| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
BrianDubya
New Member
USA
11 Posts |
 Posted - August 13 2005 : 5:37:12 PM
|
I am now very happy with the program and the quality of service is beyond belief. Please disregard the post below!!
I have (foolishly?) purchased Hurricane thru PayPal before I tried it out. I had limited success with one type of global edit (-attedit) I already had down pat. I was testing a known set of commands and the resulting script had to be massaged manually to get it to perform. I had it working but struggled to get the annotated version from Hurricane to perform as well as my home brewed one.
Then when I tried another different type function (the lisp routine CHT), which worked from the command line marvelously, CRASH. Every single time the routine hung up or bombed out. From the command line, I type "CHT" and hit enter, I follow the prompts, entering the appropriate single letter parameters and the attendant text. It works, but when I try the same thing from a script, all hell broke loose.
Following is the text from the AutoCAD Text Window I pasted into Hurricane:
Command: cht
Change text, Version 1.02, (c) 1990-1994 by Autodesk, Inc.
Select text to change.
Select objects: Specify opposite corner: 3 found
Select objects:
3 text entities found.
Height/Justification/Location/Rotation/Style/Text/Undo/Width: t
Search and replace text. Individually/Retype/<Globally>:r
Old text: 1501-71__
New text: 1501-7187
Old text: %%uSOLENOID VA. PANEL
New text: %%uSOLENOID VA. PANEL
Old text: %%U_-300 ____ BALLAST
New text: %%uS-300 STBD BALLAST
Height/Justification/Location/Rotation/Style/Text/Undo/Width:
Below is the resulting script from Hurricane:
;BEGIN SCRIPT
;Command: cht
CHT
;Select objects: Specify opposite corner: 3 found
< *** POINT(S) SELECTED WITH MOUSE *** >
;Select objects:
;Height/Justification/Location/Rotation/Style/Text/Undo/Width: t
T
;Old text: 1501-71__
1501-71__
;New text: 1501-7187
1501-7187
;Old text: %%uSOLENOID VA. PANEL
%%USOLENOID VA. PANEL
;New text: %%uSOLENOID VA. PANEL
%%USOLENOID VA. PANEL
;Old text: %%U_-300 ____ BALLAST
%%U_-300 ____ BALLAST
;New text: %%uS-300 STBD BALLAST
%%US-300 STBD BALLAST
;Height/Justification/Location/Rotation/Style/Text/Undo/Width:
;END SCRIPT
it completely blew off the line:
"Search and replace text. Individually/Retype/<Globally>:r"
and the script halted at the windowing prompt.
I also tried entering in the window coordinates as such:
Command: cht
Change text, Version 1.02, (c) 1990-1994 by Autodesk, Inc.
Select text to change.
Select objects: w
Specify first corner: 2.5,6.5
Specify opposite corner: 4.75,7.25
3 found
Select objects:
3 text entities found.
Height/Justification/Location/Rotation/Style/Text/Undo/Width: t
Search and replace text. Individually/Retype/<Globally>:r
Old text: 1501-71__
New text: 1501-7187
Old text: %%uSOLENOID VA. PANEL
New text: %%uSOLENOID VA. PANEL
Old text: %%U_-300 ____ BALLAST
New text: %%uS-300 STBD BALLAST
Height/Justification/Location/Rotation/Style/Text/Undo/Width:
which worked fine from the command line BUT
the resulting script from Hurricane placed my manually entered coordinates BEHIND the comment line and instead placed the (crash causing) windowing line (< *** POINT(S) SELECTED WITH MOUSE *** >) in its place. Which caused the crashes again.
;BEGIN SCRIPT
;Command: cht
CHT
;Select objects: w
W
;Specify first corner: 2.5,6.5
< *** POINT(S) SELECTED WITH MOUSE *** >
;Specify opposite corner: 4.75,7.25
< *** POINT(S) SELECTED WITH MOUSE *** >
;Select objects:
;Height/Justification/Location/Rotation/Style/Text/Undo/Width: t
T
;Old text: 1501-71__
1501-71__
;New text: 1501-7187
1501-7187
;Old text: %%uSOLENOID VA. PANEL
%%USOLENOID VA. PANEL
;New text: %%uSOLENOID VA. PANEL
%%USOLENOID VA. PANEL
;Old text: %%U_-300 ____ BALLAST
%%U_-300 ____ BALLAST
;New text: %%uS-300 STBD BALLAST
%%US-300 STBD BALLAST
;Height/Justification/Location/Rotation/Style/Text/Undo/Width:
;END SCRIPT
Now I have written many scripts (and lisp routines <gag>) in the past (distant past) so rather than go thru the steep learning curve again, I buy Hurricane instead. I am frustrated, tired and out $54. |
BDub |
|
|
Admin
Administrator
652 Posts |
Posted - August 13 2005 : 9:35:14 PM
|
Hi BrianDubya,
I thank you for your comments as some of the best observations are made from people who are absolutely new to Hurricane.
