topic Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help? in Visual LISP, AutoLISP and General Customization Forum

Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

israelU7LZU — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 16:11:05 GMT

Good day to you Gentlemen,

I am not proficient in lisp programing, I don't quite understand the programing language. that's why I come seeking your help on this.

I need to come up with a way to count supports quantities and add them up by height and create some sort of list in numerical order. is there a way to do these things?

please let me know what other info is needed to make this happen.

Thank you

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

paullimapa — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 18:14:25 GMT

Thanks for sharing your drawing.

Perhaps you can explain more as to what are "supports quantities" that can be found in the sample drawing?

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

Sea-Haven — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 22:53:04 GMT

Are you saying you want to know how many 8", 3-3/4", 11-1/4" and so on ?

May need a convert mtext to a decimal and back again etc

I may have something already it currently checks for blocks and makes a table result. It will cost you a cup of coffee. Watch this space.

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

israelU7LZU — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 02:59:14 GMT

Good day Paul,

I replied to the email I got from AutoDesk when you replied to my question. did you get that email or do I need to reply here again? please let me know

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

israelU7LZU — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 03:00:22 GMT

I also tried replying to the email I got from autodesk, can you let me know if you got the email please. if not, then I'll type it in here again. lol

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

paullimapa — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 03:00:45 GMT

Unless you post your reply here others in the community like myself cannot see it since we don't work for autodesk.

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

israelU7LZU — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 03:06:30 GMT

Hi Paullimapa, and thank you for taking the time to reply to my inquiry

In this type of work, we work with banded and uniform cables, which they need support at different heights. Please see Band Support Snap and Uniform Support Snap, I would like to figure out how to count how many Supports (Chairs) are needed of each height and create a list in numerical order. Is that possible?

Please let me know if you have any questions about these drawings.

Thank you very much for your help.

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

paullimapa — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 03:57:50 GMT

Not sure if there's a way to automate this.

But perhaps you can explain a bit further by looking at the below screenshot

I see 2 plines drawn on layer:: "TENDON-BANDED-BACKGROUND"

There's a call out up top 8 SPA @ 36 1/2" and 8 SPA @ 36" drawn as DIMENSION on Layer: "DIMENSION-UNIFORM-SUPPORT"

Next there are all those 16 short but same length vertical plines drawn on Layer: "SUPPORT-BARS-BANDED"

These plines all have different #s on top such as 4 3/4", 3 1/4", 2 1/4", 2", 2 3/4", 5", 8 1/2" and etc. all as Mtext on Layer: "SUPPORT-TEXT-BANDED"

Now looking at this how do you manually count supports quantities and add them up by height and create a list in numerical order?

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

israelU7LZU — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 04:17:15 GMT

every plines drawn on layer:: "TENDON-BANDED-BACKGROUND" is considered a bundle.

those 16 short but same length vertical plines drawn on Layer: "SUPPORT-BARS-BANDED" are the support bars.

the different #s on top such as 4 3/4", 3 1/4", 2 1/4", 2", 2 3/4", 5", 8 1/2" and etc. all as Mtext on Layer: "SUPPORT-TEXT-BANDED" are called "chairs"

having said that, for every so many bundles, we need a determined number of chairs. see below please.

1 to 3 Bundles (TENDON-BANDED-BACKGROUND)= Needs 2 Support Chairs (SUPPORT-TEXT-BANDED)
4 to 5 Bundles (TENDON-BANDED-BACKGROUND) = Needs 3 Support Chairs (SUPPORT-TEXT-BANDED)
6 to 7 Bundles (TENDON-BANDED-BACKGROUND) = Needs 4 Support Chairs (SUPPORT-TEXT-BANDED)
8 to 9 Bundles (TENDON-BANDED-BACKGROUND) = Needs 5 Support Chairs (SUPPORT-TEXT-BANDED)

typically, I will find a chair height, for example 3 1/4", I will find all the chair height that are the same and figure out the quantity of chairs needed at the height based on the number of tendon bundles. on the snap you sent, there are two 3 1/4" chairs, and there are two bundles of cables, that means I need 2 chairs for every 3 1/4" height I find, since there are two of them. I know I need 4 chairs at 3 1/4" height. and I will repeat this for every different chair height and bundles I find.

this is only for the Banded cables. then I have to do count the supports for the uniform cables which are done slightly different. I hope I was clear

Thank you

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

Sea-Haven — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 05:52:04 GMT

1st up this is a chair used in concrete slabs. They can be different heights and I think is what we are talking about.

I think this is what you want, as the first step to select the chair text, I used;

(setq ss (ssget (list (cons 0 "MTEXT")(cons 8 "SUPPORT-TEXT-BANDED"))))

Then when asked to select you type "WP" this allows you to select a window on angle. If the dwg is horizontal then do not need the wp as a default selection is a window.

