topic Re: Publish or print files automatically every month in VBA Forum

Publish or print files automatically every month

joh.richard — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 17:48:42 GMT

Hello, I have ~400 files that I want to automatically convert to PDF every month. I currently create a .DSD file to run a publish. I would like printing to be automatic every 1st of the month at 2am. I tried the automatic publish in the options, but it did not meet my needs. Has anyone done something similar before?

Thanks

Re: Publish or print files automatically every month

Ed__Jobe — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 18:01:40 GMT

You might try the Windows Task Scheduler (type it in the Cortana search bar). You can create a script that does what you want in AutoCAD or even ScriptPro and then use AutoCAD's command line switch /b to run the script. Then create a task in task scheduler to run it.

Also, if you have Bluebeam, you can create a batch job file and run that in Task Scheduler.

Re: Publish or print files automatically every month

maratovich — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 14:21:34 GMT

Maybe you will like this - Revers
You can specify a folder with your files and start automatic printing.

Re: Publish or print files automatically every month

Ed__Jobe — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:39:32 GMT

@maratovich That program doesn't appear to support scheduling of batch jobs. He doesn't want to come in a 2 am to start the batch.

Re: Publish or print files automatically every month

joh.richard — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 13:28:44 GMT

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I will test your suggestions and get back to you with what works best.

Re: Publish or print files automatically every month

joh.richard — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 14:42:00 GMT

The script and Script pro work well. But I don't know how to link them in task scheduler. I add a task. The task launches and asks which application it should open 😕

Re: Publish or print files automatically every month

Ed__Jobe — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:09:00 GMT

When it says to choose, the words are "program/script". Use the second option. Create a DOS *.bat file using Notepad. ScriptPro's Help gives you a sample script and sample bat command.

Command Line Access To run a series of ScriptPro 2.0 projects from a DOS batch file, you can use the ScriptPro command line interface: <install dir>\ScriptPro <project name> "run" For example: C:\\ScriptPro 2.0\\ScriptPro.exe "c:\\TestProject.bpl" "run" You can also use "exit" at the end to exit ScriptPro silently after processing the drawing list. For example: C:\\ScriptPro 2.0\\ScriptPro.exe "c:\\TestProject.bpl" "run" "exit"

Re: Publish or print files automatically every month

joh.richard — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:19:37 GMT

I have a part of code in VBA for printing files in PDF

I would add a line to acaddoc.lsp to run this routine each time a specific file is opened.

I would add this specific drawing to task scheduler

It works almost perfectly. The drawings are printed, but not taking into account the printing specifications (size, CTB, rotation)
Could someone check my code and see where my error is? I guess it plotConfig the problem
Thank you

Public Sub DoPdfPlot() Dim backPlot As Integer Dim fileNames() As String Dim oPath As String Dim dPath As String Dim plotter As String 'Setting background plot variable backPlot = ThisDrawing.GetVariable("BACKGROUNDPLOT") ThisDrawing.SetVariable "BACKGROUNDPLOT", 0 'Original path -> Where DWG are oPath = "C:\Temp\architecture\" 'Destination path -> Where PDF go dPath = "C:\Temp\architecture\pdf\" fileNames = GetFileNames(oPath) Dim fName As String Dim pdfName As String Dim dwg As AcadDocument Dim i As Integer For i = 0 To UBound(fileNames) fName = fileNames(i) Dim splitedFileName() As String Dim brutName As String ''Name de PDF "[DWGName].pdf" splitedFileName = Split(fName, ".") brutName = splitedFileName(0) pdfName = dPath & brutName & ".pdf" ''Determine PDF name based on DWG file name Set dwg = AcadApplication.Documents.Open(fName) PlotToPdf dwg, pdfName dwg.Close False Next ThisDrawing.SetVariable "BACKGROUNDPLOT", backPlot End Sub Private Function GetFileNames(path As String) As String() Dim fileNames() As String Dim i As Integer Dim file As String ''Get all DWG file from the Original Path file = Dir(path & "*.dwg") While file <> "" ReDim Preserve fileNames(i) fileNames(i) = file i = i + 1 file = Dir Wend GetFileNames = fileNames End Function Private Sub PlotToPdf(dwg As AcadDocument, pdfFile As String) Dim ptObj As AcadPlot Dim ptConfigs As AcadPlotConfigurations Dim plotConfig As AcadPlotConfiguration Dim canonicalName As String 'Create a new plot configuration with all needed parameters Set ptObj = dwg.Plot Set ptConfigs = dwg.PlotConfigurations 'Add a new plot configuration Set plotConfig = ptConfigs.Add("PDF", True) plotConfig.ConfigName = "AutoCAD PDF (Web and Mobile).pc3" plotConfig.UseStandardScale = False plotConfig.StandardScale = acScaleToFit plotConfig.PlotRotation = ac0degrees plotConfig.PlotType = acExtents plotConfig.CanonicalMediaName = "UserDefinedImperial (48.00 x 36.00Inches)" plotConfig.CenterPlot = True plotConfig.StyleSheet = "C:\Users\KI-0052-SI\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2021\R24.0\enu\Plotters\Plot Styles\Acad.ctb" plotConfig.PlotWithPlotStyles = True 'Updates the plot plotConfig.RefreshPlotDeviceInfo Dim success As Boolean success = ptObj.PlotToFile(pdfFile, plotConfig.ConfigName) End Sub

Re: Publish or print files automatically every month

joh.richard — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 18:35:42 GMT

Thank you so much @Ed__Jobe it finaly work! 😁

I forgotten a " after run