I think I see what you discovered. The line
< *** POINT(S) SELECTED WITH MOUSE *** >
should have had a ";" in front to make it a comment (I have updated the source code so this won't happen again). (NEW EXE Attached)
The Hurricane "Command Capture" function can only do so much, as it takes what is copied/pasted into it from the AutoCAD command window. Unfortunately coordinate information is not available to outside applications, so when cutting/pasting all Hurricane can see is that there WERE "Points selected with mouse", but can't see what the coordinates are.
Furthermore, the "Command Capture" function provides the user a fairly solid starting point, but MAY NEED massaging on scripts with many functions.
I've found the formatting inconsistencies in the CHTEXT.LSP file and corrected them. Here is the file...
Download Attachment:  chtext.zip
6.4 KB
Also, here is a Hurricane Update which puts a "remark" ";" at the beginning of the line, plus instruction to replace the line with actual coordinates.
Download Attachment: hurricane-6.5.8.zip
178.33 KB
Just extract this new EXE file into your Hurricane directory and update your shortcuts to run it instead of the old "hurricane.exe" file.
Although Hurricane is designed with a beginner in mind, the features quickly move into the "advanced" realm due to the flexibility of the software, so I can see your confusion how it actually works.
I recommend you start off with some simple scripts, and work your way on from there as you discover the various features of Hurricane, and how things work, and READ the forums as you work through more complicated scripts. There is no way to instantly learn anything, you MUST READ, and you must EXPERIMENT to learn.
I hope this helps you out, and I'm confident, very shortly you won't think you've wasted $54. Once you "play" a little with it, I'm sure you will get the hang of it.
Regards,
Bill |
Hurricane for AutoCAD
http://www.74mph.com
FAQ at
http://www.74mph.com/faq/faq.html
Tutorials at
http://www.74mph.com/tutorials.html |
 |
|
|
BrianDubya
New Member
USA
11 Posts |
Posted - August 14 2005 : 09:25:09 AM
|
Thanks for the prompt reply I do appreciate it. I did not expect a reply until next week.
quote:
Originally posted by Admin
Hi BrianDubya,
I thank you for your comments as some of the best observations are made from people who are absolutely new to Hurricane.
I think I see what you discovered. The line
< *** POINT(S) SELECTED WITH MOUSE *** >
should have had a ";" in front to make it a comment (I have updated the source code so this won't happen again).
(NEW EXE Attached)......
After the first "bombing run" selecting entities with the mouse, I realized that NO SCRIPT would be able to comprehend what (mouse)points were selected, hence my "manual" windowing with the "W" entry and the actual coordinate points MANUALLY ENTERED:
Select objects: W
Specify first corner: 2.5,6.5
Specify opposite corner: 4.75,7.25
this worked like a charm when I typed every keystroke in, but when I pasted the text into Hurricane, "BOOM" no luck as I noted.
I will be happy to work with you, I was just frustrated and tired. I had spent the day trying to get the program working, INSTEAD of working, now I am behind and in on a Sunday working for free.
quote:
I recommend you start off with some simple scripts, and work your way on from there as you discover the various features of Hurricane, and how things work, and READ the forums as you work through more complicated scripts. There is no way to instantly learn anything, you MUST READ, and you must EXPERIMENT to learn.
I hope this helps you out, and I'm confident, very shortly you won't think you've wasted $54. Once you "play" a little with it, I'm sure you will get the hang of it.
Regards,
Bill
Unfortunately I don't have time to start simply, but need to update some template drawings with both typical changes and changes unique to each drawing.
I was hoping the tags $TAG#$ feature would help me with my template drawing data entry, but it appears the tags are for up to 40 different text items to be entered into each drawing file. this would be helpfull sometimes.
What I really need is the ability to open a drawing, (from a list, database, etc) end have the script append the unique data, ie terminal numbers, wire colors, pair numbers, etc. into each one.
Back in the day, I would do a "dir" piping the drawing directory list into a *.txt file. Open it with "Edit", strip off the header & footer info and save. Then open my flatfile database (Reflex2, like a very smart spreadsheet) import the filenames into the first column, add the information unique to each drawing in separate columns and save.
Open the report writer/generator, paste in my script text, with "fieldname" where each piece of data was to be entered by the script. Then write the "report" to a txt file with the extension *.scr.
Open AutoCAD, call the script and go get a cuppa coffee. When I came back all my drawings were edited (or created), printed out and saved.
Since simple tasks like "dir *.dwg > dwgfiles.txt" are a pain on a networked company Windows XP box, I had hoped there was a bit of software one could use to lessen the task. We have tons of times where a good script writer would be wonderful, but when I cannot do the simple jobs, I have no hope for the complex ones.
Once again, I thank you for your time and effort and when I get caught up, I will try Hurricane. |
BDub |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
No longer disappointed
