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DCL Tutorials
Tutorial 1: FirstDCL
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DCL Tutorial
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| 1. | First to get started you need to launch
WordPad or NotePad for this tutorial. Once
launched save the file as FirstDCL.DCL (Note:
Make sure that you save it as a Text file format. |
| 2. | Type the following into the file and then we
will break it down line by line to explain the
code. |
| // This Dialog box displays a line of text with an OK button |
| FIRSTDCL : dialog { |
| label = "My First Dialog Box"; |
| : text { |
| label = "Hello there, this is my first dialog box"; |
| } |
| ok_only; |
| } |
Detailed Explanation of the DCL file
// This Dialog box displays a line of text with an OK button This is a comment line that can be used with in you DCL files to keep track of what is going on in that dialog or on that line
FIRSTDCL is the name of the dialog box in this file. DCL files can contain multiple dialog boxes and this name is how you keep track of them.
: dialog { is the opening line of the dialog box.
label = "My First Dialog Box"; is the Title of the dialog box.
: text { is the start of the text tile which is on the dialog box.
label = "Hello there, this is my first dialog box..."; is the text that is displayed by the text tile on the dialog box.
} Closes off the text tile.
ok_only; is a preset command button tile for an OK button for dialog boxes.
} Closes off the dialog box.
| 3. | Save changes to the file and start a new
file. This file will be called FIRSTDCL.LSP.
Notice the only thing that changes between the
two file names is just the extension of the file.
This one must also be saved in a text file format |
| 4. | Type the following into the file and then we
will break it down line by line to explain the
code. |
| ;; This Routine displays the dialog box inside of AutoCAD |
| (defun c:MYDCL () |
| (defun do_exit () |
| (done_dialog 1) |
| ) |
| (setq SRT (load_dialog "FIRSTDCL")) |
| (if (> SRT 0) |
| (progn |
| (new_dialog "FIRSTDCL" SRT) |
| (action_tile "accept" "(do_exit)") |
| (start_dialog) |
| (unload_dialog SRT) |
| ) |
| ) |
| ) |
Detailed Explanation of the AutoLISP file
;; This Routine displays the dialog box inside of AutoCAD This is a comment line that can be used with in you AutoLISP files to keep track of what is going on in that routine or on that line
(defun c:MYDCL () is the open line of the command/ functions. defun stands for define function. c: doesn't have anything to do with the C: drive, this stands for command line function. MYDCL is what is typed in at the command line to execute the command. () are used for arguments that need to be passed to the function.
(defun do_exit () is the opening line of the function that is going to get executed when the OK command button is selected in the dialog box..
(done_dialog 1) tells us that the OK button was selected, if Cancel was a choice for a command button we would use (done_dialog 0).
) is the ending bracket for the (defun do_exit () line. In AutoLISP, everything starts with a bracket and must be closed with a bracket.
(setq SRT (load_dialog "FIRSTDCL")) In this line we are telling AutoLISP to load the FIRSTDCL.dcl file and store the DCL identifier in variable SRT.
(if (> SRT 0) Doing a comparison on SRT and if it is greater than 0 that means that the file FIRSTDCL.dcl was found in the search path of AutoCAD.
(progn This function must be used in conjunction with an if statement if more than one task is to be completed under the comparison.
(new_dialog "FIRSTDCL" SRT) Starts the dialog box. It will look for FIRSTDCL as the section in the DCL file to load, and it will use SRT as to the file to search through, (SRT is the DCL identifier of the file).
(action_tile "accept" "(do_exit)") This line tells AutoLISP that when the OK button is selected use this as the function to execute. It will execute the do_exit function whenever you select the OK button.
(start_dialog) This line actually makes the user able to interact with the dialog box, without it the user can't select any of the controls on it.
(unload_dialog SRT) This line tells AutoLISP that AutoCAD is done with the dialog box so close it.
) Balances and closes out the (progn line.
) Balances and closes out the (if (> SRT 0) line.
) Balances and closes out the (defun c:MYDCL () line.
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