Select Objects based on Layer Name
It can be simpler than that. You can string multiple text-string values together with comma separators, in (wcmatch) fashion:
(setq sel1 (ssget "_X" '((8 . "Layer1Text,Layer2Text,Layer3Text") (0 . "*TEXT"))))
[The red parentheses enclose the (ssget) filter list, whose entries still need to be inside a list even if it contains only one entry.]
If you never have anything other than Text-variety objects on those Layers, then you don't need the (0 . "*TEXT") part, but presumably they may also contain things like Leaders that you may not want included, so putting that in will limit what kinds of things it finds.
@jeguizaASRZM wrote:
... I modified the code to read:
(setq sel1 (ssget "_X" '((8 . "Layer1,Layer2,Layer3"))))
... it prompts a "selection set". This gives me code "22ce" . How can I recall this "selection set" be used? ....
You don't use the "22ce" directly, but rather the sel1 variable that you saved the selection into.
Depending on what you want to do with the objects found, you may sometimes need to step through the selection set using (ssname) to pull individual entity names out of the set, as in @dbhunia's example. Or, to do things to everything collectively via the Properties palette as in your original description, his (sssetfirst nil sel1) would leave them all selected/highlighted/gripped for that.
For certain operations, you can just feed the variable name in where any command asks for object selection, e.g. if you want them all given a color override of yellow:
(command "_.chprop" sel1 "" "_color" 2 "")
@jeguizaASRZM wrote:
....
@Kent1Cooper Thank You for the example of using the selection set for future operations as well as the routine!
....
Just so you aren't misled....
The parentheses at the end of the first line of code in the code windows in Messages 2, 4 & 6 all list the sel1 variable name after the forward-slash, which means it is a "localized variable," which means it "exists" only within and for the purposes of the routine, and will not "survive" beyond the conclusion of the routine. If you want to be able to use the same selection set for "future operations" after the routine is done, remove the variable name from that localized-variables list, and it will still exist afterwards.
@jeguizaASRZM wrote:
So for future operations is selection set a stored variable? If so, Where can I find this selection sets? and how can AutoCAD bring back that selection set for modification. ....
Any saved variable that was not localized is still around until you close the drawing [or set it to nil, e.g. (setq sel1 nil)]. You can use it directly by its name within AutoLisp expressions, such as the (command) function at the end of Message 7. Or outside AutoLisp, you can use it by typing in its name preceded by an exclamation point. For example, if you don't localize the sel1 variable, and after your routine you then want to, let's say, Move the same set of things, you can start a MOVE command, and when it asks for object selection, type in:
!sel1
and it will add all of those things to the selection for the command. [You will still be able to select more things, or use other object-selection options such as to remove some, etc., so if you want only those, you'll still need to follow that with yet another Enter to complete the selection.]
For variables containing things other than selection sets [for example, text strings or numbers], you can have a report of what they contain by just typing the same exclamation-point-plus-variable name with no command active. If you do that for the example sel1 variable name, you'll see that same:
<Selection set: 22cs>
reported, which doesn't tell you much about it, but at least identifies the variable as containing a selection set.