PS 44 selected.

You now have a selection set of the chairs so can get text, sort and count how many of each type then multiply by the number of tendons. Working on it have an answer for blocks need to edit to match chairs text.

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

Sea-Haven — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 02:33:53 GMT

Almost there just have to add multiply by number of tendons and sort the height correctly, need to convert like "2 1/2" to 2.5 etc so sort works correctly.

Thanks to lee-mac for strip mtext and Gile for do count.

Also need to manually check count is correct, but shows something can be done.

The biggest problem is taking the mtext and convert to a decimal number, in the mtext there is like 4 variations in what is used, inches only, inch & fractions, fractions only, different text but with suffixes and again a mix of inches and fractions. Working on that.

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

Kent1Cooper — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:47:28 GMT

@Sea-Haven wrote:

.... The biggest problem is taking the mtext and convert to a decimal number, in the mtext there is like 4 variations in what is used, inches only, inch & fractions, fractions only, different text but with suffixes and again a mix of inches and fractions. Working on that.

That's mostly not an issue, because the (distof) function can work with all of those possibilities except the suffixes. It can handle it whether or not there is a fraction involved, whether or not [as some might do] you use a hyphen between inches and fractions, whether or not you include the inches mark at the end, and if the distances get big enough to include feet. Even if the content is already a decimal number, with or without the inches mark, it can work with that, returning it as a decimal. Assuming no other internal Mtext formatting [like font or color or height overrides] to complicate things, these all convert to good decimal equivalents for sorting:

Command: (distof "2 1/2\"") with fraction and inches mark, without hyphen
2.5

Command: (distof "2-1/2\"") with fraction and inches mark, including hyphen
2.5

Command: (distof "2-1/2") with fraction and hyphen but no inches mark
2.5

Command: (distof "2") no fraction, no inches mark
2.0

Command: (distof "2\"") no fraction, with inches mark
2.0

Command: (distof "2'-2 3/4\"") including feet
26.75

Command: (distof "2.5\"") already decimal, with inches mark
2.5

But the suffix spoils it, so something would need to be done to pare it down to just the distance content.

Command: (distof "2-1/2\" S.B.")
nil

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

israelU7LZU — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 22:58:37 GMT

Im sorry I'd been absent from the forum. I'd been busy counting supports by hand :D. I really appreciate the advances you have done on helping me resolve this matter. I would gladly compensate, if it is allowed, for all your help.

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

israelU7LZU — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:02:00 GMT

you are right about the chairs used in concrete slabs

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

Sea-Haven — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:38:55 GMT

It is close keep going back to it, bit busy at moment.

@Kent1Cooper I found the simplest way was to split the text after removing the Mtext control into a List. Also remove inch ". Did look at distof and found the string problems.

"\\W0.8000;11 {\\A1;\\H0.7x;\\S1#4;}\"" = ("11" "1/4")

"\\A1; {\\H0.7x;\\S3#4;}\" S.B." = ("3/4" "S.B")

Then look at the list only the first and second item if it exists in list.

Working on it, hopefully today.

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help

israelU7LZU — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 10:56:33 GMT

Hi Paullimapa, and thank you for taking the time to reply to my inquiry

In this type of work, we work with banded and uniform cables, which they need support at different heights. Please see Snap 1 and Snap 2, I would like to figure out how to count how many Supports (Chairs) are needed of each height and create a list in numerical order. Is that possible?

Please let me know if you have any questions about these drawings.

Thank you very much for your help.

Snap 1 Band Support

[cid:454e8255-03ee-481a-9afc-2c147986a1fe]

Snap 2 Uniform Support

[cid:38212a13-2b26-4f3e-95f1-5e6acae65fcd]

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

Kent1Cooper — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:09:10 GMT

@Sea-Haven wrote:

.... Did look at distof and found the string problems.

"\\W0.8000;11 {\\A1;\\H0.7x;\\S1#4;}\"" = ("11" "1/4")

"\\A1; {\\H0.7x;\\S3#4;}\" S.B." = ("3/4" "S.B")

....

So there is [at least sometimes] internal Mtext formatting -- that would be necessary given the stacked fractions in the sample drawing. Fortunately, the (getpropertyvalue) function can give you the text content either with or without that formatting. If txt is a variable holding the entity name of this Mtext object [with its Contents showing in the Properties palette]:

then you can pull that Contents string using (getpropertyvalue) instead of the (assoc 1) entry in entity data:

Command: (getpropertyvalue txt "Contents")
"\\A1;3 {\\H0.7x;\\S5#8;}\""

But you can get it without the formatting directly, using a different Property:

Command: (getpropertyvalue txt "Text")
"3 5/8\""

and then you can use (distof) on it as above.

