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Calling External Applications from AutoCAD
*Applies to: AutoCAD R12, 13, 14, 2000, 2000i, 2002, 2004 and 2005*
Have you ever thought to yourself that maybe it would be nice
to load an external application from inside AutoCAD. Well wait
no longer. AutoCAD came with three commands that loaded external
applications, and these applications are Windows Explorer (Windows NT
Explorer), Paintbrush and Notepad. These three commands are
stored in the Acad.pgp file. Below are is an example of the code for
launching Windows Explorer.
Code Sequence:
EXPLORER, START EXPLORER, 1,,
New Commands:
WRITE, START WRITE, 1,,
ACAD, START ACAD, 1,,
EXCEL, START EXCEL, 1,,
What does it all mean?
The first part : command,executable,memory[,[*]prompt,[return_code]]
represents the command name that you type in AutoCAD to execute the
line of code.
The second part : command,executable,memory[,[*]prompt,[return_code]]
calls a defined command from earlier in the Acad.pgp file. This
command is used to launch an executable that is registered on the
current system.
The third part : command,executable,memory[,[*]prompt,[return_code]]
is used to allocate memory. This field is used maintains compatibility with previous versions of AutoCAD.
Typically the number zero is present.
The fourth part : command,executable,memory[,[*]prompt,[return_code]]
is used to display a prompt at the AutoCAD Command Line. This field
is optional to use and the response to this prompt is appended to the string supplied in the executable field. If the first character of the prompt field is an asterisk (*), the response can contain spaces and the user must press ENTER to terminate it.
The fifth part : command,executable,memory[,[*]prompt,[return_code]]
is an optional bit-coded parameter. These codes can be added
together in order to reach the desired results.
1 Loads a DXB file.
2 Constructs a block definition from a DXB file.
3 Loads and constructs a block definition from a DXB file.
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