Update Data Link Location

[stusic]

Good Afternoon All,

Is there a way to update the path of a data link through LISP? I'd like to add data links, but the name of the excel file changes with each project.

Thanks!

-stu

[BlackBox]

Start here:

(dictsearch (namedobjdict) "ACAD_DATALINK")

[stusic]

Oh! It is possible! Thanks Render-youda-man!

[BlackBox]

Oh! It is possible! Thanks Render-youda-man!

Perhaps I spoke too soon:

Table object API not for VBA or Visual Lisp

I found AcDataLinkUpdateOption via VBA object browser but not much more. UpdateAllDataLinks and GetDataLink are not there. The VBA reference says UpdateAllDataLinks is a method on the Table object. This is also the case with AutoCAD 2010. I got confirmed via ADN that these APIs have been removed but the documentation was never updated. ObjectARX or AutoCAD .NET API are the way to go.

I also did try AutoLISP using (dictsearch (namedobjdict) "ACAD_DATALINK") and then entmod but there was a bug there that made it not work. The problem shows on assoc 302 where the value is duplicated when using entmod.

(setq grpList (dictsearch (namedobjdict) "ACAD_DATALINK"))
(setq i 1)
(while (setq grp (nth i grplist))
  (if (= (car grp) 3) (progn
   (setq en1 (cdr (nth (+ i 1) grplist)))
   (setq oldlist (entget en1))
   (princ (cdr (assoc 302 oldlist)))
   (entmod oldlist)
  ))
(setq i (+ 1 i))
)

Update regarding entmod. It is As Designed:

From the Help file. The following rules apply to dictionary objects:

Dictionary objects can be examined with entget and their xdata modified with entmod. Their entries cannot be altered with entmod. All access to their entries are made through the dictsearch and dictnext functions.
Dictionary entry contents cannot be modified through entmod, although xdata can be modified.
Dictionary entries that begin with ACAD* cannot be renamed.

[BlackBox]

This can however be done via the .NET API... As Kean demonstrates in this blog post.

[BlackBox]

This can however be done via the .NET API... As Kean demonstrates in this blog post.

The more I think about it, Kean's code can be used to derive a more generic LispFunction Method for allowing LISP to make this sort of change, and is perhaps a submission item worthy of being suggested in this thread:

New LISP Expressions created with .NET (VB or C#)

[stusic]

That is fantastic. I know zero .net, but your help (and research) is really appreciated. Btw, I wouldn't even know how to go about asking something like that in Peter's thread - that whole .Net stuff is greek to me. Geez, I'd shoot myself in the foot if LISP was a gun...