Display command line output list in separate window/palette?

[dlbsurveysuk]

Hi,

Does anyone know if there is an addin or Lisp routine that can display the command line output from a command in a separate window/palette.

My specific use for this would be to display a list of currently available pointcloud cropstates.

The two ways to do this at the moment are -

Select cloud > Point Cloud ribbon > Cropping drop-down > Cropstate list drop-down

Which is a painfully tedious procedure.

or

POINTCLOUDCROPSTATE > select cloud > ? > F2 to see list in the command line

I've written some simple Lisp routines that allow me to easily save/query/restore cropstates with keyboard shortcuts, but the query lisp still involves having to hit F2 to see the list in the command line, and I have to do this before using the Restore cropstate command to remind me of the names. If I have a few cropstates it'd be very helpful to have a list of them in a separate window/palette that can be glanced at before using the restore cropstate list.

;;
;;  Autocad addin PCCTools (Point Cloud Crop Tools)
;;  must be installed for this to work
;;

(defun c:SCS()          ;; Save cropstate

   (c:PCUNLOCK)

      (setq NAME (getstring "Cropstate name to save as? "))
      (command "POINTCLOUDCROPSTATE" pause "S" NAME pause)

   (c:PCLOCK)

(princ)
)

(defun c:RCS()          ;; Restore cropstate

   (c:PCUNLOCK)

      (setq NAME (getstring "Cropstate name to restore? "))
      (command "POINTCLOUDCROPSTATE" pause "R" NAME pause)

   (c:PCLOCK)

(princ)
)

(defun c:QCS()      ;; Query available cropstates

   (c:PCUNLOCK)

     (command "POINTCLOUDCROPSTATE" pause "?")

   (c:PCLOCK)

(princ)
)

[Kent1Cooper · Accepted solution]

Would something as simple as this do?

(defun c:QCS() ;; Query available cropstates
  (c:PCUNLOCK)
  (command "POINTCLOUDCROPSTATE" pause "?")
  (c:PCLOCK)
  (textscr)
  (princ)
)

[dlbsurveysuk]

Ah! brillliant! I knew it would be something simple that had escaped me.

Using -

(defun c:QCS() ;; Query available cropstates
  (c:PCUNLOCK)
  (command "POINTCLOUDCROPSTATE" pause "?")
  (c:PCLOCK)
  (command "TEXTSCR")
  (princ)
)

Is perfect, as a separate moveable command line window pops up.

Just realised I should combine the Query and Restore commands.

Thanks very much for the help.

[Moshe-A]

@dlbsurveysuk ,

Another option to consider is >> OpenDCL << which can let you open modeless dialog box.

Moshe

[Sea-Haven]

A couple more

If for info only use (alert "your message") can be multi line.

You can display a premade slide, you can control display time.

There is MSGBOX functions that display out side of Autocad. Uses Powershell.

You can make a temporary text DCL and display. Its a function not used much in dcl.