AutoCAD Platform Customization. Ambrosius Lee

      Lee Ambrosius

      AutoCAD® Platform Customization

      AutoCAD^® Platform Customization

      User Interface, AutoLISP^®, VBA, and Beyond

      Lee Ambrosius

      Acquisitions Editor: Stephanie McComb

      Development Editor: Mary Ellen Schutz

      Technical Editors: Rebecca Afshar (Part I), Craig Black (Part II), Richard Lawrence (Part III)

      Production Editor: Dassi Zeidel

      Copy Editor: Liz Welch

      Editorial Manager: Pete Gaughan

      Production Manager: Kathleen Wisor

      Associate Publisher: Jim Minatel

      Book Designers: Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama; Judy Fung

      Proofreader: Candace Cunningham

      Indexer: Ted Laux

      Project Coordinator, Cover: Brent Savage

      Cover Designer: Wiley

      Cover Image: © Smileyjoanna/iStockphoto.com

      Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

      Published simultaneously in Canada

      ISBN: 978-1-118-79890-4

      ISBN: 978-1-118-91741-1 (ebk.)

      ISBN: 978-1-118-79891-1 (ebk.)

      No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

      Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

      For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at [phone], outside the U.S. at [phone] or fax [phone].

      Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2015936844

      TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. AutoCAD and AutoLISP are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

      To my wife, who is also my best friend: It is hard to imagine that I would be writing this book if it were not for you. It was you, all those years ago, who encouraged me to step outside of my comfort zone and share what I knew with others. Thank you for the push I needed and for coming along on this journey with me.

      To my friend K athy Enderby: You were one of the fi rst people to encourage me to follow my passion for programming and sharing what I had learned with others. Thank you for believing in me all those years ago and for being there when I needed someone to bounce ideas off – especially during those late-night scrambles right before deploying a new software release.

      Acknowledgments

      I have to give a very special thanks to all the great folks at Sybex, especially Willem Knibbe, for working on and helping to get this project off the ground after a few years of talking about it. The next two people I would like to thank are Mary Ellen Schutz and Dassi Zeidel, the development and production editors on this book; you two made sure I stayed on track and delivered a high-quality book. I also want to thank Liz Welch (copyeditor), Candace Cunningham (proofreader), and Ted Laux (indexer) for the work you all did on this book.

      Thanks to all the folks at Autodesk, who put in the long hours and are dedicated to the work they do on the Autodesk^® AutoCAD^® product. I cannot forget some of the most important individuals on this book, my technical editors: Rebecca Afshar, Craig Black, and Richard Lawrence. Rebecca Afshar performed the technical edit for Part I, “AutoCAD Platform Customization: User Interface and Beyond.” Rebecca has spent many years as both an instructor and user of AutoCAD; all of this experience helped to make this book even better.

      Craig Black performed the technical edit for Part II, “AutoCAD Platform Customization: AutoLISP. ” I have known Craig for nearly 20 years and first met him while attending an AutoLISP^® session at the local Autodesk Training Center, where he was an instructor. Craig is a excellent AutoLISP programmer and was a great asset as a technical editor on this book. It is always a pleasure to collaborate with Craig and this book was no different.

      Last but not least, Richard Lawrence performed the technical edit for Part III, “AutoCAD Platform Customization: VBA.” Richard is a great friend who I met many years ago at Autodesk University. He is a passionate and driven user of AutoCAD and is always looking to improve the way he uses AutoCAD.

      Being a technical editor is never the easiest job, but it is one of the most important and I appreciate what you all did to make this book better.

      About the Author

      Lee Ambrosius first started working with AutoCAD R12 for DOS in 1994. As a drafter, he quickly discovered that every project included lots of repetition. Lee, not being one to just settle for “this is just the way things are,” set out on a path that would redefine his career. This new path would lead him into the wondrous world of customization and programming – which you might catch him referring to as “the rabbit hole.”

      In 1996, Lee began learning the core concepts of customizing the AutoCAD user interface