is there a lisp to arrange blocks by selection order, (see attached image).
e.g.: the example below shows at the left some randomly distributed blocks where we need to rearrange them by "selection order" from 1 to 6 as shown on the right image.
ARRANGE BLOCKS BY SELECTION ORDER
@atawk wrote:
The selected blocks are not similar geometry nor similar names.
So the spacing / relative positions will need to be determined by the size of each Block as it goes along?
Kent Cooper, AIA 
@ВeekeeCZ's routine spaces the Blocks' insertion points equally, at your specified spacing, so if you choose something that's not as wide as the widest Block, or if any Blocks' insertion point locations vary a lot in their relation to the drawn content, you can end up with Blocks overlapping, or larger spaces between them than you probably want, and even large variability from being [visually] in a "row." It also allows selection by means [e.g. Window, Crossing, Lasso, Last] that are without control over the order it will use to place them [involving drawn order in some way].
@pendean's linked routine apparently [I only watched the video, but didn't try it] aligns things, but keeps them in their sequence, not your selected order, and either doesn't change the horizontal spacing or if equal spacing is chosen, bases it on the existing spacing between the extreme objects in the selection.
So I offer something that I think is more in line with your request, the attached EntityRow.lsp with its ERow command. It uses the actual size [extents] of each object, not Block insertion points, to establish the position of each in its Moved location relative to the previous Moved object [or relative to the start-of-row location for the first one]. Because it's based on extents rather than insertion points, it can be used for any object type(s), not just Blocks [hence the name with Entity, not Block]. And it requires you to pick things in ways that are clear about the sequence you want [individual picks or Fence], ignoring things selected by other means [and scolding you for it]. See more commentary at the top of the file.
[It could be edited to ask for the 'gap' variable value, rather than have it built in. And it could have an Undo Begin/End wrapper, and if so, an *error* handler would also be appropriate.]
Kent Cooper, AIA
@atawk wrote:
is there a lisp to arrange blocks by selection order, (see attached image).
...
(Defun c:side ( / pdata moveTo inc ss first objpoints startpoint)
(defun pdata (obj / ObjLl ObjUr)
(vla-GetBoundingBox obj 'ObjLl 'ObjUr
)
(mapcar '(lambda (d)
(safearray-value d))
(list ObjLl ObjUr)
)
)
(defun moveTo (obj fp lst)
(Vlax-invoke obj 'Move (car lst) fp)
(list (- (car fp) (- (caadr lst)) (caar lst))
(cadr fp) 0.0)
)
(if (And
(setq inc 0
ss (ssget "_:L" '((0 . "INSERT"))))
(setq first (vlax-ename->vla-object (ssname ss inc)))
(setq objpoints (pdata first))
(setq startpoint (getpoint (car objpoints) "\Pick start location"))
)
(progn
(setq startpoint (moveTo first startpoint objpoints))
(repeat (1- (sslength ss))
(setq next (vlax-ename->vla-object (ssname ss (setq inc (1+ inc)))))
(setq startpoint (moveTo next startpoint (pdata next)))
)
)
)
(princ)
)
HTH
@atawk wrote:
when selecting object using windows selection it returns nothing. only the objects selected by picking are returned. can you update it please to return any kind of selection.
The former is exactly as in your description in Message 3 [plus the option to use Fence selection which also puts selected things into the set in the order that the Fence crosses them]. The latter is a violation of that description. But if the order doesn't matter, the whole thing is simpler -- try the attached EntityRow2.lsp. I left the same ERow command name, so if you would sometimes want the order to matter and sometimes not, needing both versions available in the same drawing, change one of the command names.
Kent Cooper, AIA
