You can create the script file by using a text editor, such as Notepad. For early practice with script files, type each command on its own line. A blank space is equivalent to pressing Enter. End each line by pressing Enter, without extra blank spaces. If you need two returns, one after another, at the end of a line, use a blank line for the second return. Every space is meaningful; getting those spaces and blank lines right is probably the hardest part of creating a script file. One technique is to start your script files in a word-processing program that can display nonprinting characters (blank spaces and returns). You can either save the script file in text format or copy it into Notepad. Some tips to help you create successful script files with the least aggravation are as follows:

Remember, you can open Notepad from within AutoCAD by typing Notepad at the command line. At the File to edit: prompt, press Enter to open a new file. (In AutoCAD LT, you need to start Notepad from Windows.)

Another option is to write down what you type at the command line. As you write, use an underscore to represent each space. It's very hard to remember that you left three spaces between two words unless you see three underscores. Of course, when you create the script file, you must use spaces, not underscores.

As soon as you complete the script file, save it with any name that is meaningful to you, plus an extension of .scr.

Here's an example of a script file that draws a series of circles:

circle 2,2 1.5
circle 6,2 1.5
circle 10,2 1.5
circle 14,2 1.5

This script file starts the CIRCLE command, specifies a center point, and specifies a radius, four times. The results are shown in Figure 30.1.

Figure 30.1. Running a script file created this drawing.

You can run a script file from within a drawing. Use this technique when you want the script to apply only to that drawing. However, you can also start a script within a drawing, and then close the drawing and continue on to open and run the same script in other drawings.

You can also run a script file when loading AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT. You would do this when you want the script file to apply to more than one drawing. For example, you could use script files in the following situations when:

Running a script when starting AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT

To run a script when starting AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, change the target expression that Windows uses to start AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT. The easiest way to do this is to use the shortcut to AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT on your desktop and modify the target there. Right-click the AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT shortcut and choose Properties. Click the Shortcut tab.

The Target text box displays the command expression that Windows uses to start AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT. Don't make any change to the current expression — just add to it. If you're using AutoCAD LT, substitute acadlt.exe for acad.exe and your AutoCAD LT program location in the following examples. The format for starting a script file is:

drive:pathacad.exe drive:pathdrawingname.dwg /b script_file

For example, if your current target reads C:Program FilesAutoCAD 2010acad.exe and you want to open a drawing named ba-349.dwg in c:drawings and run a script file named pre-plot.scr, your target should read:

″C:Program FilesAutoCAD 2010acad.exe″ c:drawingsa-349.dwg /b pre-plot

You don't need to add the .scr extension after the script filename. If you have long file and folder names that contain spaces, you must enclose them in quotation marks, both in the target and in the actual script file. You need to include the full path of the drawing. If the script file is not in the support-file search path, include the entire path. For example:

″C:Program FilesAutoCAD 2010acad.exe″ ″c:aecdrcDobbs Ferry Apts.dwg″ /b c:aecdrccleanup

If you want to start a new drawing, you might want to specify a template. In the preceding format, replace the drawing filename with:

/t template_name

Note

In Appendix A, I explain more about changing the target expression to open AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT the way you want.

When you've finished typing your additions in the Target text box, click OK. Now, when you start AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, the drawing or template opens, and the script starts.

From within a script file, you can open (and close) other drawings. In this way, you can run a script file on as many drawings as you want. Figure 30.2 shows a script file, multi-cleanup.scr, that you could use when loading AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT. The target is set to Apt 1A.dwg.

Figure 30.2. A script file that cleans up three drawings.

Note

Use the CLOSE command to close each drawing after your script file has finished working on it. If you don't, you may end up with 100 drawings open at once, and probably a major computer crash as well!

Here's how multi-cleanup.scr works:

1. The CHPROP command selects all objects and sets their color to BYLAYER.

2. The -LAYER command freezes the layer named no-plot.

3. The script file saves the drawing.

4. The script file closes the drawing and opens the next drawing.

5. This process is repeated until the last drawing is edited and saved. The last drawing is left open.

Tip

It's helpful to leave the last drawing open so that when you return to see the results, you can see that the last drawing has been properly edited. You then feel pretty sure that all the previous drawings were similarly edited.

