Problems with special characters in vba variable

[Anonymous]

Dear ACAD and VBA Pros,

This is my first entry in this forum, looking forward for your help. 

 I am using AUTOCAD 2020.

 My problem is the following:

I would like to integrate a barcode in my drawing (.dwg). I choose to build a block with an attribute and give that one my barcode font. Works out so far.

The next step is to integrate the value of this attribute from a specific .TXT file (Barcode.txt), located in my project folder. Within this .txt file I got one line which should be my attribute value. I managed that.

The problem is, that this .txt file contains some special charcters like “ËÌ!!#”, as it is a calculated value to shorten the length of the barcode. As soon as I load those characters into my VBA variable, they change to some completely other characters. So the content I set my attribute is wrong, and therefore the barcode is too.

Exampel: .txt content"Ë#!!4(*Ì" changes to "Ë#!!4(*ÃŒ" in vba and autocad.

It works if I manually copy-paste my .txt file content into my attribute.

Anyone have some experience with this?

I have never used LISP, maybe someone has a solution for my problem using LISP. 

Here is what I got so far. 

Sub Change_it()

''GET BARCODE CONTENT
Dim dokpath, barpath, filecont As String

Dim pathpos As Long
Dim iFile As Integer: iFile = FreeFile
Dim oData As New DataObject

dokpath = Application.ActiveDocument.Path

pathpos = InStr(1, dokpath, "MyDrawingfolderWithinTheProjectfolder")

barpath = Left(dokpath, pathpos - 1) & "Barcode.txt" ''file in my Projectfolder
    
Open barpath For Input As #1
    
Do Until EOF(1)
    
    Line Input #1, filecont

Loop

Close #1



''FILL ATRIBUTE WITH CONTENT

Dim obj As AcadBlockReference
   Dim inspt As Variant

   ThisDrawing.Utility.GetEntity obj, inspt, "Select object:"

   ' Checks if you selected a block.
   If obj.ObjectName = "AcDbBlockReference" Then

       ' Check for attributes.
       If obj.HasAttributes Then

           Dim AttList As Variant

           ' Build a list of attributes for the current block.
           AttList = obj.GetAttributes

           ' Cycle throught the list of attributes.
           For i = LBound(AttList) To UBound(AttList)

               ' Check for the correct attribute tag.
               If AttList(i).TagString = "BARCODE" Then
                    AttList(i).TextString = filecont

               End If

           Next

       End If



   Else
       MsgBox "You did not select a block."
   End If
End Sub

[ed57gmc · Accepted solution]

The problem is with the Line Input statement. It's as old as DOS and can't handle unicode. I found this thread with some sample code in it. You could also try storing your text in a spreadsheet and using COM to get the value. Search this forum for samples on working with Excel.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your answer. I used an .xlsx and the excel-reference. Worked out!

[ed57gmc]

Glad you got it worked out.