| Author | Message | ||
     Jeff_hayden Username: Jeff_hayden Registered: 09-2006 Posted From: 216.62.125.199 |
Did I mention locking toolbars? | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 64.58.0.10 |
SUBJECT: ACAD TRANSLATION AND LINE STYLE (TYPE) It would be nice to be able to map line styles coming in from ACAD to a certain number location in Cadvance’s line style arrangement setup. As it stands now, when translate a drawing out to ACAD, and translate that very same drawing back into Cadvance, the line styles are shuffled into a different arrangement. If you then apply your *.ini file, the drawing gets totally screwed up. You then have to “edit properties” of the objects to get them back to the way they were, prior to translating (if symbols are involved, it even gets worse). We need 2 things: (1) Cadvance should know or recognize it’s own line styles (as listed from the INI file) when they come back from ACAD and put them in the correct number location. (2) The ability to map ACAD line styles to certain NUMBER LOCATION under the OPTIONS / LINE STYLE setup command. | ||
| Alexander Medwedew Username: Alexander_medwedew Registered: 10-2006 Posted From: 4.237.182.108 |
The multi text issue could easily be fixed using a multiline text widget which would edit the entire block of text. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 64.58.0.10 |
Do you think that after all these years of asking for it, we could finally have it….. A 45 degree cursor. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
SUBJECT: COMMAND = DRAW / TEXT When placing multiple strings of text, more than just the first string’s “extents box” should display. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
SUBJECT: PASTING TO CLIPBOARD It would be nice if we could pick a base or insertion point for the items being pasted to the clipboard. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
SUBJECT: QUERY OBJECT QUERY OBJECT dialog box – The info in this box should be selectable for pasting (pastable) to clipboard. In the case of symbol names, you should be able load the symbol from the box and clipboard the name. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
SUBJECT: REFERENCE FILES Reference drawing dialog box – This box should be made bigger to display more layers. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
SUBJECT: REFERENCE FILES Reference drawing dialog box – The reference file names should stay visible at the left in the dialog box, even when you scroll to the right through the layer setup. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
SUBJECT: REFERENCE FILES The layer files (names and colors) for reference drawings should be totally independent of the active drawing. This would give us the ability to have better control of the reference drawing as to how it appears in relationship to the active drawing. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
SUBJECT: REFERENCE FILES Reference drawing dialog box – The layer names should be displayed above the layer NO. Rotated 90 deg. vertical. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
SUBJECT: REFERENCE FILES Reference drawing dialog box - Add a button next to the reference file name (to the left of the name) that gives us the ability to load the reference drawing for editing. | ||
| Jeff_hayden Username: Jeff_hayden Registered: 09-2006 Posted From: 216.62.125.199 |
I love Robert's ideas! Especially the dynamic text and the crossing window selection. Add to that list... the ability to lock toolbars so they don't accidentally get dragged out of place the ability to rotate print windows at any angle ability to turn off drawing angle dependent moving and copying fix mirrored arc translating- arcs mirrored in AutoCAD (like door symbols) flip back to their original posisition when translated to Cadvance the ability to lock toolbars so they don't accidentally get dragged out of place the ability to save layer setups in the reference setup window. an option to open a drawing as read only from the dialog box that tells me the drawing is in use. "Access Denied...Would you like to open this drawing as Read-Only?" the ability to lock toolbars so they don't accidentally get dragged out of place the ability to adjust the widths of columns in the reference setup window and the layer setup window and have them stay that way the ability to have lines from a reference file draw on top of autofills in the live drawing the ability to lock toolbars so they don't accidentally get dragged out of place ability to see more than three font names at a time in the True Text dialog box ability to save printer settings for different types of printing the ability to lock toolbars so they don't accidentally get dragged out of place | ||
| Admin F I T Username: Furukawa Registered: 08-2006 Posted From: 75.37.149.10 |
Robert, Thank you for your inputs, which we are reviewing for the next release V13 development. Regards, T. Furukawa | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
A dynamic draw text feature so that the text shows up on drawing as you type the note. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
The ability to translate Autocad leader type objects without loosing the arrowheads. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 64.58.0.10 |
Object sellection via a Crossing Window like AutoCAD. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 64.58.0.10 |
Provide a visually dynamic object rotation with a rubber banding cursor. Also have it tied to the “drawing line angle” like the copy and move commands. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 64.58.0.10 |
It would be nice to draw rectangles with rounded corners. User specified radius sizes. | ||
| Paul Plak Username: Paul_plak Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 81.242.170.97 |
