Topic: AutoCAD 'ScreenUpdate' = false ?

[Bert]

Hello guys,

I was wondering;

Is it possible to run AutoCAD in the background ? I'd do this to increase performance, AutoCAD would not have to update/regen to screen for me.

In a nutshell: After a drawing has been made by the designer (manual process) there is the option to create what I call a productionsheet.
Its a document, printed on A3 or A4 format, that holds (amongst others) a Bill of material, barcodes, an overview of the product that needs making, references to CNC-prgorams to use etc ..
This document then goes to the workfloor.

These productionsheets are created based on a DWT, and saved (archived) as a dwg/dxf after printing them.

I know Excel allows the programmer to turn of a system var 'ScreenUpdating' wich allows you to disable all visualisation on screen, and thus do the work in the 'background'.
This increases performance considerably.

There is no need for the user to see the creation of these productionsheets, and i'm looking into how I could speed up this process.

Any help/tips/suggestions are welcome !
Cheers,
Bert

[WILL HATCH]

yes, you can do this work in a side database and avoid involving the editor.  Other than that you can play with core console (not highly recommended).  I'd avoid the VBA approach as (personal preference) any speed you gain from working silently in the background you lose to interop.

[Bert]

yes, you can do this work in a side database and avoid involving the editor.

Thanks Will !

I've written a snippet to check if I got it right, to see if this is what you ment :

Code - vb.net: [Select]

1.     Private Sub productionSheetsInSideDb(_templateFileName As String, _destinationFileName As String)
2.  
3.         Dim acSideDb As New Database(False, True)
4.         ' Read the DWG (DWT?) into a side database
5.         acSideDb.ReadDwgFile(_templateFileName, System.IO.FileShare.Read, True, "")
6.  
7.         Using acTrans As Transaction = acSideDb.TransactionManager.StartTransaction()
8.             ' Get the Block table for the side database
9.             Dim acBlockTbl As BlockTable = acTrans.GetObject(acSideDb.BlockTableId, OpenMode.ForRead)
10.             ' ModelSpace
11.             Dim acmodelBlockTbl As BlockTableRecord = DirectCast(acTrans.GetObject(acBlockTbl(BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace), OpenMode.ForWrite), BlockTableRecord)
12.  
13.             '... more code here
14.  
15.         End Using
16.  
17.         acSideDb.SaveAs(_destinationFileName, DwgVersion.Current)
18.  
19.     End Sub

I'm worried about "acSideDb.ReadDwgFile", as I actually want to start from a DWT-template, and when I'm done save my document in an archive under another name ?
(worst case is that i just save my DWT to DWG and use the DWG  as a 'template' ?)

[MexicanCustard]

In your code _temlateFileName can be a ".dwt" file.  Then just use a ".dwg" extension in your _destinationFileName.

[Bert]

cool cool ..

Now just one thing left would be plotting the destination dwg without opening it ? (opening to plot would defeat the purpose..)
I've seen code examples for plotting to a file, but I need to plot via pc3 -> to device ?

[WILL HATCH]

I've never done any plotting before, check out http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interface/2007/09/driving-a-basic.html

It seems you may need to do this with a document open which could be undesirable.  If that is the case I'd suggest looking into core console for the plot http://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interface/2012/02/the-autocad-2013-core-console.html

[Bert]

The Core-console sounds mighty fine, but I don't have that available as we are currently (still) running AutoCAD2009.

I've read the first article before, just adapted it to plot to device instead of a file. Have indeed not yet got around to plot a document without it beeing open/active ..