What does it mean by "contents not shown" in the properties of activeX object?

[Anonymous]

Hi, dears. I use the following script to research a welding symbol, which is a AMWELDSYM Mechanical object.

(defun c:cs( / en vlen bomitemlist );Find the methods and property of an vla object
   (setq en (car (entsel)))
   (vl-load-com)
   (setq vlen (vlax-ename->vla-object en))
   (vlax-dump-object vlen)
  )

The result is:

; Property values:
;   AngleValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   Application (RO) = #<VLA-OBJECT IAcadApplication 000000013f7ac910>
;   AreaType = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   AssociationType = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   BackingValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   Brazing = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   BrazingValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   ClearanceValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   ClosedTail = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   ContourType = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   ContourValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   ControlCategoryValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   CoordinateSystem = multi dimension safearray not supported
;   DepthValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   DesignationValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   Document (RO) = #<VLA-OBJECT IAcadDocument 000000002d5734e8>
;   EntityTransparency = "ByLayer"
;   FieldWeld = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   FinishingValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   GapValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   Handle (RO) = "2B1F"
;   HasExtensionDictionary (RO) = 0
;   Hyperlinks (RO) = #<VLA-OBJECT IAcadHyperlinks 000000004f8823d8>
;   IdentificationLine = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   IndexTotalValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   IndexValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   IsAttached (RO) = 0
;   Layer = "AM_5"
;   LeaderArrowType = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   LeaderColor = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   LeaderCount (RO) = 1
;   LeaderLanding = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   LeaderLineType = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   LengthValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   Linetype = "ByLayer"
;   LinetypeScale = 1.0
;   Lineweight = -1
;   Material = "ByLayer"
;   NotesValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   NumberValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   ObjectID (RO) = 15048
;   ObjectID32 (RO) = 15048
;   ObjectName (RO) = "AcmWelding"
;   Orientation = 1
;   Origin = (3278.98 3369.86 0.0)
;   OwnerID (RO) = 15049
;   OwnerID32 (RO) = 15049
;   PitchValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   PlotStyleName = "ByLayer"
;   Scale = 15.0
;   SecondarySymType = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   SecondarySymTypeValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   Size2Value = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   SizeType = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   SizeTypeValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   SizeValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   SpacingValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   SpecificationValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   Standard = #<VLA-OBJECT IMcadStandard4 000000002fe36458>
;   StandardValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   SubWeldingCount (RO) = 1
;   SymbolStandard = #<VLA-OBJECT IMcadWeldingStandard2 000000002fe367b8>
;   TechnicalReqValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   ThicknessValue = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   TrueColor = #<VLA-OBJECT IAcadAcCmColor 000000004f882970>
;   Type = ...Indexed contents not shown...
;   Visible = -1

I find the NotesValue ”= ...Indexed contents not shown...“， does it mean I can't access the NotesValue property by activeX methods. How can I possibly get the property?

[doaiena · Accepted solution]

I'm not sure if it's a similar case, but "LWPolyline" has a property "Coordinate",  which gives the coordinates of a given vertex. When dumping a LWPolyline i get this: 

....

;   Coordinate = ...Indexed contents not shown...

...

The Coordinate property requires a zero based index, that specifies the vertex. So i suppose that the Coordinate property is a list that can be very long / depending on the pline vertex count / and that is why it is not shown when dumping the object.

You can still get the property if you specify a vertex:
(vlax-get-property obj 'coordinate 0)

I've never used AutoCad Mechanical so i don't have any experience with those objects, but if the "NotesValue" property is a list you could try:

(vlax-get-property obj 'NotesValue 0)

This will give you the first note / asuming you can have multiple notes /, or you could just try (vlax-get-property obj 'NotesValue) and see if it gives you an error and we'll go from there.

[john.uhden]

@doaiena described it very well.

Simply put, when the list of data is excessive, vlax-dump-object abbreviates the data report.

At least you can see the name of the property and retrieve the data yourself to inspect it.  It's my guess that most of us here learned to deal with certain properties by doing just that.

F'rinstance, it's a little shocking to see the list of coordinates as a flat list.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your answer. And @john.uhden, thank you too.

I tried (vlax-get-property obj 'NotesValue 0 0 0) and it works.