Automate & batch process with ATTIN

[gekusei88]

I am attempting to make a modified version of the ATTIN command in order to automate the process; removing user prompts, specifying file import location, and batch processing from a specified directory. But I have run into a wall, and I am very new to LISP (about 3 weeks new now).

 

This is a process I developed for my company to update title-block attribute tags more uniformly, reducing user input error when doing what is sometimes hundreds of drawings. Now that I am finally teaching myself Autolisp I'm trying to take it a step further.

 

Thus far I have eliminated or worked around (defined variables) for all of the user prompts (file location, yes_no box, etc.). I have used found code to write a script to run this lisp on all drawings in a defined directory, as well as modified the single user selection to a global search with an added parameter of "(8 . "TB_LAYER") so that it only looks at blocks with attributes on this layer. This is to avoid the "acet-alert" box when blocks that do not have matching tag names are found, which stops the batch routine, and causing an alert box loop that freezes AutoCAD.

 

The issues I am having trouble pinpointing are that when I run this routine on a single drawing with the correct parameters, it works like a charm. It successfully updates the block with the new information without any input required from the user. However, when the script runs it I get a "No handle found" return that doesn't end the script, but doesn't successfully rewrite the attributes. I'm at a loss because the script simply opens the drawing, runs the command individually, saves, and closes the drawings. So I can't understand why it doesn't work the same way as if i ran it on a per drawing basis.

 

Any help would be appreciated, as i said before i am very new to lisp coding, so it may be plain as day to some of you. Please be gentle

attimport.lsp

[gekusei88]

I think i have narrowed down the issue to the "a" variable. This variable would normally be associated with the block handle matching the original handle created by "attout", I think. Since handles do not match drawing to drawing, block to block, i removed it along with the block name from my source text file.

 

When normally run, this would prompt the user to specify a block selection to search for matching attribute tags. I have overwritten this selection by telling it to look at the whole drawing for blocks with attributes on a particular layer, or by block name (410 . "block name here") in variations i have used. I believe this is for some reason creating a conflict or the message itself "No handle specification" being present is hanging up the process when ran from a script. I still do not know why it works when ran individually without returning this message, and why this only occurs during the script, but it's a start.

 

Can anyone look to confirm that I may be on the right track?

 

Thanks