ActiveX/VBA Technical Newsletter - March 2000

XDSoft

ActiveX/VBA Technical Newsletter - March 2000  
This document is part of    AutoCAD VB(A) Newsletter Archive     



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Dear AutoCAD ActiveX/VBA developer,

1- Extending VBA at runtime
---------------------------
  
VB(A) is a Microsoft product licensed to Autodesk for enabling VB style
programming for customization on a number of Autodesk products such as
Actrix / AutoCAD. The current version of VBA used in AutoCAD 2000 is
version 5.3, and version 6 for Actrix 2000. One feature which is not
documented, is that the VB(A) engine has an ActiveX interface. This
gives you the ability to extend your code at runtime. The AutoCAD
IApplication interface has a VBE property which is the reference to
that extension. To make use of this extension, you need to make a
references to the

'Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Extensibility 5.3'

from AutoCAD's VB(A). Then you will be able to benefit form all the
features that this extension has to offer.
  
Also you can load / save VB(A) projects from the AutoCAD ActiveX interface,
as well as executing a new VB(A) macro (i.e. AcadApplication.RunMacro()).
But, there is a defect in the AutoCAD 2000 shipping release (T.0.98) which
may cause problem in case you are using the SendCommand() method. The
solution below provides a workaround for this defect.

Sendcommand method runs asynchronously if called in VBA macro
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=29983
  
2- Getting AutoCAD start parameters
-----------------------------------
  
Question
  
How can you obtain AutoCAD startup parameters with VBA?
  
Answer

Note: Refer to the Win32API.TXT document which is located in a sub
directory of Visual Studio in conjunction with the information outlined
below.
  
There is no direct VBA API that will allow you do this, however you can
utilize the WIN32 API to find the startup parameters for AutoCAD.
First, you should declare the Win32 function as stated in the Win32API.txt
document, which is located in a sub directory of Visual Studio. Get the
return value, (in this case, a string) by calling this function. Retrieve the
switch parameters from the return string. Please note the first parameter is
the execution program name and the parameters that follow (if any) are
separated by spaces.
  
Declare Function GetCommandLine Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetCommandLineA" () As String
  
Sub GetCmdLine()
Dim str As String
str = GetCommandLine()
MsgBox "AutoCAD switches are " & str, , "Command Line"
End Sub
  
/cgi-bin/solution.pl?SID=41743
  
  
3- New and updated solutions
----------------------------
  
New and updated solutions are available at:
  
/scripts/whatsnew.pl
  
or
  
http://adn.autodesk.com/techsupp/apikb/whatsnew2.htm
  

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