Search Paths Keep Piling up

[chris.neelin]

I have the following lisp that works perfectly .. except that each time it runs it adds the same path again and again. e.g. I set the path to "\\HELP\\" so each time I run the lisp I get , I would like it to just do it once ... any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

1st

c:\users\neelinch\iescad\help

2nd time

c:\users\neelinch\iescad\help

c:\users\neelinch\iescad\help

3rd time

c:\users\neelinch\iescad\help

c:\users\neelinch\iescad\help

c:\users\neelinch\iescad\help

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below is the lisp

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

;-----------------------------------------
; Add additional support File Paths
;-----------------------------------------
(defun MTO_PATH ( / )

;Get environment variable USERPROFILE
(setq IESCAD2016 (strcat (getenv "USERPROFILE") "\\IESCAD2016"))

(setq Help (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\Help\\"))

(setq COM (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\com\\lisp\\"))

(setq FONT (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\MTO_Fonts")) ; set path to MTO Specific fonts

(setq HATCH (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\MTO_HATCH"))

(setq HelpPD (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\PD\\Lisp\\")); Planning and Design Lisp

(setq TrafficHelp (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\tr\\Help")); Traffic Sign Manuals

(setq PD_Block (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\PD\\Symbols\\")); Planning and Design Blocks

(vl-load-com)

;Store a reference to the Application Object
(setq acadObject (vlax-get-acad-object))

;Store a reference to the Preferences Object
(setq prefsObject (vlax-get-property acadObject 'Preferences))

;Store a reference to the Files Object
(setq tabnameObject (vlax-get-property prefsObject 'Files))

;Get the Support Path
(setq thePath (vlax-get-property tabnameObject 'SupportPath))

; add paths
(setq thePath (strcat FONT ";" Help ";" COM ";" HATCH ";" HelpPD ";" TrafficHelp ";" PD_Block ";" thePath))

; update support path variable
(vlax-put-property tabnameObject 'SupportPath thePath)
)
(MTO_PATH)

[ambrosl]

You could split the values of the Support File Search Path and determine if the path already exists before adding it.  You can find an example of how to split a string into individual elements based on a delimiter here:

http://hyperpics.blogs.com/beyond_the_ui/2017/02/splitting-a-string-into-a-list-of-elements-based-on...

Once the string is split, you can then test each element in the list for the path you want to add.

[Scottu2 · Accepted solution]

Hello chris.neelin,

Try changing the last line to test the path string for an existing \\Help\\.

When the vl-string-search can not find the key word it returns nil (does not exist)

If is did find the key word it returns the character position in the string.

(vlax-put-property tabnameObject 'SupportPath thePath)

to

(if (= nil (vl-string-search "\\Help\\ thePath)) (vlax-put-property tabnameObject 'SupportPath thePath) )

[chris.neelin]

Thanks Scott and Lee for the great suggestions, below is what I ended up with .......works like a charm now

(setq IESCAD2016 (strcat (getenv "USERPROFILE") "\\IESCAD2016"))
(setq
 ies-paths
 (list
  (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\com\\")
  (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\Help\\")
  (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\com\\lisp\\")
  (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\MTO_Fonts")
  (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\MTO_HATCH")
  (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\PD\\Lisp\\")
  (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\ST\\Lisp\\")
  (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\tr\\Help")
  (strcat IESCAD2016 "\\PD\\Symbols\\")
 )
)

(defun IES:prepend-support-paths (addpaths / acFiles paths)
 (setq acFiles (vla-get-files (vla-get-preferences (vlax-get-acad-object))))
 (setq paths (vla-get-SupportPath acFiles))
 (mapcar
  '(lambda (path)
   (setq path (strcat (vl-string-right-trim "\\" path) "\\;"))
   (while (wcmatch (strcat "*" path "*") paths)
    (setq paths (vl-string-subst "" path paths))
   )
   (setq paths (strcat path paths))
  )
  (reverse addpaths)
 )
 (vla-put-SupportPath acFiles paths)
 (vlax-release-object acFiles)
 (princ)
)

(IES:prepend-support-paths ies-paths)