attaching properties to objects?

[argo2d]

I am using autocad right now to do some drawings for a nuclear chamber design. They want to use the geometrical description in matlab through a dfx parser but they also want to know if I can attach properties like energy density etc. to geometrical shapes so that the parser can obtain all the info it needs from the dfx file without having to use matlab to get the user to input it separately. Can autocad do this? Can any cad program do this?

Thanks!

[CarLB]

Yes AutoCAD allows the attachment of data to objects. A common way is with "extended entity data". A good description can be found at www.afralisp.com,

[bob.at]

... and a sample how to do it with Lisp can be found in the express tools

[argo2d]

thanks guys! this is great news -- saves me from having to learn FORTRAN!
i cant seem to find the 'express tools' sample though! is it on that site link somewhere?

also, would it be easier to use proE for this? because i'm meant to also find out which cad software would be most suitable for this research project!

[csiarch]

Lordy! Are they still using Fortran somewhere? My only touch with this language was in 1980 running on a mini-mainframe with 128kb of RAM!
(Yes, I said 128KB)

Whew!

[bob.at]

Trudie,

you should find them in your AutoCAD program directory, i. g. c:\programme\AutoCAD 2004\Express. Take a look at xdata.lsp and xlist.lsp.
For programming AutoCAD there are three ways: lisp (see example above) - c/c++ (here i can give you some starting tipps if neccessary) - vba (for that you must do it without mine).


csiarch,
if you want i can show you two or three people using fortran today :o . I was using it until 1996 because the university institute i worked at had a subscription for a fortran compiler and no money to cross to c. :wink:[/list]

[argo2d]

if you want i can show you two or three people using fortran today :o . I was using it until 1996 because the university institute i worked at had a subscription for a fortran compiler and no money to cross to c. :wink:[/list]

sounds like my situation!! they have so much stuff written in fortran that they dont want to spend time rewriting it all so now i have to find parsers etc! Ok i'm a real beginner with CAD, we're actually trying to use it to replace the geometry described by fortran code so that it can be read by a matlab GUI but its the first time there's been any attempt to introduce CAD so i'm really not familiar with what exactly autolisp is! is it hard to learn? i know matlab and a little java but thats about it! will it take long to learn and pick up lisp? is there any site that helps out with tutorials like 'lisp-for-dummies'? :)

oh sorry i have to ask this again, anyone know if pro E would be easier? they keep asking me this and i dont know how to respond!

thanks again all!

[architech]

There's a LISP tutorial here. :)
See this link.

http://www.autocadeverything.com/phpBB/ftopic168.php

Hope that helps. :P
And I hope "Bob" & "CarlB" help, too.

-------------------------------------------------------

As for Pro-E, it might be :?: ... better ...
I believe there's an "ADD-ON" module called "Data Doctor" ... or something like that .... :?: .... that would be the properties link to ProE ....

By the way, "Pro E" with all it's modules is listed around $16,000.00
http://www.proesales.com/pdf/MoldshopCompleteDesign.pdf


Unfortunately this isn't a "Pro E" forum .... sorry Trudie. :oops:

[Azadhel]

You guys are really Hardcore in all CAD matters. Matlab? GUI? Pro E? Fortran? I feel young and unexperienced... no, wait! I feel you are old and wise (of course, in a good, non-rusty, still-usefull, not-worn-out kinda way).

[argo2d]

lol! i'ma novice too! i just had to take some classes that needed them so i know the basic stuff -- nothing 'hardcore'!

[csiarch]

Bob.at: No thanks. It's just that It's been so long since to have heard the term mentioned. Fortran was good for crunching numbers, whihc was all it was really supposed to be used for,

[bob.at]

ACK, and in the end (of my participation at the univ. institut) we used some c librarys for userinput/output wich were linked together with the fortran part making the numeric calculations.
- Why do it simple when there is a more difficult way 8) -

[csiarch]

Egos notwithstanding, some people are compelled to write the code just to prove it can be done...and they are the ones that did it!

[Azadhel]

Some people are compelled to write anything, just to prove it can be done... hence this unusually large post thread. Did you know that AutoCAD is the program they design at NASA with? ... I heard it somewhere...

[csiarch]

I think the operative word here is "forum". Loosely translated, it implies discussion....thread length unspecified.