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As usual this was born out of necessity. Had a 46Mb pdf , no tools on work laptop to convert it because also no adobe (reader only). PdF was all images so AutoCad pdf attach / import won't work either. Have a (legal) tool on my own computer but pdf wouldn't fit through the mail because of IT limitations. We used to have something like One-drive / Sharepoint but also blocked now , so I wrote this app. It chops up pdf in to 10MB pieces (or any size you want) , it can also email them at the same time and at the other end of the line you can put the pieces back again with the same app. So if your IT department tries to make your life a living hell , hell , maybe this app can give you some relief. RlxSplit.lsp

@darshjalal Thanks for your program contribution. I don't want to take away for your obvious hard work, but I somewhat agree with @BIGAL. I have read the extensive comments that are very detailed and technical, but there is no summary of what it is used for, or how it is useful. For the casual LISP user, they would not understand the value in such a program. I think a simple paragraph would be help instead of blindly evaluating it. Your title does explain the purpose of the program, but it's too vague and some plain language on how the features are helpful would be nice - just a friendly critique

This has been talked before if I understood the problem correctly: https://www.cadtutor.net/forum/topic/61468-boundary-precision/ To create a boundary you have to have the whole area visible in your model, everything needs to be visible in display area So it has to do something with your "viewing resolution" (zoom), that's how command works. What is the limit I don't know, I never did tests like they did in topic mentioned above. But I also had the same problems with large areas like you posted, when I have one short line, or polyline segment, one of the boundary vertices would be wrong (bad precision). The solution for me was to create lisp working with regions, then convert region to polyline. When creating regions you don't need to see the whole area on your screen, you select the lines and its just pure math from there

@Danielm103, I'm on rev. 8.9.3 so does not apply to me. Thanks for the warning nonetheless. ymg

if Nothing else it would show up in peoples searches. just posting a file even tho it has great documentation will not show up in searches. if you take all the time to write things up and share here make it so people can find your lisp files. or just copy all the ;; lines. someone in 6 months to a year will post looking for a divide lisp with points and I won't be able to find this post. -Edit like you did here

If your offering something a good idea is to provide images or a movie about what the program does, else the "Why bother" will occur. Just attaching a lisp is not really describing why you should download the program. Think of it as if I was selling the program how would I get people interested.

@rlx Your Kung-Fu is Strong! Nice work!

Haven't checked in a while, but we can't receive any .zip, .rar, etc. in emails here, but can send them, which is useless if sending internally. They had some ridiculously low email attachment file sizes when I first came here, I got them to go to 10MB, that's most likely what it is now. I put large files to share on the network and send a link (which IT has it where it cannot be clicked on), either they figure out how to get it or they don't. Being retirement age has it's perks.

Reminds me of when I had to move a file before networking or USB drives. had to use winrar and split up the zip file between 12 floppy disks! Was curious and it only took 17 lines of code in python lol minus the emailing and join parts.

There was a post a couple of years ago now, if it is a closed shape without crossing lines, hatching the area then recreate the boundary and delete the hatch leaves the boundary... as a last resort since it is long winded way to go. I haven't had time this week to look at this properly - you're in safe hands with the other posters though... (The post I am thinking about was using LISP to do something, click in the area to get boundary, might have been to measure area, perimeter or something but that was the idea behind it, LISP is ok if it is a bit long winded, fractions of a second longer process)

I reversed all the polylines see if that does anything. -Edit Might fix it on the bottom but then mess it up on the top. Rervers Boundary.dwg

I exploded the polylines into lines. I also reduced the lineweight to 0, but in both cases the result remains the same. A colleague who still has an old PC with Autodesk Map 5 (= AutoCAD 2002) also confirmed that the same error occurs. If I’m not mistaken, AutoCAD 2002 is basically the same as AutoCAD 2000, so @SLW210’s statement that the "boundary" command works correctly in that version intrigues me.

Welcome aboard, post a sample dwg with your block, then people can have a look at what you have done.