I have used KIND without trouble to identify linesets going from A to B, or C to H (any letter combination) to track traffic flows into a crossroad, and make them thicker with a calibrated lineweight value. The values I need all fit inside the 32000 range. Only problem that can occur is that when you manualy edit a ligne or arc that's part of the lineset, the KIND value is lost. So I must draw/edit all lines first, then set KIND values, and then use the data entry macro to calculate and set lineweights. It's still much faster than set lineweight manually, because a crossroad diagram can be used many times, some diagrams are 10 years old by now and still used several times a year. | ||
| Admin F I T Username: Furukawa Registered: 08-2006 Posted From: 68.164.61.94 |
Alex, Thank you for your insight. We will check the 3 functions so that we may come up with something better than current macro editor. Joe, In CADVANCE, non-displayed text string will be used only on a layer which is a non-display layer. Or define the text size the smalled, 0-3/4000, which cannot be seen on the screen as you mentioned, but a menu Utility/Search finds it. Each object doesn’t have display/non-display graphic attribute in CADVANCE. To add such attribute was also one of my plans when KIND was introduced, but not made yet. | ||
| Alexander Medwedew Username: Alexander_medwedew Registered: 10-2006 Posted From: 4.237.44.233 |
The macro editor could be replaced by a third party program. It would need to replace the Cv_macro.dll file with a more advanced application. FIT would need to provide details for interfacing with Cadvance. Using dependency walker I can see three function calls that are required but I don't know what parameters are needed to make them work with Cadvance. The functions are: create_edit_window open_editfile save_editfile There may also be other hooks into Cadvance not publicly exposed. The rest would be in the hands of the editor application. | ||
| Joe_calvin Username: Joe_calvin Registered: 09-2006 Posted From: 24.178.25.110 |
Thanks again Takashi, One thing you described in your last post that intrigues me is the possibility of "non-displayed text strings." I've used very tiny text strings hidden under another drawn object within macro-created groups. Like you, I used these strings to store bits of data that a macro would be able to read for purposes of regenerating or interacting with the group. They're not as bad now as in the days of pen plotters when a pen would piston up and down on a single point for 15 seconds. But in any case, I'd be interested to now how to make completely invisible text. Is this a secret you can share? Thanks. | ||
| Alexander Medwedew Username: Alexander_medwedew Registered: 10-2006 Posted From: 4.237.44.233 |
The use of the KIND attribute can have some pitfalls. It cannot be relied upon as a secure place to store data. It can be changed by anyone using the CdiObjKind function. Ownership of this attribute is not guaranteed. Multiple applications that write to this attribute could be destroying the data created by another where the same object is shared. FIT uses it to service some of its applications. The line texture application that Joe has created would probably be unlikely to share objects with FIT's space management application storing departmental or tenant boundaries with ID's stored in the KIND attribute. I too was looking to use KIND to store key values for linking data to an external database. The maximum value that can be stored in it is limited to short integers under 32000. I saw the potential conflicts and limitations which led me to use the CdiSetAppData and CdiGetAppData functions to store information related to an object. These AppData functions can store any type of data text based or binary. The functions allow naming the objects using a key name that is 12 characters long. A key could be in the form of the uniqueid of an object with an extension(ie 10000000.dat). The extension would identify the type of data stored and possible ownership rights. Using a structure similar to an ini file multiple attributes could be stored. The only thing missing in Cadvance is a method to list keys created for these packets of AppData. If you loose the key there is no way to retrieve the data. Not knowing the key, data would become inaccessible for deletion and would permanently remain attached to the drawing file. The key list could also be stored in AppData as a work around and accessed using the AppData functions. There are many uses for AppData objects. The link http://visual-engineering.com/cviAttr.html describes an application that uses the AppData functions to store attribute data inside a drawing without the use of an external database. The technical overview shows data structures used to store values. | ||
| Admin F I T Username: Furukawa Registered: 08-2006 Posted From: 68.164.62.243 |
Joe, KIND has no limitation, but I would recommend the range you use, i.e., assign KIND for particular use in your tools/macros/applications which will make your program maintenance easier. One typical example I used KIND in Prisma application was that due to very slow access to database module at that time I attached KIND to non-displayed text strings which were part of group with symbols and the symbols had also KIND. To generate reports, symbols were searched, for example for a particular parts list, and the non-displayed text strings that were part #, Manufacture, date of purchase, date of installation, etc. were searched and made up the reports. I’d like to share a little bit of inside story about KIND a little bit. KIND in my mind when I added to CADVANCE was to make the search function easier and faster for applications and distinguish application oriented CADVANCE objects from other graphical objects. Also another consideration was “Layer vs Kind. In CADVANCE programming, it is not easy to expand Layers, which requires drastic internal VWF format changes. To use Kind was considered to compensate the limited range of Layers if we add such features in CADVANCE which was my another plan but not completed at all. In CADVANCE object format there was an unused 8-bit area which could be used for KIND so that with/without KIND information we could keep the VWF format as it was. In your case, you use KIND to add more features in macro operations and I agree with you in terms of using KIND for such a particular use. If we develop an application using KIND, we will define the range of KINDs and open such information as pre-defined/used. So, it should be 100% application dependent and will not conflict with other functions. Takashi Furukawa | ||
