topic Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels in AutoCAD Forum

Export points and lines to Excel with labels

tmccar — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 18:33:05 GMT

I have a drawing with points labelled (1), (2), (3) etc and I would like to extract their co-ordinates into an Excel file.

I know about DATAEXTRACTION and I have already exported the co-ordinates - but I have to add the labels manually.

(The brackets are not essential)

When the point co-ordinates are exported, I would like to be able to export the label with each point, so that each point can be identified in the Excel file.

I would also like to export each line (L1, L2, L3 etc) along with the line length.

john.vellek has embedded your image(s) for clarity

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

Alfred.NESWADBA — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 09:58:30 GMT

Hi,

>> When the point co-ordinates are exported, I would like to be able

>> to export the label with each point

Are the points blocks with attributes? Sorry, but the attached screenshot does not give us the possibility to click onto the object and look to it's details.

When you have a block with attributes you can export the attribute values with the block position.

If point and text are different objects AutoCAD can't know which text belongs to which point, you might run DATAEXTRACTION twice and try to find the text by calculating it's insertion point and the points insertion points and find which text is closest to which point ... but that can have errors.

- alfred -

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

tmccar — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 12:28:20 GMT

No, they're just individual points.

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

john.vellek — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 18:35:08 GMT

Hi @tmccar,

Is it possible to attach a sample file that contains a few of the lines, points, and labels? I would like to see if obtaining all this information through dataextraction is possible in a simple fashion.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

tmccar — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 23:14:46 GMT

I've found out from my client that it's PIXEL co-ordinates he is looking for (after exporting the drawing to jpeg or similar), so I'm not sure how to pursue this!

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

Alfred.NESWADBA — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 23:25:50 GMT

Hi,

>> I've found out from my client that it's PIXEL co-ordinates

>> he is looking for

Should not be the problem as long as you know the window coordinates you are plotting and the resolution of the raster file.

But the problem stays ... as long as your text objects are not bound to the point it's hard to export coordinates of the point and text-content of the "corresponding" text. Blocks and attributes would make that easier.

- alfred -

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

tmccar — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 06:13:56 GMT

Wee

@Alfred.NESWADBA wrote:
Hi,

>> I've found out from my client that it's PIXEL co-ordinates
>> he is looking for
Should not be the problem as long as you know the window coordinates you are plotting and the resolution of the raster file.
But the problem stays ... as long as your text objects are not bound to the point it's hard to export coordinates of the point and text-content of the "corresponding" text. Blocks and attributes would make that easier.

- alfred -

That's encouraging , because the point (pixel) co-ordinate I need to extract is at the point of the arrow. The arrowheads are already blocks, so I can use attributes if I need to.
How should I proceed with this, given that they are blocks? Ideally, I would like to extract all 1681 of these points into a table. I've attached the drawing file.

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

Alfred.NESWADBA — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 07:16:43 GMT

Hi,

>> How should I proceed with this

Modify your arrow block to hold an attribute, then into the attribute save your number values, that's the part within the drawing.

Next steps are:

plot your drawing to JPG (or whatever raster format you have)
export the arrow blocks (incl. your attribute values) with command _DATAEXTRACTION to XLS
open the exported XLS-file and use formulas (in Excel) to convert CAD-X/X to Pixel-X/Y

- alfred -

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

tmccar — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 21:27:34 GMT

I have created an attribute called "POSN" at the point of the arrowhead block. Can I extract the co-ordinates of this with DATAEXTRACTION?

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

john.vellek — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 21:45:46 GMT

Hi @tmccar,

Can you share a sample drawing with your block? I am happy to look at how you have built the block with attributes and if it can be extracted the way you like.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

tmccar — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 23:09:15 GMT

@john.vellek wrote:
Hi @tmccar,

Can you share a sample drawing with your block? I am happy to look at how you have built the block with attributes and if it can be extracted the way you like.

Yes, no problem John

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

john.vellek — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 15:20:45 GMT

Hi @tmccar,

I looked at this in a slightly different way. I made the tendon a block that could be stretched. The block contains two attributes: Position label & Length identifier.

I can run Data Extraction to capture the attribute values as well as the length of the tendon and also its position. Lety me know if this helps.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

tmccar — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 19:00:12 GMT

Sorry - I've been away.
Will check later.

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

tmccar — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 19:39:07 GMT

Do I "create new" data extraction (using your one as a template), or "edit existing"?

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

Alfred.NESWADBA — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 19:47:51 GMT

Hi,

>> Do I "create new" data extraction (using your one as a

>> template), or "edit existing"?

If you want to modify the settings if John's extraction then use modify.

If you want to create a new export create a new DXE

- alfred -

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

tmccar — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 19:59:34 GMT

@Alfred.NESWADBA wrote:
Hi,

>> Do I "create new" data extraction (using your one as a
>> template), or "edit existing"?
If you want to modify the settings if John's extraction then use modify.
If you want to create a new export create a new DXE

- alfred -

Just as I'm about to create the table, I get an "unhandled exception - parameter name - Stream" (value cannot be null)

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

Alfred.NESWADBA — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 21:52:40 GMT

Hi,

>> Just as I'm about to create the table, I get an "unhandled exception

>> - parameter name - Stream" (value cannot be null)

Creating a new extraction or modifying an existing one?

Does the same happen with a new dwg-file (just try to insert one block and run _DATAEXTRACTION, does it crash too)?

If you want us to try to reproduce your issue please upload the dwg-file + the dxe file (in one ZIP) and let us know which version and update of AutoCAD you are working with (start command _ABOUT and send us a screenshot from that dialog).

- alfred -

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

john.vellek — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 22:20:26 GMT

Hi @tmccar,

Did you get this worked out with @Alfred.NESWADBA's excellent help? I would suggest also, to create a new drawing and then you can insert the one I provided into as if it were a block. Then just explode it.

I made a TOO long video that shows how I did my data extraction and I hope my suggestion is helpful.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Export points and lines to Excel with labels

tmccar — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 22:20:32 GMT

It works with a new file!

Thanks