Topic: Getting block name to string

[Dommy2Hotty]

Continuing from THIS thread.

I'm using the following code from a shortcut menu to get the selected entity's info.

Code: [Select]

^C^C(setq ent (entget (ssname (nth 1 (ssgetfirst)) 0)))

((-1 . <Entity
name: 7e7a68e0>) (0 . "INSERT") (330 . <Entity name: 7e7a66b8>) (5 . "1374")
(100 . "AcDbEntity") (67 . 1) (410 . "24x36") (8 . "0") (100 .
"AcDbBlockReference") (66 . 1) (2 . "Titleblock-Sheet_Info-24x36") (10 0.0 0.0
0.0) (41 . 1.0) (42 . 1.0) (43 . 1.0) (50 . 0.0) (70 . 0) (71 . 0) (44 . 0.0)
(45 . 0.0) (210 0.0 0.0 1.0))

Then, I set the block name to 'bname'

Code: [Select]

Command: (setq bname (assoc 2 ent))
(2 . "Titleblock-Sheet_Info-24x36")
Then, I want to strip the (2 . "  and the ") from the block name, BUT, I get the following error because I'm guessing 'bname' isn't a string:

Code: [Select]

Command: (setq bname (subst 5 (strlen bname) bname))
; error: bad argument type: stringp (2 . "Titleblock-Sheet_Info-24x36")
Any help?

[ronjonp]

Try:

(setq bname (cdr (assoc 2 ent)))

[Dommy2Hotty]

Try:

(setq bname (cdr (assoc 2 ent)))

I do believe that will do the trick!  Simple, effective, to the point...me like!

Thank you!!!

[ronjonp]

You're welcome

[deegeecees]

I think you need an assoc in there...

Beat to the punch again. 

[Dommy2Hotty]

I think you need an assoc in there...

Beat to the punch again. 

I missed the cdr, BUT, I do need more assistance:

Can I strip the block name from the first character to the first - ?

Code: [Select]

(setq bname (cdr (assoc 2 ent)))
"Titleblock-Sheet_Info-24x36"

(setq btype (substr 1 "TO FIRST HYPHEN" bname)
"Titleblock"

[deegeecees]

'wcmatch' will do that for you if you have constant titleblock names. Combine that with a 'cond' statement for multiples. Wait, I may be barking up the wrong tree. It's been a while so I may get beat again here...

[ronjonp]

Something like this? (substr "Titleblock-Sheet_Info-24x36" 12)

[T.Willey]

wcmatch will tell you if a pattern is in a string, only T or nil.  If you want to find the position use 'vl-string-search'.  This will tell you the position of the string within the string, note that this starts at 0 where substr starts at one.

[Dommy2Hotty]

Little background:

Block names here are in the following format:

Titleblock-Sheet_Info-24x36

Titleblock = Block Type / Sub-Folder in blocks directory on server
Sheet_Info = Block Description
24x36 = Size

Another example:
Site-Handicap_Ramp.dwg

Site = Block Type / Sub-Folder in blocks directory on server
Handicap_Ramp = Block Description

[Dommy2Hotty]

I'm using all of this to be a dynamic block update:

Select block, right click, select "Update Block..." from shortcut menu.

Code will determine the block name, block type (used for setting the path), then insert the block from the server, cancel the insert, and update the attributes:

-insert
Titleblock-Sheet_Info-24x36=Z:/Main/Blocks/Titleblock/Titleblock-Sheet_Info-24x36.dwg
(command)
attsync
name
bname

[Dommy2Hotty]

Got it!!!  Thank you so much everyone...final code to follow in a little bit!

Code: [Select]

Command: (setq bname (cdr (assoc 2 ent)))
"Titleblock-Sheet_Info-24x36"

Command: (vl-string-search "-" bname)
10

Command: (setq btypepos (vl-string-search "-" bname))
10

Command: (setq bname (substr bname 1 btypepos))
"Titleblock"

[Dommy2Hotty]

Dirty code so far, but does exactly what I want it to!  Thanks again!!!

Code: [Select]

(setq ent (entget (ssname (nth 1 (ssgetfirst)) 0)))
(setq bpath "Z:/Main/Blocks/")
(setq blockname (cdr (assoc 2 ent)))
(setq btypepos (vl-string-search "-" blockname))
(setq bname (substr blockname 1 btypepos))
(setq bname (strcat blockname "=" bpath bname "/" blockname ".dwg"))
(command "-insert" bname)
(command)
(command "attsync" "name" blockname)

[Dommy2Hotty]

Pretty much the final code:

Invoked from right click context menu:

Code: [Select]

^C^C(setq ent (entget (ssname (nth 1 (ssgetfirst)) 0)));(load "Z:/Main/AutoLISP/Block-Update_From_Server.lsp");Block-Update_From_Server;
LISP:

Code: [Select]

(defun C:Block-Update_From_Server (/ blockname btypepos bname)

  (setq bpath "Z:/Main/Blocks/"
blockname (cdr (assoc 2 ent))
btypepos (vl-string-search "-" blockname)
bname (substr blockname 1 btypepos)
bname (strcat blockname "=" bpath bname "/" blockname ".dwg")
);setq

  (command "-insert" bname); insert block from server
  (command); end insert before insertion
  (command "attsync" "name" blockname); update attributes

  );defun