topic Re: get block name without requiring user to select in Visual LISP, AutoLISP and General Customization Forum

get block name without requiring user to select

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 21:01:12 GMT

My current code requires user to select block to get the block name

(while (not (and (setq blk (car (entsel "\nSelect Block: ")) bdata (if blk (entget blk)) ) ; end setq (= (cdr (assoc 0 bdata)) "INSERT") (/= (logand 4 (cdr (assoc 70 (tblsearch "block" (cdr (assoc 2 bdata)))) ) ) 4 ) ) ; end and ) ; end not (prompt "\nNothing selected, or it is not a Block -- ") ) ; end while

Is there a way to setq blk using ssget to retrieve the block? for some reason I cant get it to work

Thanks

Re: get block name without requiring user to select

ronjonp — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 21:31:04 GMT

What does the rest of the code do?

Re: get block name without requiring user to select

Kent1Cooper — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 21:48:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

My current code requires user to select block to get the block name ....

Is there a way to setq blk using ssget to retrieve the block? ....

If the goal is to get the Block name, then obviously you can't use (ssget) to find it by its name. So if you don't want to select it by picking, by what criteria would (ssget) look for it? If the Block in question would always be the last thing drawn, you could use that. If it would always have its insertion point in a specific place, you could use that. If it would always be the only Block on a specific Layer, or in the current space, or within a specific defined area, or containing Attributes, you could use any of those. So what do you know about it that (ssget) can work with to reliably find the one you want and not any other(s)?

Re: get block name without requiring user to select

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 13:48:20 GMT

@Kent1Cooper If the Block in question would always be the last thing drawn

The block/ blocks are copy and pasted into dwg, does this count as last thing drawn? The drawing is simply 1 to 4 blocks that I use my program to turn into rows

If it would always be the only Block on a specific Layer

All blocks are on same layer, but only need the name of 1. So if rather than ssget "_X" to collect all blocks, I was hoping to use some version of ssget ""_S" and then use bdata to extract name. I can then use that to find the others.
For some reason, this is not working for me. Using ssget "_X" and then using for loop would also cut down my programming time finding all names at once rather than using tblsearch, but thats not working either.

Re: get block name without requiring user to select

Kent1Cooper — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 15:34:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

@Kent1Cooper If the Block in question would always be the last thing drawn

The block/ blocks are copy and pasted into dwg, does this count as last thing drawn? ....

....

If pasting the desired Block in was the last thing done that added anything to the drawn content, then yes, it would be the last thing "drawn." You could do simply:

(setq blk (entlast))

and go from there.

Re: get block name without requiring user to select

ronjonp — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 17:48:39 GMT

If you have 1-4 blocks in a drawing and don't want to pick the block, how do you determine which block needs to be used? Do they all get used?

Maybe this can help you:

(defun _getnamesofblocksandblocks (/ n r s) (vlax-for b (vla-get-blocks (vla-get-activedocument (vlax-get-acad-object))) (if (and (= 0 (vlax-get b 'isxref)) (not (wcmatch (setq n (vla-get-name b)) "`**")) (setq s (ssget "_X" (list '(0 . "INSERT") (cons 2 n)))) ) (setq r (cons (list n (mapcar 'cadr (ssnamex s))) r)) ) ) r ) (_getnamesofblocksandblocks) ;; RETURNS '((BLOCKNAME1 (LIST OF BLOCKNAME1 ENAMES))(BLOCKNAME2 (LIST OF BLOCKNAME2 ENAMES)))...

Re: get block name without requiring user to select

Sea-Haven — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 06:11:45 GMT

Maybe add a (cons 410 (getvar 'ctab)) restricts search to say model space or a layout.

If copy paste 4 times I think this works (entlast) look at it get blk name yes / no, erase (entlast), do (entlast) again yes / no save blk name then do a undo B

did line circle pline (command "Undo" "M") : (entget (entlast)) ((-1 . <Entity name: 789a5870>) (0 . "LWPOLYLINE") : ERASE Select entities, edges or faces: (entlast) : (entget (entlast)) ((-1 . <Entity name: 78999ab0>) (0 . "CIRCLE") : ERASE Select entities, edges or faces: (entlast) : (entget (entlast)) ((-1 . <Entity name: 789b8d30>) (0 . "LINE") save say ent in lisp (command "undo" "B")

Re: get block name without requiring user to select

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 13:32:09 GMT

Your solution is good, but ronjonp's code is a little more specific to what I was looking for