps someone could hopefully help me out?

Okay

Screenshot 1 shows my script for drawing lines

This gives me the result I am looking for as in the next screenshot

Now I have found that to add circles, I have to have a second script file - having a second script was the only way to be able to get the circles to show up this is shown in the next screenshot

The first 9 lines of this script places circles on the lowest part of the second screenshot as per the next screenshot

The remaining two lines should place circles on the next item up on the above screenshot, however, it does not.

Appreciate if someone could explain what I need to do to get this to work please?

The script files are copied from excel cells and pasted into Notepad.

Kind regards

Dave.

January 8, 2016

What do you see on the command line ?

My first thought would be that the blank line after the first set of circles actually causes Autocad to start the circle command again, and it expects the coordinates but the following line starts with the word circle, causing an error.

January 8, 2016

Thanks for your response Steven.

The following is from the command line and does indeed ask for a point or option keyword

Command: SCRIPT

Command: circle

Specify center point for circle or [3P/2P/Ttr (tan tan radius)]: 35,46