| Joe_calvin Username: Joe_calvin Registered: 09-2006 Posted From: 8.7.87.222 |
Thanks for your response Takashi. Regarding KIND, I've been a little concerned about using it myself, wondering if I would accidentally be creating conflict with some of FIT's future applications. I have assumed that AETools (which my office doesn't have) makes use of KIND for tracking objects. In any case, I've gone ahead and used KIND quite a bit. Because the user does not have access to it, it is ideal for helping macros tag and identify objects. It's a great feature from a user/programming stand point. I take your posting to be somewhat of a non-specific warning about using KIND. I've tried to be organized, in my own fashion, when using it. I started with 1000 and have used (discontinuously) through 1520. Is there a particular range that FIT would recommend as being safe for CBL programmers? Or is there a specific range that you intend to reserve? If I'm in conflict, I'd like to start migrating to a safe range as soon as possible. Please advise. Thanks. | ||
| Admin F I T Username: Furukawa Registered: 08-2006 Posted From: 76.209.0.196 |
Joe, Thank you for your suggestions. We will study it to see if we can implement as you have suggested. Only one thing I can say at this moment is that the macro is 100% 3rd party software and we add links to each macro command. Cdi calls have some freedom for us to add/change/enhance. When we added KIND, I mentioned to my programmer to add CdiKind function (set kind, get kind), but at the time my decision was to wait till users start using it. Original consideration for KIND came from IGS500/Prisma for which I developed a huge (1-year 5-man project) application and used KIND for particular application objects and properties. The users were not allowed to modify KIND information using a standard edit function, of course, that the users knew well. It was my plan to use KIND for our new applications that have been pushed away for so many reasons. Now there is a request from a user, we will try to add CdiKind function to our next release V13. I know Macro editors are missing many "modern" editing features. However, at this moment, I cannot promise how many editing features we can add to improve it, although we will try our best to meet your requests. As always, we appreciate your postings, suggestions and contributions. Happy New Year! | ||
| Joe_calvin Username: Joe_calvin Registered: 09-2006 Posted From: 8.7.87.222 |
There are a lot improvements that can be made to the macro editor in Cadvance. The general consensus among CBL writers, if I recall correctly, is to use an external editor. I use one when I start out and also to look up command syntax and the like. However there is one major shortcoming of an external editor that can not be overcome. That is, the user can not compile and debug in an external editor, only in Cadvance itself. This forces us to use the internal editor quite a bit. As I started to say, there are a lot of improvements that FIT could make to the editor, keyword recognition, auto-indenting, and so on. However, there is one really simple feature that could be expanded on to make macro writing and editing much faster and easier. The GO TO button in the macro editor could be changed from a simple text edit field to a combo drop down menu.  The menu would display a list of functions, sub routines and labels that the user has created. Choosing one of these from the list would simply direct the editor to that line. This would be especially helpful in editing large macros that can be thousands of lines long.} | ||
| Joe_calvin Username: Joe_calvin Registered: 09-2006 Posted From: 8.7.87.222 |
I would like to request a new CBL command: integer=cdiSelectbyKind(osl,kind,include_flag[,criteria]) This command would work similar to the other cdiSelectBy commands adding or removing objects from the indicated OSL. Kind (as integer) would be the primary criteria for the selection. Other criteria could be optionally included via the cdiSetPropertyFilterInfo command. The benefit of this command would be faster and less code intense selection of objects by Kind. Faster than selecting all linesets for example and then checking the kind of each one by one. We often use kind to distinguish "custom objects" such as "linear materials" that are drawn by a macro from user-drawn objects of the same type. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
When the Cadvance command prompt returns to the default "Select object for editing" prompt, the snap mode should reset to OFF automatically. | ||
| Jeff_hayden Username: Jeff_hayden Registered: 09-2006 Posted From: 216.62.125.199 |
I wish my CADVSLM.DAT file would stop getting corrupt. | ||
| Alexander Medwedew Username: Alexander_medwedew Registered: 10-2006 Posted From: 4.236.240.42 |
SHX fonts should be native to Cadvance, therefore no compatibility issues. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
The ability to convert AutoCAD shx font files into Cadvance fnt files. This should be done in such a manor so that the text string lengths stay the same no matter how much back and forth translating occurs. | ||
| Robert Staskiewicz Username: Robert_staskiewicz Registered: 11-2006 Posted From: 207.200.116.71 |
The ability to bulk translate Cadvance symbols out AutoCAD dwg blocks. |