DIVCURVES-INSERTING POINTS AS SPECIFIC DISTANCE.LSP I am so sorry for not giving more details about the code. Please read the following for more details: When executed, the utility launches an interactive keyword configuration: Menu: [1-Polylines/2-Lines/3-Arcs/4-Circles/5-Splines/6-FeatureLines/7-All] --- OPTION 1: Polylines --- - Target: Native 2D LWPolylines and 3D Heavy Polylines (*POLYLINE). - Sub-Prompts: Asks for both "Curve distance" and "Line distance". - Workflow Logic: Polylines frequently alternate between straight tangents and arced bulges. The engine runs through each sub-segment parameter, applying the Curve interval on loops returning a non-zero bulge and the Line interval on zero-bulge vectors. Critical for tracking centerlines. --- OPTION 2: Lines --- - Target: Standalone native LINE entities (completely ignores curves). - Sub-Prompts: Triggers only "Line distance [Middle/Vertices]". - Workflow Logic: * Absolute Number: Measures out fixed structural intervals from start. * "Middle": Drops a single layout node at exactly Total Length / 2. * "Vertices": Flags only the absolute start and endpoints, bypassing any segment division calculations. Perfect for boundary box indexing. --- OPTION 3: Arcs --- - Target: Standalone open circular ARC elements. - Sub-Prompts: Triggers only "Curve distance [Middle]". - Workflow Logic: Uses true structural arc-length path calculations (not straight-line chord spacing). Entering "Middle" isolates the exact apex mid-curve station node. Excellent for curb returns or radius layout. --- OPTION 4: Circles --- - Target: Full, closed 360-degree CIRCLE elements. - Sub-Prompts: 1. Circle Mode [Distance/Pieces] 2. Curve Distance (if Distance Mode) 3. Number of Slices (if Pieces Mode) - Workflow Logic: * Pieces Mode: Divides the 360° rim into perfectly equal pie sections. Ideal for setting layout coordinates for manholes or foundation piles. * Distance Mode: Steps linearly around the outer circumference. --- OPTION 5: Splines --- - Target: Non-uniform smooth organic SPLINE curve strings. - Sub-Prompts: Triggers "Curve distance" and "Line distance". - Workflow Logic: Utilizes Visual LISP curve projection vectors to step smoothly through changing multi-radius landscape or contour paths, automatically trapping and marking the true start/end index boundaries. --- OPTION 6: FeatureLines --- - Target: Native Autodesk Civil 3D Feature Lines (AECC_FEATURE_LINE). - Sub-Prompts: Triggers "Curve distance" and "Line distance". - Workflow Logic: Tailored for civil infrastructure models. The engine interrogates the 3D string, locks all critical grade breaks and site vertices, and overlays intermediate interval layout points that retain design model accuracy. --- OPTION 7: All --- - Target: Simultaneous mixed selection set of all supported geometries. - Sub-Prompts: Sequential configuration parameters for all curves/lines. - Workflow Logic: Scans the entire cross-window selection. For every object trapped, it reads its DXF Group 0 type, dynamically assigns your preset rules, avoids duplicate coordinate overlaps, and populates the entire site plan layer in a single execution click. SHORT SEGMENT OVERRIDE LOGIC: If an entity length or sub-segment is shorter than the interval distance specified, the script halts and prompts: [Middle/All/SkipAll] - "Middle": Drops a layout node exactly at the center of that specific short segment. - "All": Converts the current short vector and all subsequent short vectors discovered during the current command run into midpoints automatically. - "SkipAll": Ignores short segments entirely for the rest of the execution, leaving them clean and checking only major length spans. SHORT SEGMENT OVERRIDE LOGIC: If an entity length or sub-segment is shorter than the interval distance specified, the script halts and prompts: [Middle/All/SkipAll] - "Middle": Drops a layout node exactly at the center of that specific short segment. - "All": Converts the current short vector and all subsequent short vectors discovered during the current command run into midpoints automatically. - "SkipAll": Ignores short segments entirely for the rest of the execution, leaving them clean and checking only major length spans.