Notice the quotation marks around the filenames in the script file. These are necessary because the drawing filenames include spaces.

In the following exercise, you practice creating and using a script file similar to the multi-cleanup script file used in the previous example, but for only one drawing.

Note

The drawing used in the following exercise on creating and using a script file, ab30-a.dwg, is in the Drawings folder on the DVD.

STEPS: Creating and Using a Script File

1. Open ab30-a.dwg from the DVD.

2. Save the file as ab30-01.dwg in your AutoCAD Bible folder.

3. In Windows XP, choose Start

   

4. Type the following, replacing the underscores with spaces. Note that there should be two spaces between all and c. Press Enter after the qsave line.

   chprop_all__c_bylayer
   
   -layer_f_no-plot
   
   qsave

5. Save the file as cleanup.scr in your AutoCAD Bible folder. Close Notepad. The script file changes the color property of all objects to ByLayer and freezes the no-plot layer. Notice that the drawing has some text that has been set to a blue color (maybe to make it more readable). The titleblock is on the no-plot layer.

6. 

7. In the Select Script File dialog box, find cleanup.scr in your AutoCAD Bible folder and click Open. The script runs, changing the text's color to ByLayer (green) and freezing the no-plot layer. It also saves the drawing.

   If the script file doesn't work, press F2 to open the AutoCAD Text Window and see where the file got hung up. This will help you see where to correct the script file. Re-open it and make the correction. Save the file, close it, and try again.

8. Save your drawing.

In order to get the most out of the Action Recorder, you need to plan in advance, and experiment. You may want to run through the actions first, before recording. Often, using the command-line form of a command is the best plan, just as it is for scripts. Here are the steps for recording an action macro:

The Action Tree window appears beneath the Action Recorder panel, showing the exact sequence of commands in the macro, as shown in Figure 30.3.

Note

Macros are saved with an ACTM filename extension in the SupportActions folder of your AutoCAD installation. To find the exact location on your system, choose Application Button

When you have completed recording and naming your macro, you can add prompts for user input or user messages. For example, if you drew a circle, the macro recorded the specified center point and radius, but you could add a user prompt for the center so that you could use the macro to create the circle anywhere. To add a prompt for user input, right-click the item in the macro that you want to replace, and choose Pause for User Input. In the example of drawing a circle, you would right-click the item showing the center point of the circle.

Figure 30.3. The Action Tree window shows you the contents of the macro.

You can add a user message to provide an explanation of the actions in a macro at any point. To add a user message, right-click the item of the macro at the point where you want the message to appear, and choose Insert User Message. You then enter the message you want displayed in the Insert User Message dialog box.

You can rename a macro by right-clicking its name in the Action Tree window and choosing Rename. To delete a macro, right-click the macro's name, and choose Delete.

Note

You can also edit or delete any item of the macro. To edit the item, right-click it, and choose Edit. You can then change its value. To delete the item, right-click it and choose Delete. If an item is necessary for the command, then you can't delete it. For example, you can't delete the item that sets the radius of a circle, because a circle needs a radius.

To use the macro, choose Manage tab

Creating a slide is like capturing a screen shot of your drawing. AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT makes a simplified vector file from the current viewport in model space, or from all viewports in paper space layouts. You can create a slide of a wireframe or hidden display. However, you cannot make a slide of a shaded or rendered display.

To create a slide, follow these steps:

After you have created your slides, you will want to look at them! To view a slide, follow these steps:

Do a Redraw to return to your drawing. You cannot draw in or edit a slide.

STEPS: Creating and Viewing Slides

You can create a script file that displays slides one after another, resulting in a slide show. You can use two special script file commands for this purpose:

The VSLIDE command, which displays a slide, can also be used to preload the next slide into memory. You use this command to preload a slide while viewers are looking at the previous slide. This reduces the waiting time between slides. To use this feature, put an asterisk (*) before the filename in the VSLIDE command. The next VSLIDE command detects that a slide has been preloaded and displays it without asking for the slide name. Here's how it works:

1 vslide ab30-02a
2 vslide *ab30-02b
3 delay 3000
4 vslide
5 vslide *ab30-02c
6 delay 3000
7 vslide
8 rscript

This script file does the following:

STEPS: Creating a Slide Show