Example: Copy the text string from a MText object to a Microsoft Word document (AutoLISP/ActiveX)

The following example creates an AutoLISP application that works with Microsoft Word 2010 and an AutoCAD drawing that contains MText.

Note: ActiveX support in AutoLISP is limited to Windows only.

Create a new AutoLISP program and load the ActiveX support functions

1. In Visual LISP, click File New File.
2. Click File Save As.
3. In the Save As dialog box,
   • Specify a location for the new AutoLISP source file.
   • In the File Name box, enter copyMText2Word.
   • In the Save As Type drop-down list, select Lisp Source Files.
   • Click Save.
4. In the new Visual LISP text editor window, enter (vl-load-com).

Obtain the AutoCAD application and current ModelSpace objects and store their pointers

• In the Visual LISP text editor window, enter

  (defun c:copyMText2Word ( / )
    (setq *AcadApp* (vlax-get-acad-object)) ; Get AutoCAD application
    (setq *ModelSpace* (vla-get-ModelSpace
    (vla-get-ActiveDocument *AcadApp*))) ; Get model space

Import the Microsoft Word type library

Change the :tlb-filename argument in the following code to point to the msword8.olb file on your system.

• In the Visual LISP text editor window, enter

    (if (equal nil mswc-wd140Words) ; check for a Word constant
      (vlax-import-type-library
        :tlb-filename " C:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office14/msword.olb"
        :methods-prefix "mswm-"
        :properties-prefix "mswp-"
        :constants-prefix "mswc-"
      )
    )

  This code first checks to see if a known Microsoft Word constant is defined with a value. If the constant has a value, it is assumed that the Word type library has already been imported and no further action is necessary. If the variable is nil, vlax-import-type-library is invoked.

Establish a connection to a Microsoft Word application

• In the Visual LISP text editor window, enter

    (setq msw (vlax-get-object "Word.Application.14"))
    (if (equal nil msw)
      (progn
        ; Word is not running. Start it.
        (setq msw (vlax-create-object "Word.Application.14"))
        (vla-put-visible msw :vlax-true)
      )
    )

  The code issues vlax-get-object to establish a connection to a running Microsoft Word application. (In this example, version 14—Word 2010—is specified; if the 14 were omitted, any instance of Word would be accepted.) If there is no running instance of Word, vlax-create-object is issued to start one.

Process the MText objects in model space

• In the Visual LISP text editor window, enter

    (if (/= nil msw)
      (progn
        ;; Get the document collection object.
        (setq docs (vla-get-documents msw))
  
        ;; Add a new document
        (setq doc (mswm-add docs))
  
        ;; Get the paragraphs of the document (to do some formatting)
        (setq paragraphs (mswp-get-paragraphs doc))
  
        ;; Now iterate through the model space and export any mtext
        ;; every Mtext entity to Word.
        (vlax-for ent *ModelSpace*
          (if (equal (vla-get-ObjectName ent) "AcDbMText")
            (progn
              ;; Get the following information from the Mtext entity:
              ;; o the text string
              ;; o the location of a corner of the text boundary
              (setq text (vla-get-TextString ent)
                    textpos (vla-get-InsertionPoint ent)
                    arrayTextpos (vlax-variant-value textpos)
                    textinfo
                      (strcat
                         (rtos (vlax-safearray-get-element arrayTextpos 0) 2 2)
                         ", "
                         (rtos (vlax-safearray-get-element arrayTextpos 1) 2 2)
                         ", "
                         (rtos (vlax-safearray-get-element arrayTextpos 2) 2 2)
                       )
              ) ;_ end of setq
  
              ; Print some info (with formatting)
              ; Get the last paragraph in the document
              (setq pg (mswp-get-last paragraphs))
    
              ; Obtain the range of the paragraph
              (setq range (mswp-get-range pg))
  
              ; Do some formatting
              (mswp-put-bold range 1) ;bold
              (mswp-put-underline range mswc-wdUnderlineSingle) ;underline
  
              ; Insert info about the text at the end of the paragraph
              (mswm-InsertAfter range
              (strcat "AcDbMText at position " textinfo "\n"))
  
              ; Now show the text string (from the ACAD text entity)
              (setq pg (mswp-get-last paragraphs))
              (setq range (mswp-get-range pg))
              (mswp-put-bold range 0)
              (mswp-put-underline range mswc-wdUnderlineNone)
              (mswm-InsertAfter range (strcat text "\n\n"))
            ) ;_ end of progn
          ) ;_ end of if AcDbMText
        ) ;_ end of vlax-for
       ) ;_ end of progn
      (princ "\nNo Microsoft Word application found.\n")
    )
  ) ;_ end of defun

Load and run the code

1. In Visual LISP, click Tools Load Text in Editor.
2. At the AutoCAD Command prompt, enter copymtext2word and press Enter.