Exporting X and Y centre cooridinates of a circle, along side numbers... HELP

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

Hope all is well!

We are in need of a hero to help us with a hugely time consuming part of our Autocad Lt lives.

We plot Survey positions using 2m Circles which we then sequentially number and eventually need to copy over the X and Y Centre points from the circles so we can have these in an Excel Document. (Usually the .dwg is OSGB World Coordinated)

Some days we plot out over 1000 surveys which we then number, only using a text and sequentially auto number using Macro we found on here to help.

Once numbered, we need to log the exact X and Y centre point Coordinates in an Excel Spread sheet.

Currently, we are having to copy and paste each X and Y coordinate for each circle over to Excel by hand but I am certain there must be a better way for us to use Blocks, instead of a Circle, to then label sequentially, and then use ATTEXT to export this data into Excel.

I have found this post below that I think might be along the right lines of what we are looking for, however, I am no Autocad Lt genius and neither is my colleague so any help would be muchly appreciated. I am certain there is a way for this to be done in the full Autocad but unfortunately we do not have the luxury.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-lt-forum/trying-to-export-x-and-y-references-in-autocad-lt/m-...

I have uploaded a very basic example of what we currently use. Obviously, it would usually be on a much larger scale and above a previous drawing from our client.

Thank you all for your time and fingers cross there is a way to make our lives so much easier.

Cheers,

Chris

[steven-g]

For something like the example posted I would say that the list command would be the easiset method, selecting all the circles and text would be dependant on what else is in the drawing but a carefull use of layers should sort that out. Once you have run the list command on the items then it wouldn't be that much of a task to run a small piece of code in Excel to sort the items so that the center of the circle coordinates matched up with the text coordinates, possibly even just the sort options in Excel, to see which ones belonged together. Even just picking items in the correct order, and using the list command would be an enormous time saver compared to tranfering cordinates individually.

[WarrenGeissler]

If you have to do thousands at a time, then I agree with you that creating a very simple block that you can add a simple attribute for the number and then using ATTEXT is the way to go. 

[WarrenGeissler]

An example of using attext is attached. I modified your drawing to create a simple block, the template file pulls out the attribute value and the X,Y coordinates and the result is in "Survey Examples.txt"

[Anonymous]

Hey Warren,

Brilliant! That is perfect!

I had so much trouble getting the correct Template file. I guess now all I would need to do is adjust the numbers in the template file to include more digits and decimal places when using correctly coordinated .dwg's.

Did you need to type in each number in the tagline individually or is it possible to automatically number the blocks sequentially? Or even after placing the blocks?

Thanks for the help,

Chris

[Anonymous]

Hey Stephen,

Cheers for the fast reply.

So potentially using the LIST command is possible!

If I highlighted say 500 surveys with their representing numbers, how would I copy the whole LIST? I saw you said press F2 to get the whole command list and copy all from there into a notepad and then pull through into Excel?

I guess once you have both the circle with the centre x,y coordinates and then the number's coordinates you could then sort them both into separate columns and arrange to ascend by value and they should technically match up? Then just use the number from the text, assign it to the coordinates of the circle, and then rearrange accenting (1,2,3...etc.)

Sorry if this seems very basic, still an absolute Novice.

Chris

[steven-g]

Yes that's the idea, you can see the results from the list command in the command history by pressing the F2 key and scrolling up, but it does have a limited memory range in which case it is better to use the results of a logfile, which keep a record of everything that happens on the command line for the whole time a drawing is open, including all the results from the list command. Do a search for turning on logfiles and setting the location they are stored. Or if you get stuck I'll go through a breakdown of it tomorrow (if no one else beats me to it - it's really late here at the moment).

The log file is just a text file and if you change the file extension from .log to .xls it should open automatically in Excel. The results of the list command contain lots of useful information including the XY coordinates of text and circle centers. And if everything is laid out nicely then a quick sort may arrange things nicely. Or just picking the circles one by one in the correct order will list them in the order picked. But if things are a bit random then it might require a formula or a bubble sort program to find which numbers are closest to the center of each circle. ideally, in the future, you could place the text with its insert point at the center, and then you'll be laughing. As preparation is always the best method in LT, rather than trying to figure out fixes. 

[WarrenGeissler]

There has been LOADS of posts on sequential numbering in AutoCAD LT and in blocks. Just search this forum for "Sequential numbering" to find lots of ideas!