Get properties and set current

[M.Lindell]

Hi, Can I get some help with this.
I have this lisp that gets layer, color and linetype from selected object and sets them current.

It works partially. If the selected object has manually changed color and linetype the lisp finds them and sets current correctly. But if the color and linetype are "ByLayer" the lisp doesn't work.

What is wrong with it? I can't get it to work. (Lisp-code is still quite unfamiliar for me)

(defun c:GETPROP ()
  (setq obj (car (entsel "\nSelect an object: ")))
  (setq ent (entget obj))
  
  ;; Extract linetype, layer, and color
  (setq linetype (cdr (assoc 6 ent)))
  (setq layer (cdr (assoc 8 ent)))
  (setq color (cdr (assoc 62 ent)))
  
  ;; Set linetype, layer, and color as current
  (command "-linetype" "S" linetype "")
  (command "CLAYER" layer "")
  (command "CECOLOR" color "")
)

(princ)

[johnyDFFXO · Accepted solution]

ent does not contain linetype or color information if is by layer. it returns nil in that case.

(setq linetype (cdr (assoc 6 ent)))
(if (not linetype) (setq linetype "ByLayer"))
(setq layer (cdr (assoc 8 ent)))
(setq color (cdr (assoc 62 ent)))
(if (not color) (setq color "ByLayer"))

also, the clayer and cecolor setting does not require the last ""

[M.Lindell]

@johnyDFFXO 
Oh it was that simple. Thank you very much.

[Kent1Cooper]

Rather than extract those properties into variables and then use the variables to set the current-entity properties, I would suggest you set them directly.  And here's another way to do it, using the System Variable names themselves rather than the command-line equivalents, and using (cond) instead of the (if (not... approach:

(setq
  obj (car (entsel "\nSelect an object: "))
  ent (entget obj)
)
(setvar 'celtype (cond ((cdr (assoc 6 ent))) ("ByLayer")))
(setvar 'clayer (cdr (assoc 8 ent)))
(setvar 'cecolor (cond ((cdr (assoc 62 ent))) ("ByLayer")))

If you want something that sets far more properties current [e.g. lineweight, thickness, Text Style and height for text-type things, Polyline width and in some cases originating command, etc., etc.], and starts the appropriate command for you or offers options when more than one command could make it [since presumably you want to set such things only because you want Make More of the same thing], try the MM command in MakeMore.lsp, >here<.

[M.Lindell]

Thanks for your suggestion.
I tried your code but "cecolor" stayed "ByLayer" even if the selected object had something else. Weird...
But I got a working lisp that does exactly what I need so I wouldn't want you to waste your time on this.

I'll definitely check out that "MakeMore".

[Kent1Cooper · Accepted solution]

---

@M.Lindell wrote:
... "cecolor" stayed "ByLayer" even if the selected object had something else. ....

---

I had forgotten that CECOLOR wants a text string, not a number, even for numerical values, because of the possibility of using color names like "red," etc.  This works for me:

(setvar 'celtype (cond ((cdr (assoc 6 ent))) ("ByLayer")))
(setvar 'clayer (cdr (assoc 8 ent)))
(setvar 'cecolor (cond ((assoc 62 ent) (itoa (cdr (assoc 62 ent)))) ("ByLayer")))

[M.Lindell]

Yep. Works perfect.
Thank you