CVEV 118/698

AutoCAD VBA
Lecture 3
Prof. Mounir Mabsout
Elsa Sulukdjian
Walid El Asmar

Selection Set Collection

Iterations

For iterating through a selection set, the ForEach-Next loop structure may not be best at
all times.
Example: when selectively removing objects from
the selection set. The For-Each-Next loop starts at
the beginning of the list till the end of it and the
removal of an item from the list inside the loop will
cause the loop to skip one.

2 alternative ways of solving this problem:

Using an array containing the object references to
the items to be removed from the set. After the loop
remove items with the RemoveItems method.
Remove items as found but within a While loop that
starts at the back of the collection and working
forward.

Object Removal from

Selection Set Example
1 containing object
Selection set filter 1: Array
references to items to be removed from selection
set:
Sub My_Filter1(SS As AcadSelectionSet, ET As Object)
Dim Ents() As Object
Dim Ent As Object
i = 0
For Each Ent In SS
If Ent.EntityType <> ET.EntityType Then
ReDim Preserve Ents(0 To i)
Set Ents(i) = Ent
i = i + 1
End If
Next Ent
If i > 0 Then
SS.RemoveItems (Ents)
End If
End Sub
Note: Preserve maintains the values in the array as it is expanded
while ReDim by itself will destroy the current contents of the
array.

Object Removal from

Selection Set Example
2
Selection set filter 2: Removing items from
a selection set using a While loop that starts
at the back of the collection and working
forward:

Sub My_Filter2(SS As AcadSelectionSet, ET As Object)

Dim Ent(0) As Object
i = SS.Count
While (i > 0)
i = i - 1
Set Ent(0) = SS.Item(i)
If Ent(0).EntityType <> ET.EntityType Then
SS.RemoveItems (Ents)
End If
Wend
End Sub

Filtering the Selection

Set

For selection of specific entity objects in an

application, working with subsets, I.e. Selection
Sets, makes it easier.
To build a selection set of certain types of objects
or objects that share specific property traits, you
can use a filter.
A filter is a set of properties that the entity
objects need to match in order to be included
in the selection set (properties can be specific
object types as well as ranges of values ex: all
circles with radii 1 and 2 drawing units) .
In VBA, a filter is constructed as 2 arrays of
variants containing information that consists of
group codes and data values.

The Filter

The 1st array of the filter contains group codes only.

Group Codes: are integer values that indicate the type of
data being referenced. The data itself resides in the 2 nd
array. The index value links the 2 arrays (the 1 st value in
the group codes array correspond with the 1 st value in the
data array).
The 2nd array contains the data elements associated
with the group codes.
Data Elements: will be of different data types that
correspond to the integer codes (ex: group code 2 will
have a string, group code 10 will have a point).
The 2 arrays MUST then be assigned to variant
variables that are passed to the selection set
function. The reason for using variants is to ease the
transfer of information from BASIC to other environments.

Most Frequently Used

Group Codes
Group
Code
0
1
2
8
10
11
40
62

Data Contents
Object type string LINE, ARC, or
CIRCLE
String value in Text, Mtext
Object name string used for Blocks &
Tables
Layer name string
Primary point
Secondary points for text alignments, line
endpoints,
Arc and circle radius
Color number (integer)

Filter Selection Example

Building a selection set from the entire

drawing that will contain only CIRCLE entity
objects with a radius of 5 drawing units:
Dim Ftyp(1) As Integer
Dim Fvar(1) As Variant
Dim Filter1, Filter2 As Variant
Ftyp(0) = 0: Fvar(0) = "CIRCLE"
Ftyp(1) = 40: Fvar(1) = 5#
Dim S1 As AcadSelectionSet
Set S1 = ThisDrawing.SelectionSets.Add("S1")
Filter1 = Ftyp 'Filter 1 is the FilterType
Filter2 = Fvar 'Filter 2 is the FilterData
S1.Select acSelectionSetAll, , , Filter1, Filter2

Arrays must be dimensioned to the proper size

for the filters, I.e. if you re using only 2 filter
items, the array length should be exactly 2.

Refining Filters
Numeric Tests

Selection set containing all circles with a radius

value less than or equal to 5 drawing units:
Dim Ftyp1(2) As Integer
Dim Fvar1(2) As Variant
Dim Filter1, Filter2 As Variant
Dim S1 As AcadSelectionSet
Ftyp1(0) = 0: Fvar1(0) = "CIRCLE"
Ftyp1(1) = -4: Fvar1(1) = "<="
Ftyp1(2) = 40: Fvar1(2) = 5#
Set S1 = ThisDrawing.SelectionSets.Add("S1")
Filter1 = Ftyp1 'Filter 1 is the FilterType
Filter2 = Fvar1 'Filter 2 is the FilterData
S1.Select acSelectionSetAll, , , Filter1, Filter2

The filter uses the (-4) group code. The

comparison test is applied to the values that
follow (here the radius value).

Numeric Relational Tests

These tests are typically applied against real

numbers found in entity object properties
and they can also be applied for points:
= Equal to
< Less than
> Greater than
<=
Less than or equal
>=
Greater than or equal
!= or /= Not equal to
* Always-true returns true very time

Numeric Tests for Points

Testing for objects that are located in the 1st

quadrant, I.e. having X and Y values >= 0:
Dim Pnt(0 To 2) As Double
Dim Ftyp(1) As Integer: Dim Fvar(1) As Variant
Dim Filter1, Filter2 As Variant
Dim S1 As AcadSelectionSet
Pnt(0) = 0#: Pnt(1) = 0#: Pnt(2) = 0#
Ftyp(0) = -4: Fvar(0) = ">=,>=,*"
Ftyp(1) = 10: Fval(1) = Pnt
Filter1 = Ftyp
'Filter 1 is the FilterType
Filter2 = Fval
'Filter 2 is the FilterData
Set S1 = ThisDrawing.SelectionSets.Add("S1")
S1.Select acSelectionSetAll, , , Filter1, Filter2

Whats Next

More Objects
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