Open text file and jumping to a line

[Steven P]

good afternoon,

 

I think the answer is probably no for this, but is it possible to open a text file and scroll down to a certain line of text?

 

For example,

I have a text file with project numbers and some details for each (lets call them projects 100, 101, 102, 103 and so on). So the goal would be to have a routine that can open the text file and scroll down to show the details for, say project 150 (or another as chosen by the user).

 

i think you can get a LISP to read the line you want but I want to read it in the actual text file.

[Roy_043]

If your text application is Notepad:

Look into using the Sendkeys method of the WScript.Shell object.

[BIGAL]

Whats the problem just read each line and when "project" = 100 stop. (close fname)

 

eg 100,BIGAL,September

eg2 100 BIGAL September

 

; thanks to Lee-mac for this defun
; convert csv to a list
; comma is character 44
; space is 32
(defun _csv->lst ( str / pos )
(if (setq pos (vl-string-position 44 str))
(cons (substr str 1 pos) (_csv->lst (substr str (+ pos 2))))
(list str)
)
)

[Steven P]

Thanks.

Roy - that looks promising, I haven't had chance to look into this since I asked but that could be what I want.

 

Similarly BigAl, thanks - Useful I think, again I haven't had time yet to look at this,

 

I'll probably have more questions on this when I get 10 minutes free...

[Steven P]

Thanks for the replies.. now as the office empties for Christmas lunch I have had a chance to look at this again.

 

I got so far with Sendkeys and it looks promising, but the one thing I am struggling with is that when the file opens AutoCAD stops the command until I go back into it and then resumes... so ctrl+F (for 'find;) then toggles AutoCAD OSNAP.

 

Right so how do I keep AutoCAD executing the LISP when a text file opens up?

 

So far my quick code is (and with thanks to another Lee Mac peie of genius)

 

 (startapp "notepad" "c:\\Users\\SP\\Desktop\\LISPTEST.LSP")

 (setq sendkeyscommand "^Ffindtext{enter}")
;; ^F = Find
;;Findtext = text to find
;;{enter} = enter


 (LM:SendKeys sendkeyscommand) ;;^ = ctrl
)


;;Lee Mac Code
(defun LM:sendkeys ( keys / wsh ) ;;note can also be used to run a LISP....
 (setq wsh (vlax-create-object "wscript.shell"))
 (vl-catch-all-apply 'vlax-invoke (list wsh 'sendkeys keys))
 (vlax-release-object wsh)
 (princ)
)

[ronjonp]

What are you doing once you find this line?

[Steven P]

Hi RonJon, I was just wanting to view the line / text in the file. Indtead of just opening the text file and manually scrolling down to the part I want I was wondering if a routine can do both

[BIGAL]

If you go back to my post and just simply read a text file look for some variable = value and stop then just use ALERT. Copy this to command line (Alert "this is a test")

 

; crude version
; (setq lineread etc.... from file

(if (= val variable)
(alert (strcat "Found the line \n" lineread))
)

[Steven P]

Hi BigAl, Many thanks for your suggestion though its not quite what I am looking for.

 

Very useful if I want to read something from a text file and use it within a LISP routine later - and I'll make a note of it because I think it will be usefull another time. I was wondering if it was possible to open the text file, perform a 'find' within the text file and rather than grab the text to use in AutoCAD but to view the text in the file via notepad (or similar).

[Roy_043]

The code below works for Notepad++ and Notepad (remove "++" twice).

Note 1: In some languages the title bar name of Notepad is not "Notepad".

Note 2: You have to dial in the delay.

; (NotepadFind "C:\\Downloads\\test 123.txt" "findtext" 300)
(defun NotepadFind (fnm str delay / obj)
 (vl-catch-all-apply
   (function
     (lambda ()
       (setq obj (vlax-get-or-create-object "WScript.Shell"))
       (vlax-invoke obj 'Run (strcat "Notepad++.exe \"" fnm "\""))
       (setvar 'cmdecho 0)
       (command "_.delay" delay) ; Milliseconds. For BricsCAD users: (sleep delay) does not work.
       (setvar 'cmdecho 1)
       (vlax-invoke obj 'AppActivate "Notepad++") ; Title bar name of application.
       (vlax-invoke obj 'SendKeys (strcat "^f" str "{ENTER}{ESC}"))
     )
   )
 )
 (if obj (vlax-release-object obj))
)

[Steven P]

Thanks!!

 

That loos like it works exactly as I want it to, many thanks - and I was just expecting a 'no it can't be done'.

 

 

Right, now to break it and work out and learn from what you did (though maybe do that between Christmas and new year when its very quiet).