topic Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle in AutoCAD LT Forum

Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 16:36:06 GMT

I have been developing a quick macro that draws a triangle and i am trying to get the macro to add the dimensions to the drawing for me. I have been able to use the qdim function to get the dimensions for the horizontal and vertical lengths of the triangle but qdim does not work with the hypotenuse, It gives you either the horizontal distance or vertical distance regardless of Ortho mode.

I was wondering if anyone has figured out a way to measure the diagonal of a triangle with a macro.

E: The macro requires the user to pick the length of one side, and then draws the triangle at a fixed angle, this is a process i have to do a lot in my job so i figured id try to automate it.

this is my macro so far if anyone wants to run it and see how it works so far:

^C^C_ortho;on;_line;-50,-20;@100<270;\@100<28;x;_trim;;f;-41,-100;-60,-15;;^C_ortho;off;_Qdim;-135,-65;-25,-140;;-35,-102;_Qdim;-55,-126;-58,-105;;-85,-130;

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

pendean — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 16:42:35 GMT

DIMANGULAR command not an option? Here is the info from HELP https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/AutoCAD-Core/files/GUID-6AB63ECB-BBCB-4D0F-B7BE-1674349A1FF9-htm.html#:~:text=Creates%20an%20angular%20dimension.&text=Measures%20the%20angle%20between%20selected,The%20following%20prompts%20are%20displayed.&text=Uses%20points%20on%20the%20selected,a%20three%2Dpoint%20angular%20dimension.

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 16:47:56 GMT

dimangular works as a manual command but it requires you to select the start and end point of the dimension you want to measure, this doesnt work as a macro because those coordinates change dependant upon the size of the triangle. when i used the qdim im able to grab the other sides by drawing a small box where the line will always fall inside of, i can do this with the hypotenuse except the resultant dimension is not labeled at an angle.

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 16:49:50 GMT

I actually misunderstood your recomendation, im not worried about the angle of the triangle that is fixed, the angle will always be 28, what i need the length of the hypotenuse. I thought you were recommending dimaligned which works manually but not with the macro for the above mentioned reason

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

pendean — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 17:02:09 GMT

No worries, looks like I may have misunderstood your original post as well.

Your macro doesn't do anything here for me, seems to hang, looking or user input that is not clear: can you post screenshots or a video showing what it is you are trying to ultimately end up with?
Are you trying to draw continuous/connected lines at angles then auto-dimension them?
Why use the TRIM element in the macro?
What is QDIM supposed to be doing?

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

steven-g — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 17:11:57 GMT

Your macro does nothing here either, but if you can use coordinates to pick a point on the hypotenuse then use the 'dal' or dimalign command, the first prompt is indeed to pick a point but if you press enter or a semicolon in you macro it will go into object selection mode.

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 17:18:21 GMT

So in my job i am given the dimension of the base of a triangle and the angle of the hypotenuse, i then draw a triangle using the one side and the given angle to draw lines clearly overestimated(since the lengths are atm unknown) i then trim off the excess and measure the two remaining sides, this gives me the two unknown sides of the triangle. My macro replicates my process for the most part (no idea on the efficiency of the process, its worked everytime but its very tedious)

the qdim allows me to pull up the dimensions of the individual sides of the triangle but does not work on the hypotenuse.

In order for the macro to work you just need to input the one given length, if youd like to run it for yourself after clicking the macro just put your mouse to the left of the created line and input the number 65(representing the base of the triangle) . you will see it draws the whole triangle and puts the dimensions for the two sides. Ill attach pictures below of what this looks like when i manually do it vs what comes out of the macro if i use qdim to get the dimension of the hypotenuse

the macro provided above doesnt include qdim for the hypotenuse because it didnt work as intended but here is a picture of how it would look

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 17:19:58 GMT

Im not sure how to pick a coordinate on the hypotenuse because it varies based on the first input and yes i acknowledge that i can have it switch to manual selection but im trying to automate as much as possible and i feel like qdim should work here it just doesnt respect the Orthographic setting

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 17:43:42 GMT

Attached below is a breakdown of how the macro currently works, hope that helps clear up some of the confusion

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

pendean — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 17:58:53 GMT

Thanks for the extra info about running your macro: it still dies here after typing the user desired length, what is that X supposed to be doing in your macro?

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

pendean — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:03:42 GMT

1) May I ask why this is not a dynamic block?
2) Or a 1x block that is not just simply scaled? 1 being the distance the user starts with. You do have a constant 28 degree angle at the tip with your macro all the time.
3) Are the distances within a known range or are they truly random for you all (could be 1 today, could be 8891235434650 tomorrow for example)?

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:12:40 GMT

In the version of Autocad i am currently running, x correlates to eXit out of the line command before switching to the trim.

As far as blocks are concerned the simple answer is that i don't know much of anything about blocks. I came to autocad recently for my job and i have a fairly strong background in programming and learned i can make macros that automate certain processes and was having luck using those for a variety of tasks since i already mostly operate by using the command line. This triangle is an example of one of the many things i have to do 50-100+ times a day.

The number does have relatively fixed min and max values it could be, Those mins and maxs change as local build code changes but it would never be a drastic change.

If you think that using a block would fix my problem i could definitely look into learning how blocks work. It was just my understanding that macros were for automating processes so perhaps i was mistaken on which is best.

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

steven-g — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:14:26 GMT

@pendean 's idea for a dynamic block sounds spot on, you can have a standard block already dimensioned and just stretch the base length.

PS your macro still fails for me too after drawing the 3 lines. but if you still want a macro change the last qdim for

dal;;\\

it starts the dimaligned command and expects the user to click on the hypotenuse and then click where the dim should be placed.

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

pendean — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:19:41 GMT

Thanks for the info: what is your LT version?

Attached is a 1x block based on your macro: give it a try, when prompted for scale enter your example of 65 then any others you wish to test. You can use INSERT command (-INSERT command at the commandline if you want to use in a MACRO) or in a ToolPalette that can also prompt for size.

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:19:47 GMT

I appreciate this answer as it would definitely work but I was hoping to automate the whole process. There is no issue using a macro to label a horizontal or vertical line but it seems the root of this problem lies with the fact that qdim doesnt respect the orthographic setting, which im not sure why is the case.

It definitely appears at this point that a block is the way to go, so i will likely be looking into using dynamic blocks.

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:22:12 GMT

I believe i am using autocad LT 2020 Q.47.0.0. I will check out your dynamic block and let you know if that works for me!

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

steven-g — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:37:05 GMT

I have never heard of 'x' being used to end a command, it is usual to end a command with an extra semicolon.

And qdim is purely for horizontal or vertical dimensions, not angled dimensions.

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:39:41 GMT

so this works for getting the triangle drawn correctly but im still left manually adding the dimensions, I need to know what the dimensions of the unknown sides are but i also need the properly labeled triangle for the drawing itself.

I tried adding dimensions to the block and saving it but they dont seem to show up when inserting the block, could definitely just be a misunderstanding on my part.

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:42:17 GMT

The way i exit the line command is hardly the issue im currently facing, this macro was built by taking the exact commands i type in to build the triangle manually. whether i use x or a semicolon to denote ending the command does not change the fact that i can't get a macro to accurately label the dimension of a diagonal without manually selecting it, which defeats the purpose of having the macro in the first place.

Re: Macro to display dimensions of the hypotenuse of the triangle

steven-g — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:45:17 GMT

Good luck