Execute a Custom Command from an External VBA Source

[Anonymous]

Hello Everyone, I have really enjoyed the detailed and useful information users share in these threads, so I decided to take my own chances.

My question is focused on running a custom command that I have generated from Excel, but I am open to any suggestions for the best way to accomplish the task at hand. This is what I want to do: Successfully run the attext command from and Excel VBA macro.

Currently I've gotten this far:

;THIS SCRIPT IS CALLED BY AN AUTOCAD COMMAND
;
;Turn off Dialog Boxes
FILEDIA
0
;Attribute Extraction Command (dialog suppressed)
-attext
;
;Extraction type. 'C' for Comma Delimited, 'S' for Space Dilimited and Fixed Width, 'D' for DXF Format
c
;
;Extraction template file path
"C:/Documents and Settings/DiBlasiW/Desktop/Automating Automation/Extraction Testing/TestExtractionTemplate"
;
;Output file path
"C:/Documents and Settings/DiBlasiW/Desktop/Automating Automation/Extraction Testing/TestExtraction"
;
;Turn on Dialog Boxes
FILEDIA
1

This macro is embedded in a custom command:

^C^CFILEDIA;0;_SCRIPT;"C:/Documents and Settings/DiBlasiW/Desktop/Automating Automation/Extraction Testing/TestMacroScript.SCR";

'''''''''''''''''''''''''
'This is the Excel Macro'
'''''''''''''''''''''''''

Option Explicit
Public ACAD As AcadApplication
Public DWGSet As AcadDocuments
Public DWG As AcadDocument

Public Sub Imports()
    On Error Resume Next
    Call OpenACAD
    Call OpenDrawing("C:\Documents and Settings\diblasiw\Desktop\Automating Automation\PDTest.dwg")
    Call Script
 End Sub

Private Sub OpenACAD()
    On Error Resume Next
    Set ACAD = GetObject(, "AutoCAD.Application")
    If Err.Description > vbNullString Then
        Err.Clear
        Set ACAD = CreateObject("AutoCAD.Application")
    End If
    ACAD.Visible = True
    Application.WindowState = xlMinimized
    ACAD.WindowState = acMax
    Set DWG = ACAD.ActiveDocument
End Sub

Private Sub OpenDrawing(ByVal DWGPath As String)
    On Error Resume Next
    Dim NotOpen As Boolean

    If DWG.Path <> DWGPath Then    'Side note, this IF Statement does not accomplish the inteded goal. DWG.Path never equals DWGPath even when PDTest.dwg is already open
        NotOpen = True
    Else
        NotOpen = False
    End If
    
    If NotOpen = True Then
        Set DWG = ACAD.Documents.Open(DWGPath)
        DWG.Activate
    End If
End Sub
Private Sub Script()
   '**********************************
   '**********************************
    'This is where I'm stuck. I cannot figure out a good way to execute the attext command here. 
   '**********************************
   '**********************************
End Sub

 I've tried ACAD.RunMacro but then I need a LISP program, and I am not having success figuring out how to utilize it.

I tried using DWG.SendCommand like this:

DWG.SendCommand ("FILEDIA 0 -attext C C:/PDTest.dwg C:/TestExtraction FILEDIA 1 ")

 but something happens when it gets to the file paths, and it stops interpretting the spaces as carrige returns.

I've also creat a new CUIx file, added a tab and panel to hold the custom command. The button works, but I can't think of a way to activate it from Excel.

I would really appreciate some guidance, I feel like I've gotten so far and I've come close to victory, but the last leg of the journey seems to be the toughest.

[truss_85]

try that one

DWG.SendCommand ("FILEDIA" & vbCr & "0" & vbCr & "-ATTEXT" & vbCr & "C" & vbCr & "C:/PDTest.dwg" & vbCr & "C:/TestExtraction" & vbCr & "FILEDIA" & vbCr & "1" & vbCr)

 but there are better ways to extract attribute, if you must use attext the code will do the work.

[Anonymous]

Thank you Truss, that SendCommand statement works. About your comment though, I am definitely looking for better options here. The end goal is to have the User browse to the project folder in which their drawing set is, extract particular attribute data from those drawings, and import the data into a template Excel file.

I know the DATAEXTRACTION command is set up for exactly this reason, but the -DATAEXTRACTION command only allows me to select a template file. Doing so does not give me the ability to dynamically select the drawing set I want to use in the extraction.

As of right now, I can only think to cycle through the drawing set one by one and run the -attext command, consolidate the resulting text files, and import the full document into excel. So...not the best choice.

Can you suggest a better method?

[truss_85]

Anytime you need.

Try ATTOUT, I think it might be a faster solution. It is only guess, of course simplest solution is the working one.