Layer Names In Excel Into AutoCAD 2008 Layer Manager?

Sure someo0ne must have asked this question before. I don't know what exactly to search for - I could not get a good result.

I have office layer names (with color numbers, linetype) in Excel file. I would like to transfer all the about ninety of them, straight into AutoCAD, so when I open this prototype autocad file, it will have all the layers. An option will be to input all these layer names one-by-one into the Layer Manager.

That is, can I import the Excel file into AutoCAD (2008) to show in my layer manager?

directly? no.

What you can do is use the XLS as the basis of a script file, or set up a LISP routine to open the data file and create layers from there. Simple way would be to write the excel out to comma delimited text, and parse that text file. Fancier would be to use VBA to read the excel file directly and populate the layers that way.

I am definitely not a coding guru like cadtag, so my solution is a bit simpler. There is a utility called AutoLayer (Google it), which uses a text file to manage layer names. You can then use AutoLayer to manage and insert layers as needed. Worth the small license fee IMHO.

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Originally Posted by cadtag

directly? no.

What you can do is use the XLS as the basis of a script file, or set up a LISP routine to open the data file and create layers from there. Simple way would be to write the excel out to comma delimited text, and parse that text file. Fancier would be to use VBA to read the excel file directly and populate the layers that way.

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This solution would work. Depending on how much information and the format it is in within the excel file, you can probably have most of the script written through excel with a formula in an adjacent cell.

I found a procedure that works quite well importing 100 plus layers into a drawing. Go to http://www.dotsoft.com/procedures.htm and look for Excel Scripting.

this thread and this thread may help

You could wirte your own code, etc,.but for a really cheap price there is a product that does this, go to www.budcad.com and look for QuickLayers. I bought my 4 years ago, each update is free and it looks great - also lets you add descriptions and create new layers.

I found a free routine that says it will do this. I have not yet tried it. I stumbled upon it when looking at cad standards. It can be found here: http://www.altivasoft.com/freedownloads/index.htm

Hopefully this helps some

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Originally Posted by omorah

Sure someo0ne must have asked this question before. I don't know what exactly to search for - I could not get a good result.

I have office layer names (with color numbers, linetype) in Excel file. I would like to transfer all the about ninety of them, straight into AutoCAD, so when I open this prototype autocad file, it will have all the layers. An option will be to input all these layer names one-by-one into the Layer Manager.

That is, can I import the Excel file into AutoCAD (2008) to show in my layer manager?

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You can import the layer list directly using layer states.

From AutoCAD, open the layer manager from one of your existing drawings, create a layer state, export it and open the .las file from windows explorer in notepad or wordpad.

From Excel, export the file as .txt tab delineated and open in notepad or wordpad and restructure it to follow suit with the .las file previously exported. When done, save the .txt file as .las

Go back into AutoCAD layer state manager and import your newly created .las

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Originally Posted by tlewald

You can import the layer list directly using layer states.

From AutoCAD, open the layer manager from one of your existing drawings, create a layer state, export it and open the .las file from windows explorer in notepad or wordpad.

From Excel, export the file as .txt tab delineated and open in notepad or wordpad and restructure it to follow suit with the .las file previously exported. When done, save the .txt file as .las

Go back into AutoCAD layer state manager and import your newly created .las

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Very cool. I didn't know you could do that. I knew you could export/import layer states, but I didn't know that the layers could come along for the ride. That could come in handy sometime. :beer: