What is the name of "ghost" objects that move with your cusror in the middle of a command?

[agnotta]

Hi,

I'm writing a LISP routine and don't know the name of what you call objects that visually move as you perform certain commands.

For example:
- For example, when you run a MOVE command, the original object stays put, but a "ghost" of it moves with your cursor until you commit to a location by clicking a new point.
- When you STRETCH, the original object stays put, but a "ghost" of it moves with your cursor until you commit to a location by clicking a new point.
- When you use DIMLINEAR, and click your start and endpoints, a "ghost" of the dim moves with your cursor until you commit to a location by clicking the final offset point.

What do you call these "ghost" objects, and what AutoLISP functions are available to write more complex "ghost" objects in the middle of commands, so the user can see a visual representation of a collection of objects that follows their cursor in the middle of a particular point of a custom AutoLISP routine?

2 cases where I would like to use this functionality:
- I would like to write a command that has the user click a few points for dim locations, then the script inserts the several generated DIMS at once, but the "ghost" of all of them together are visually stretched at the same time so the user can place the point once and get that visual assurance that they are placing the actual objects in the right location.
- I would like to write a command that has the user select several blocks at once from a DCL dialog, then the script visually shows "ghosts" of all of the blocks at once (which would visually behave just like a single block of all of the blocks inserted in a specific way together) so the user can get visual feedback when inserting these multiple blocks together where they may be inserting the blocks in areas that would conflict with other paperspace objects. I could rewrite this to have all of the blocks insert after the user guesses as to a point, but the visual experience would be much better if the user could visually see a "ghost" of several objects, specifically organized together in relative distances from each other, so that when the user clicks the insert point, it's visually clear that all of the objects will fit within the desired area on the plan.

Again, I understand I can write a script that just has the user click an unknown point and all of the objects are subsequently inserted, but that takes away from the visual benefit that commands like MOVE, COPY, STRETCH, and DIMLINEAR enjoy. DIMLINEAR is probably the best example of what I would like to do for custom objects because DIMs are complex objects made of several objects (lines, points, text) that move in relation to each other.

[BIG-AL]

for insert (command "-insert" "aaa" pause 1 1 0) the pause waits for input but drags the block. could add X Y scale and rotation as pause

For move
(setq ent (entsel "Pick object base point"))
(setq pt (car (cdr ent)))
(command "move" ent "" pt pause)