Open, Macro, Close And Then Loop???

[Dranoweb]

Hi all,

 

Tackling a simple way to open a whole stack of dwg's, run a macro or two on them, and close again.

 

Possibly one at a time - eg: have a bacth file call the dwg to acad 2009, run the macro or script to call the macro, and then close the dwg and open the next to repeat the tasks.

 

I found a way to do this in DIESEL but it works for a max of 8 drg's.

 

I found a way to do this with a lisp code, script and batch file in unisen, but it's far too slow to be effective.

 

At present all I need to do is click a macro once after loading a dir full of files into autocad, and click a button, the macro closes the file when done.

 

Short of getting an auto-click program, how can I automate this so that the macro will re-run for the next dwg?

[rocheey]

here might be a VBA solution.

 

This is a modul* that recursively finds all files of a given type, then calls a subroutine for each one.

 

If you already have some code that does these certain operations, then put a call to your main routine in the "DoSomethingWithFile" routine.

 

This is a generic module, and can be (re)used for any VBA operations, whether run in Acad, Excel, etc, and as such, has no Autocad commands in it - including opening or closing the drawing.

 

Call the main "FindAllFiles" routine with the filetype "*.dwg", for example; and the start path , "Y\MyDwgs\Temp\", for example.

 

The "DoSomethingWithFile" routine, unmodified, merely lists all the files it finds to the debug window. Remember that this routine is recursive - it tunnels down into all subfolders beneath the folder you pass in the "StartPath" parameter of the "FindAllFiles" main routine.

 

' ---- snip ------------------------------------

Option Explicit
Private Const vbDot = 46
Private Const MAX_PATH As Long = 260
Private Const INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE = -1
Private Const vbBackslash = "\"
Private Const ALL_FILES = "*.*"
Private Type FILETIME
   dwLowDateTime As Long
   dwHighDateTime As Long
End Type
Private Type WIN32_FIND_DATA
   dwFileAttributes As Long
   ftCreationTime As FILETIME
   ftLastAccessTime As FILETIME
   ftLastWriteTime As FILETIME
   nFileSizeHigh As Long
   nFileSizeLow As Long
   dwReserved0 As Long
   dwReserved1 As Long
   cFileName As String * MAX_PATH
   cAlternate As String * 14
End Type
Private Declare Function FindClose Lib "kernel32" _
   (ByVal hFindFile As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function FindFirstFile Lib "kernel32" _
   Alias "FindFirstFileA" (ByVal lpFileName As String, _
   lpFindFileData As WIN32_FIND_DATA) As Long
Private Declare Function FindNextFile Lib "kernel32" _
   Alias "FindNextFileA" (ByVal hFindFile As Long, _
   lpFindFileData As WIN32_FIND_DATA) As Long
Private Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "kernel32" () As Long
Private Declare Function lstrlen Lib "kernel32" _
   Alias "lstrlenW" (ByVal lpString As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function PathMatchSpec Lib "shlwapi" _
   Alias "PathMatchSpecW" (ByVal pszFileParam As Long, _
   ByVal pszSpec As Long) As Long

Dim sFileExt As String
Dim sFileRoot As String

Public Sub FindAllFiles(FileType As String, StartPath As String)
   ' recursively searches a passed path for files of a given type
   ' FileType: a wildcard string of the file extension, ie; "*.dwg" or "*.xls"

   sFileRoot = QualifyPath(StartPath) 'start path
   sFileExt = FileType 'file type of interest

   Call SearchForFiles(sFileRoot)
End Sub

Private Sub SearchForFiles(sRoot As String)
   Dim WFD As WIN32_FIND_DATA
   Dim hFile As Long

   hFile = FindFirstFile(sRoot & ALL_FILES, WFD)

