DrawingDirection Property (ActiveX)

Specifies the direction in which the mtext paragraph is to be read.

Supported platforms: Windows only

Signature

VBA:

object.DrawingDirection

object

Type: GeoPositionMarker, MText

The object this property applies to.

Property Value

Read-only: No

Type: acDrawingDirection enum

• acLeftToRight
• acTopToBottom
• acRightToLeft (Reserved for future use)
• acBottomToTop (Reserved for future use)
• acByStyle (Reserved for future use)

Remarks

For languages such as English or Spanish, text is read horizontally, left to right. For languages such as Chinese or Japanese, sometimes text is read vertically, top to bottom. AutoCAD will draw the text according to this property setting.

Left to right

Top to bottom

The settings acRightToLeft, acBottomToTop, and acByStyle are reserved for future use and cannot be used in this release.

Examples

VBA:

Sub Example_DrawingDirection()
    ' This example changes the drawing direction for an MText object
    ' in model space.
    
    Dim MTextObj As AcadMText
    Dim corner1(0 To 2) As Double
    Dim width As Double
    Dim text As String
    
    ' Define the MText object
    corner1(0) = 0#: corner1(1) = 6#: corner1(2) = 0#
    width = 7
    text = "This is a text String."

    ' Create the MText object in model space
    Set MTextObj = ThisDrawing.ModelSpace.AddMText(corner1, width, text)
    ZoomAll
    
    'Change the drawing direction of the MText object
    MTextObj.DrawingDirection = acLeftToRight
    ZoomAll
    MsgBox "The DrawingDirection of the text is left to right.", vbInformation, "DrawingDirection Example"
        
    MTextObj.DrawingDirection = acTopToBottom
    ZoomAll
    MsgBox "The DrawingDirection of the text is top to bottom.", vbInformation, "DrawingDirection Example"
        
    ' Return the drawing direction
    Dim retDirection As Integer
    retDirection = MTextObj.DrawingDirection
    
End Sub

Visual LISP:

(vl-load-com)
(defun c:Example_DrawingDirection()
    ;; This example changes the drawing direction for an MText object
    ;; in model space.
    (setq acadObj (vlax-get-acad-object))
    (setq doc (vla-get-ActiveDocument acadObj))
  
    ;; Define the MText object
    (setq corner1 (vlax-3d-point 0 6 0)  
          width 7
          text "This is a text String.")

    ;; Create the MText object in model space
    (setq modelSpace (vla-get-ModelSpace doc))
    (setq MTextObj (vla-AddMText modelSpace corner1 width text))
    (vla-ZoomAll acadObj)
    
    ;; Change the drawing direction of the MText object
    (vla-put-DrawingDirection MTextObj acLeftToRight)
    (vla-ZoomAll acadObj)
    (alert "The DrawingDirection of the text is left to right.")
        
    (vla-put-DrawingDirection MTextObj acTopToBottom)
    (vla-ZoomAll acadObj)
    (alert "The DrawingDirection of the text is top to bottom.")
        
    ;; Return the drawing direction
    (setq retDirection (vla-get-DrawingDirection MTextObj))
    (alert (strcat "The current value of DrawingDirection: " (itoa retDirection)))
)