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

Sea-Haven — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 02:05:10 GMT

Thank you @Kent1Cooper for that idea, should be able to remove a defun that worked out fractions of a inch, need that for the sort function, make a list of (3.75 "3 3/4").

Give this a try. I did find one value sorted wrong for the entire dwg. Will look into why that happened.

PLEASE CHECK COUNTS ! If incorrect let me know.

; https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/visual-lisp-autolisp-and-general/need-help-counting-support-quantities-can-you-please-help/td-p/14238558 ; layer SUPPORT-TEXT-BANDED ;Take text and make them into a table ; counting the text also ; by Alan H Aug 2026 (vl-load-com) (defun AH:table_make (numcolumns txtsz / numrows curspc colwidth numcolumnsobjtable rowheight sp doc) (setq sp (vlax-3d-point (getpoint "Pick top left"))) (setq doc(vla-get-activedocument (vlax-get-acad-object) )) (if (= (vla-get-activespace doc) 0) (setq curspc (vla-get-paperspace doc)) (setq curspc (vla-get-modelspace doc)) ) (setq numrows 2) (setq rowheight txtsz) (setq colwidth 100) (setq objtable (vla-addtable curspc sp numrows numcolumns rowheight colwidth)) (vla-settext objtable 0 0 "TABLE title") (vla-SetTextHeight Objtable (+ acDataRow acTitleRow acHeaderRow) txtsz) (vla-SetText Objtable 0 0 "Chairs") (vla-SetText Objtable 1 0 "Size") (vla-SetText Objtable 1 1 "Count") (setq obj2 (vlax-ename->vla-object (entlast))) (vla-Setcolumnwidth obj2 0 (* 6 txtsz)) (vla-Setcolumnwidth obj2 1 (* 4.5 txtsz)) (setq obj2 (vlax-ename->vla-object (entlast))) (princ) ) ; By Gile (defun remove_doubles (lst) (if lst (cons (car lst) (remove_doubles (vl-remove (car lst) lst))) ) ) ; By Gile (defun my-count (a L) (cond ((null L) 0) ((equal a (car L)) (+ 1 (my-count a (cdr L)))) (t (my-count a (cdr L)))) ) ; Starts here ; (defun c:AHsupports ( / cnt lst lst2 lst3 obj2 rownum ss trow txtsz val x)) (setq txtsz (getreal "Enter text size ")) ; try say 25 (setq ss (ssget (list (cons 0 "MTEXT")(cons 8 "SUPPORT-TEXT-BANDED")))) (if (= ss nil)(progn (Alert "no items were selected will now exit ")(exit))) (setq lst '()) (repeat (setq k (sslength ss)) (setq textstr (getpropertyvalue (ssname ss (setq k (1- k))) "Text")) (princ "\n") (setq lst (cons (list (distof textstr) textstr) lst)) (princ lst) ) (setq lst (vl-sort lst '(lambda (i j) (< (car i)(car j))))) (setq lst3 '()) (setq lst2 (remove_doubles lst)) (princ lst2) (foreach val lst2 (setq cnt (my-count val lst)) (setq lst3 (cons (list val cnt) lst3)) ) (princ lst3) (AH:table_make 2 txtsz) (repeat (setq x (length lst3)) (setq rownum (vla-get-rows obj2)) (vla-InsertRows obj2 rownum (vla-GetRowHeight obj2 (- rownum 1)) 1) (setq trow (nth (setq x (1- x)) lst3)) (vla-SetText Obj2 rownum 0 (cadr (car trow))) (vla-SetText Obj2 rownum 1 (rtos (cadr trow) 2 0)) ) (vla-SetTextHeight obj2 (+ acDataRow acHeaderRow acTitleRow) txtsz) (vla-SetAlignment obj2 acDataRow acMiddleCenter) (alert "To run again type AHsupports") ) (c:AHsupports)

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help

lauri_barnhart — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 14:20:45 GMT

Welcome to the community, @israelU7LZU.

Hope you are well. It looks like you have received a lot of information from paullimapa, Sea-Haven and Kent1Cooper. Did any of the information provided help clarify your question? If any of the posts provided the help, please consider clicking on the 'Accept Solution' button on the post(s) that helped. If you still need assistance, please update here.

Best,

Re: Need help counting support quantities, can you please help?

israelU7LZU — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 17:54:03 GMT

Hi Sea-Haven,

is this the working lisp program? should I try it? I'm not sure how to create a lisp file, but Im guessing I can open an existing one, save it as, then erase everything in said file and copy/paste everything you show here? then load it up? what would the Key command be to start the program?

I really appreciate your help on this matter.