   If hFile <> INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Then

       Do
       'if a folder, and recurse specified, call method again
       If (WFD.dwFileAttributes And vbDirectory) Then
           If Asc(WFD.cFileName) <> vbDot Then
               SearchForFiles sRoot & TrimNull(WFD.cFileName) & vbBackslash
           End If
       Else
           'must be a file..
           If MatchSpec(WFD.cFileName, sFileExt) Then
               DoSomethingWithFile sRoot & TrimNull(WFD.cFileName)
           End If 'If MatchSpec
       End If 'If WFD.dwFileAttributes

       Loop While FindNextFile(hFile, WFD)
   End If 'If hFile

   Call FindClose(hFile)
End Sub

Private Function QualifyPath(sPath As String) As String
   ' formats passed path string to be used in recursive API search
   If Right$(sPath, 1) <> vbBackslash Then
       QualifyPath = sPath & vbBackslash
   Else
       QualifyPath = sPath
   End If
End Function

Private Function TrimNull(startstr As String) As String
   ' trims NULL char (ascii 0) from strings returned by API calls
   TrimNull = Left$(startstr, lstrlen(StrPtr(startstr)))
End Function

Private Function MatchSpec(sFile As String, sSpec As String) As Boolean
   ' uses API version of the "LIKE" command
   MatchSpec = PathMatchSpec(StrPtr(sFile), StrPtr(sSpec))
End Function

Private Sub DoSomethingWithFile(FoundFileName As String)
   ' use this routine to do something with each file found
   ' we'll do nothing but print out the filename found
   Dim FoundName As String: FoundName = FoundFileName

   Debug.Print FoundName
End Sub

[LCE]

Hi all,

 

Tackling a simple way to open a whole stack of dwg's, run a macro or two on them, and close again.

 

Possibly one at a time - eg: have a bacth file call the dwg to acad 2009, run the macro or script to call the macro, and then close the dwg and open the next to repeat the tasks.

 

I found a way to do this in DIESEL but it works for a max of 8 drg's.

 

I found a way to do this with a lisp code, script and batch file in unisen, but it's far too slow to be effective.

 

At present all I need to do is click a macro once after loading a dir full of files into autocad, and click a button, the macro closes the file when done.

 

Short of getting an auto-click program, how can I automate this so that the macro will re-run for the next dwg?

 

If you are able to use VB.net then I can provide some code that will do it for you without even opening the file. On some fairly complex scripts I'm getting performance of 100's of drawings in a few seconds.

 

Let me know and I could provide some pointers if it is of interest.

 

Cheers

[Dranoweb]

I am familiar with how vb dot net operates, but not how to apply it to acad 09.

 

I may need a little more detail on how to actually implment the VBA.

[ZenCad1960]

If you are able to use VB.net then I can provide some code that will do it for you without even opening the file. On some fairly complex scripts I'm getting performance of 100's of drawings in a few seconds.

 

Let me know and I could provide some pointers if it is of interest.

 

Cheers

 

I am beginning to use.net and would ve very interested in the code you mention. Please post it!.

 

Zen

[Dranoweb]

Let me know and I could provide some pointers if it is of interest.

 

Cheers

 

Well basically I just need a foothold on how to get VBA going in autocad, from there I can learn a little and experiment. But until I read this forum, I thought lisp and deisel were my only options.

 

so, as simple and obvious as it may seem - what is the first step?

[ZenCad1960]

Well basically I just need a foothold on how to get VBA going in autocad, from there I can learn a little and experiment. But until I read this forum, I thought lisp and deisel were my only options.

 

so, as simple and obvious as it may seem - what is the first step?

 

Since you haven't done VBA before I would start by looking up generral VBA Sites the offer tutorials on the basics, the you could go to some AutoCAD specific sites: The following two are just some of many but I find these two most helpful so far:

 

http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com/ This is from on the folks here in this forum I believe.

 

http://blog.jtbworld.com Is another site I find useful not only for AutoCAD but for other office products as well.

 

I can post the VBA Tutorial sites I have found if you want them...

 

Zen

[Dranoweb]

Well I am familiar with VBA from ACCESS, have had much database work in the past.

 

TY muchly for the pointer, I shall begin my journey into the miles of reading that await me.