freeze before plot in publish

[chelsea1307]

thank you much angela, ill try and see if it works and maybe commandobill will come back

[The Buzzard]

A program that involves entering lots of information is a better candidate for a dialog program. I do not like to answer lots of prompts, Because of a chance of user error., Also I like the versatility of having an assortment of input available to choose as I like. To accomplish this is very involved, But can be done never the less.

 

Just something you should consider.

[Lee Mac]

I recommend most people to take a look at this:

 

http://web2.airmail.net/terrycad/AutoLISP-Code.htm

[The Buzzard]

That is for quick plots to fit to a sheet of paper. That program does not provide any scaling.

[The Buzzard]

chelsea1307,

 

I found a plot manager that can be easily modified to accept additional input thru a dialog making it more versitile than fast plot managers. The program can be set to display your plotters and we can add the additional function for the layer freezing. I am currently modifying this program for the addtional inputs, But it will take a little time for me since this involves DCL programming as well. I will post it as soon as I can. Your part in this will be to modify it to your specs and if you do need the help with that, I will be glad to get you thru that.

[chelsea1307]

thanks buzzard, ill check it out when you post and let you know if i need help modifying it.

[The Buzzard]

Not a problem, It is pretty much cut and dry and I add lot of comments so this should not be a problem to deal with. I just recently tested it on an Adobe PDF.pc3 file and it worked well.

[The Buzzard]

chelsea1307,

 

I made some progress on the program, But just ran into a problem. The programs plot preview is not always consistant with the way the plot is being setup. I found out in the Help section that the preview is based on acads page setup and plot settings. So in order for this to work correctly you would have to set your plots twice and that is not productive. I guess you will have to stick with what commanobill posted, But that could also lead to a problem as I previously mentioned. The simple program I provided will turn off the layer and go to plot or publish if set to either choice. It is in acad that you need to make your settings.

Unless someone else has a better idea I am all out of them. Sorry about the wait, But I needed to investigate these quirks.

[The Buzzard]

Here is what I have so far. I left out the error trap for now till the code is close to done. I also left out additional input features since I am not sure if this program is worth the trouble. Will need to rely on additional opinions from others.

 

I have tested with PostScript Custom Page Size and work OK.

As mentioned in the previous posts the Plot Preview seem to be showing what is set in the Page Setup Manager.

 

I know this works in ACAD 2009, But will not work in 2004 due to additional prompts in the -PLOT command.

 

Please see attached.

CPM.zip

[The Buzzard]

Just a few things I forgot to mention:

 

Because I set this program up for two plot drivers.

Adobe and the HP 5500 would need mode tile features to be added so the proper paper size are available to the proper plotter. This may also require an ALERT in case of a radio button in the wrong position.

 

I also at this point did not set the radio buttons up to remember their last positions. I wanted to make sure the program would function correctly before going thru the additional work.

 

So you now know there is alot more to do here. Now I understand why Lee did not want to touch this one.

 

Anyway I would appreciate any opinions on this before going any further. I just want you to understand what is involved in this and realize for all that work you may still end up with problems.

[chelsea1307]

thanks for the attempt. I went with another option of telling everyone in the office that what they save the dwg as before friday is what the pdfs i create on friday will look like. If they want certain layers frozen then they need to freeze them. So far they've listened.

[The Buzzard]

It can not get much easier then that.