AutoCAD for Mac

[#1]

I have been trying to write my own shape file, but can't get it to compile.  I have used TextEdit to save the file as Unicode-7 and Unicode-8, and I have also used Smultron to save the file as Western (ASCII) and Non-Lossy ASCII.

Whenever I try to compile my Arrow.shp file, I am told that I have a "Bad shape definition at line 2", and that there is an "Invalid shape element, or bad syntax".

The text in my shape file is everything between the lines below.
------------------------------------------------------------------

*1,9,ARROW
080,8,(-2,1),02C,8,(2,1),0

------------------------------------------------------------------

I have also tried shapes that use pen up segments and ones that use no special codes at all, only hexadecimal ones.

Anyone know what I am doing wrong?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

A long time ago, when I was using AutoCAD version 12, there was a "golden" rule about shape file definition creation:

it is absolutely necessary to leave last line in text file blank, i.e. you have to hit Return (Enter) after last text line in shape definition file.

I successfully used TextEdit.app with default plain text encoding for creation ARROW.SHP

Maxim

[#3]

Thank you, that did the trick.

If that isn't in the documentation (I didn't see it), it should definitely be added.