using .scr files in autocad from excel vba

Voila, all the layers are now in AutoCAD. This will terminate the last command and thus end the script.įinally we load the script into AutoCAD using the command “ script“. Then open the file and add a return at the very end to create another line. This needs to be renamed from myscript.prn to myscript.scr. Two steps to go!įirstly we are going to rename the extension on the file (if you cannot see extensions follow this). You should now have a text file that has the entire script for making your layers you need in it. Save as Formatted Text (space delimited) PRN file. Now the file is ready to become a script. Once completed, save this file for future reference.Ĭopy the entire column of D and paste to a new file using paste values only. (Note the quotes are required for layer names with spaces).Īdd layer information down the left and drag the little square in the bottom right of the excel cell to copy this to all cells below. One completed we will now enter the following command below the cell with -layer in. Make sure the second column for colour is text only to avoid any true colours being converted into numbers. This is in the order, layer name, colour, linetype. Now we are ready to input some data into the first three columns. Then place “-LAYER” in the 4th column over. (Note this is not my concept but I cannot find the original page where this was proposed). Copy the following subroutine into a VBA Code window and run it.

In the References dialog box, select Microsoft Excel Object Model.

In the VBA IDE, on the menu bar, click the Tools menu References. Below I will go through the steps you need to do to get this to work. At the AutoCAD Command prompt, enter VBAIDE and press Enter. You can use Excels powerful cell commands to convert your layer list to a format that will then be able to create a script file. The problem then comes of getting these layers into AutoCAD? There are numerous Lisp programs around on the internet to do this but what if you have AutoCAD LT only ( as it lacks programming APIs)? Creating lots of text on mass is really easy to do in Excel so that would be the program of choice to do this task. This would be difficult to do in AutoCAD without resorting to LISP or some programming to insert layers on mass. I have been attempting to update our office’s layer system.

Using .scr files in autocad from excel vba