Why the error occurs The PAUSE limitation: In AutoLISP, pause only stops the command to let the user interact (e.g., click a point). It does not return the string value to the command sequence. When you reach the attribute part, AutoCAD expects a string, but since pause doesn't provide one, the sequence breaks.Multiline Attribute Format: Multiline attributes in a command-line sequence require specific formatting. If there are line breaks, they must be represented by \P. In Lisp, you must escape the backslash: \\P .Command vs -Command: When using Lisp, it is safer to use the hyphenated version (e.g., -INSERT ) to force the command-line interface and bypass dialog boxes entirely. The Corrected Lisp Routine This routine replaces your DIESEL script. It captures the date automatically (matching your DIESEL format) and prompts for the initials and notes. (defun c:REVNOTE (/ insPt dateStr userInitials revNote) ;; Save current ATTDIA and turn it off (setq oldAttdia (getvar "ATTDIA")) (setvar "ATTDIA" 0) ;; 1. Get Insertion Point (setq insPt (getpoint "\nSpecify insertion point: ")) ;; 2. Get Date (Mimicking your Diesel formatting) ;; This uses a Lisp trick to call the Diesel 'edtime' function directly (setq dateStr (menucmd "M=(edtime,$(getvar,date),DD.MO.YYYY)")) ;; 3. Get User Initials (getstring T allows spaces) (setq userInitials (getstring T "\nEnter Initials: ")) ;; 4. Get Revision Note (for the multiline attribute) (setq revNote (getstring T "\nEnter Revision Note: ")) ;; 5. Execute the Insert command ;; Sequence: BlockName, Point, ScaleX, ScaleY, Rotation, Attr1, Attr2, Attr3, Attr4 (command "-INSERT" "REVNOTE" ; Block name insPt ; User picked point "1" "1" "0" ; Scale and Rotation "P01" ; Attribute 1: Rev Index dateStr ; Attribute 2: Date userInitials ; Attribute 3: Initials revNote ; Attribute 4: Multiline Note ) ;; Restore ATTDIA and Regen (setvar "ATTDIA" oldAttdia) (command "REGEN") (princ "\nRevision inserted successfully.") (princ) ) Key Differences & Improvements: menucmd: This is the best way to get the exact edtime format you used in DIESEL without writing a complex date-parsing routine in Lisp. getstring T: The T flag allows the user to enter spaces (e.g., if the user wants to type "First issue - revised"). Without it, pressing the Spacebar would finish the command. -INSERT: Using the hyphen ensures that AutoCAD doesn't try to pop up a browser window for the block file.Multiline Support: If your revNote contains multiple lines, make sure to type \P where you want the line break, or modify the code to join multiple strings with \\P.

Updated first post , added a few new options and killed a little bug in the get-subfolders routine.

I'll give it a test run when I get a chance. My current attitude with IT limits, is to not do it if IT deems it needs blocked. I can be lazy as well.

Yes but as I have had to do things working with the government or local municipalities isn't so cut and dry. just easier to do it the way they want it

3PS.LSP

Another way to get the text from a pdf is the AI option 'OCR text & table from Microsoft PC manager, normally just available in the US store. But if you have VPN or are a really good singer (Queen : Oh...yes , I'm the great pretender lalala.. applause , oh thank you , you're so kind) you should be able to get it. Open pdf , use button et voila... but its still manual labor

Before I used this : (defun GetFolder ( m / f s) (if (and (setq s (vlax-create-object "Shell.Application")) (setq f (vlax-invoke s 'browseforfolder 0 m 65536 "")))(setq f (vlax-get-property (vlax-get-property f 'self) 'path)) (setq f nil))(vl-catch-all-apply 'vlax-release-object (list s)) f) (defun wait (sec / stop)(setq stop (+ (getvar "DATE") (/ sec 86400.0)))(while (> stop (getvar "DATE")))) (defun findstring ( / a b c d e) (setq a (GetFolder "Select folder for string search")) (setq b (getstring "\nEnter string to search for : " T)) (setq c (getstring "\nFile extension (lsp) : ")) (if (eq c "") (setq c "lsp")) (setq d (strcat a "\\result.txt")) (setq e (strcat "findstr /i /s \"" b "\" " a "\\*." c " > " d)) (command "shell" e) (gc)(gc) ;;; natural delay for system to clear cache and write file to disk (alert "search completed") (startapp "notepad" d) (princ) ) (defun c:dfs ()(findstring)) (defun c:t1 ()(findstring)(princ)) This code only works for text based files. Have updated code in my first post with Excel support. Valid extensions are now lsp , txt , dwg , xls and xlsx I have a license for able2extract on my home computer and also written something that uses pdfattach and import for readable pdf's. Though I can take that route, it's not like shoot & forget , often more than one step is needed. But it is what it is... most pdf's I get are pretty poor quality , some by accident and some not because a 3rd party wants you as a returning client if you know what I mean.