Entity name to and from String

[ewan_m]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am trying to collect autocad objects and list them in a text file or database. I am trying to find out if the ENAME is all the information about a unique object or if it is a container that holds more.

 

I have two specific goals:

 

1. Take an entity or Selection Set of entities and turn them into text I can read out and

2. Read from that object back into a selection set so I can manipulate the objects. (e.g. erase them etc.)

 

I have looked over this forum, around the web and through autocad/autolisp help and haven't gotten anything. Can anyone offer a solution to this problem or a work around that has a similar effect?

 

Thanks

[MSasu]

You should use the handle of the entity (DXF code 5) instead of entity name (DXF code -1) because the name is allocated randomly when the drawing is open and therefore vary between sessions while the handle is unique and constant.

 

Regards,

[Lee Mac]

I agree with Msasu, and as far as conversion goes, look into either the handent function or vla-HandletoObject.

 

Lee

[ewan_m]

You should use the handle of the entity (DXF code 5) instead of entity name (DXF code -1) because the name is allocated randomly when the drawing is open and therefore vary between sessions while the handle is unique and constant.

 

Regards,

 

Hey, thanks for that, I just wanted to find out how "unique and constant" the handle is. I actually use a system called Munsys which sits on top of Autocad and allows a user to work with geometries from an oracle database. As objects are queried on the fly and not saved except in the database I imagine the handles would change every time they are re-queried (thats ok as I just wanted session based recognition. If they are unique and constant then what happens if i save a drawing twice and then insert one into the other?

 

Thanks

[MSasu]

Inserted objects are treated as new objects, therefore will receive new handles (unique in target drawing).

 

Regards,