topic Is it possible to "lock" individual elements? in AutoCAD Forum

Is it possible to "lock" individual elements?

MbMinx — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 19:24:48 GMT

When I am working in another software package, I have the ability to "lock" individual elements, or groups of elements. This comes in handy when I am working in tight quarters, replacing items, and other work more involved that a simple level lock. Not everything I would like to (temporarily) ignore is always on the same level.

Is that possible with AutoCAD? If so, where do I find that command? If not, can anyone suggest a workaround?

Thank you.

MaryB
AutoCAD Civil3D

Re: Is it possible to "lock" individual elements?

leothebuilder — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 19:27:06 GMT

You can place certain elements and objects on a specific layer or layers and lock that layer or layers.

Re: Is it possible to "lock" individual elements?

rkmcswain — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 19:31:17 GMT

Without customization, on an element level, no. As @leothebuilder said though, you can lock items on a layer level. It's possible with customization to lock entities in place. For example, in Civil 3D, Survey Points are "locked" in place.

Re: Is it possible to "lock" individual elements?

MbMinx — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 20:58:19 GMT

What sort of customization?

That's a shame it can't be done by element. Often the elements I want to lock are on the same layer as the items I want to manipulate (That's why I want to lock them).

Thank you for confirming to me that it can't be done.

Re: Is it possible to "lock" individual elements?

rkmcswain — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 16:32:31 GMT

On a very basic level, using visual lisp, you could create a reactor that monitors the object and if a change is detected, restores the object (properties, location, etc.). Here is an example of a reactor that monitors a system variable, and restores it if its value is changed. On a more advanced level, I suspect there are more elegant ways of doing this using other languages/APIs. Let's drag @BlackBox_ into this conversation.

Re: Is it possible to "lock" individual elements?

Jonathan3891 — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 16:46:02 GMT

Check out Lee Mac's object Lock lisp;

http://www.lee-mac.com/objectlock.html

Re: Is it possible to "lock" individual elements?

dgorsman — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 16:51:02 GMT

Not BB, but...

The managed dotNET API has a nifty capability to override how objects are handled, such allowing for a "veto" on certain operations. Like reactors and other advanced customization it requires a very structured approach to avoid self-inflicted problems.

There's a couple of OTHER methods which comes to mind without resorting to reactors/event handling, variations on things I've done (and with only LISP) in the past. Tools for pushing entities to a locked layer and remembering which layer it came from. Or hiding the entities entirely while keeping the same layer with a few tricks to selectively display them.

However as noted it's usually easiest to use AutoCAD as AutoCAD *first*, and box up and put away what the other programs can do.

Re: Is it possible to "lock" individual elements?

BlackBox_ — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 16:58:06 GMT

@rkmcswain wrote:

On a very basic level, using visual lisp, you could create a reactor that monitors the object and if a change is detected, restores the object (properties, location, etc.). Here is an example of a reactor that monitors a system variable, and restores it if its value is changed. On a more advanced level, I suspect there are more elegant ways of doing this using other languages/APIs. Let's drag @BlackBox_ into this conversation.

Sure @rkmcswain, one could implement a .NET Object Overrule to effectively 'lock' entity-specific elements (aka Properties, such as: Layer, Color, Linetype, etc), conditionally storing the 'monitored' elements (Properties) on DBObject.Open() and restoring them on DBObject.Close(), where a custom system variable determines which elements (Properties) the user wants to 'lock'.

[Edit] - Here's my most recent example of using an Object Overrule; see the link in this post: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/civil-3d-forum/is-it-possible-to-turn-off-the-new-viewport-grips/m-p/8267546#M380889

Despite that, I wonder if @MbMinx has considered using ISOLATEOBJECTS and UNISOLATEOBJECTS Commands to do what they're after?

Cheers

Re: Is it possible to "lock" individual elements?

BlackBox_ — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:05:18 GMT

@dgorsman wrote:

Not BB, but...

... Vastly superior. FTFY :beer:

I'm a strange bird, with only one real skill.

(Spoilers: it's not coding)