Auto Label Attributes (Need Repair/Mod)

[Jim Clayton]

Hey everyone.  I have a Lisp from Mr. Mac that he helped me with a while back that I use to Auto-Number BOM attributes.  I'm including the Lisp and two example drawings attached.  The issue that I'm having is that when i create BOM's from scratch, with new attributes, the Lisp works fine (Example 1).  When I try to steal BOM parts from other drawings to build a BOM, the Lisp will number the lines out of order (Example 2).  I'm trying to see if there is a way to modify it so that I can get around this.  In theory i could just copy the data to a new fresh line.  But the more lines you have, the more time consuming that becomes.  If anyone might be able to help i would greatly appreciate it.  Tks.

AutoLabelBOM.lsp Example1.dwg Example2.dwg

[Lee Mac]

Hi Jim,

 

My Auto Label Attributes application will sequentially number the attribute values in the order in which the block references are encountered in the drawing database; such order is typically the order in which the block references are created, however, when multiple objects are copied or imported into a drawing, you have no control over the order in which those objects are added to the drawing database.

[Jim Clayton]

Lee Mac...The Man, The Myth, The Legend.  Nice to hear from you.  While I can't say I'm thrilled about that because it means that I might have to do some actual work rather than outsourcing everything to AI, I understand.  I appreciate the help.  Tks.

[Lee Mac]

Thank you for your kind words Jim - unfortunately in this particular operation it would be difficult to determine a 'correct' ordering applicable to all scenarios, as this could vary from application to application depending upon the type of drawing and the industry in which the program is used, though, a more advanced version of this application could potentially include an option to allow the user to specify that all blocks should be ordered by their insertion point from top-to-bottom or left-to-right for example - this is obviously not a straightforward modification of my existing program.

Edited November 10, 2020 by Lee Mac