Hurricane Tutorials are now online!

Why "scripting", why not access AutoCAD through Active-X or VBA?

Hurricane was written with a couple of general ideas in mind...

For repetitive processes, scripting is simpler than VBA/ActiveX automation... here's why..

AutoDesk initially included scripting as a form of automation some years ago, so the concept is sound, and well supported through the different versions of AutoCAD.

Scripting seems to be the most stable form of automation that AutoCAD offers, as VBA and ActiveX rely on the specific version of AutoCAD it is implemented on.

Hurricane will work with ANY version of AutoCAD the supports "scripting", you don't need a special version of Huricane for each version of AutoCAD.

Because scripting doesn't "poke-around" in the innards of AutoCAD and it's memory model, there is very little chance of drawing/memory corruption taking place.

If you want to use VBA then you can easily call it from a script.

If you want to use a Lisp routine, then you CAN easily call it from a script. (See Can a script call a Lisp routine?

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If you want to access AutoCAD System Variables, then you can set them from a script.

With the above in mind, here is what we ensured:

Hurricane is to be totally non-intrusive to the users current AutoCAD setup. (Unlike other software) It shall not alter any of the users settings, or mess with any of the AutoCAD settings. Hurricane is to be "stand-alone".

Hurricane will not only be transparent to AutoCAD, but will not modify the users operating system in any way.

By keeping Hurricane script based, we keep Hurricane as simple as possible, and flexible to work with ANY version of AutoCAD the supports scripting (which is basically all of them, including LT).

Why is Hurricane the best scripting utility for AutoCAD?