Creating Link Templates using ActiveX API in VBA and Lisp

By Gopinath Taget

Here is the sample VBA and VLisp code that shows how to create and delete link templates in AutoCAD. Do not forget to set references to CAO type library before running this code in AutoCAD’s VBA IDE.

Sub fCreateLinkTemplate()

Dim pDB As CAO.DbConnect      Dim pLTs As CAO.LinkTemplates      Dim pLT As CAO.LabelTemplate      Dim pKeyDescs As CAO.KeyDescriptions      Dim psDataSrc As String      Dim psLinkTempName1 As String      Dim psLinkTempName2 As String      psDataSrc = "jet_dbsamples"      psLinkTempName1 = "LTCreatedByVBCAO"      psLinkTempName2 = "LTtobeDeleted"           'get the DBCONNECT object      Set pDB = ThisDrawing.Application.        GetInterfaceObject("CAO.DBConnect.16")      Set pLTs = pDB.GetLinkTemplates(ThisDrawing)           'prepare the keydescriptions      Set pKeyDescs = ThisDrawing.Application.        GetInterfaceObject("CAO.KeyDescriptions.16")      pKeyDescs.Add "TAG_NUMBER", kCaoTypeInteger      pKeyDescs.Add "Manufacturer", kCaoTypeText           'create two Link Templates      pLTs.Add psDataSrc, "Catalog1",         "Schema1", "Computer", psLinkTempName1, pKeyDescs      pLTs.Add psDataSrc, "Catalog2",         "Schema2", "Computer", psLinkTempName2, pKeyDescs      'created Link Templates      MsgBox "Created Link Templates : " & Chr(13) & "1) " &         pLTs.Item(psLinkTempName1).Name _      & Chr(13) & "2) " & pLTs.Item(psLinkTempName2).Name _           'connect to the datasource      pDB.Connect psDataSrc      'delete the second linktemplate.       'Comment the following statement if       'you want to see both the link templates      pLTs.Delete psLinkTempName2    End Sub

<p>And here’s the Visual Lisp code using the ActiveX API:</p>  <p>(defun c:CreateLT()    <br />&#160; (vl-load-com)    <br />&#160; (setq pDoc (vla-get-ActiveDocument (vlax-get-acad-object)))</p>  <p>&#160; ;get the DBConnect   <br />&#160; (setq pDBObj (vla-GetInterfaceObject    <br />&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; (vlax-get-acad-object) &quot;CAO.dbConnect&quot;))    <br />&#160; (if (null pDBObj)    <br />&#160;&#160;&#160; (progn     <br />&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; (alert &quot;Cannot create CAO Automation server.&quot;)     <br />&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; (exit))) </p>  <p>&#160; ;get the linktemplates   <br />&#160; (setq pLTs(    <br />&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; vlax-invoke-method pDBObj &quot;GetLinkTemplates&quot; pDoc))</p>  <p>&#160; ;prepare the keydescriptions   <br />&#160; (setq pKeyDescs (    <br />&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; vla-GetInterfaceObject (vlax-get-acad-object)    <br />&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; &quot;CAO.KeyDescriptions&quot;))    <br />&#160; (vlax-invoke-method pKeyDescs    <br />&#160; &quot;ADD&quot; &quot;TAG_NUMBER&quot; 3 nil nil)    <br />&#160; (vlax-invoke-method pKeyDescs    <br />&#160; &quot;ADD&quot; &quot;Manufacturer&quot; 1 nil nil)</p>  <p>&#160; ;create two link templates   <br />&#160; (vlax-invoke-method pLTs &quot;ADD&quot; &quot;jet_dbsamples&quot;    <br />&#160; nil nil &quot;COMPUTER&quot; &quot;LTCreatedByVLispCAO&quot; pKeyDescs)    <br />&#160; (vlax-invoke-method pLTs &quot;ADD&quot; &quot;jet_dbsamples&quot;    <br />&#160; nil nil &quot;COMPUTER&quot; &quot;LTtobeDeleted&quot; pKeyDescs)</p>  <p>&#160; ;sample code to show how to delete the link template   <br />&#160; (vlax-invoke-method pL

Ts "delete" "LTtobeDeleted")
)