civil design

[chrisw.94380]

I have this same issue posted in the vba forum but am posting it here also to see if it is easier solved using autolisp. Right now my company has a limited number of licenses for civil design and I would like to get a lisp or macro that will solve a problem I am having. Some of the users here will have civil design loaded even when they are not using it or leave their computer on when they leave the office. The solution that I came up with is this. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have figured out what I want to do. I want a macro that will load civil design when it is ran. Also every hour have a window pop up asking you if you are still using civil design with a yes or no button. There will be a 5 minute timer that starts when this window pops up and if there is no input of yes or no then it will unload civil design. And this command would be ran from the command line which would load civil design and then start the timer. Just trying to see if this is easier to do in lisp.

[Opie]

Would this be better solved with a network license version of your software? I believe this type of install would allow you to revoke any idle seats. I have not used a network version so I am not completely sure on this.

[chrisw.94380]

Yes we only have 7 network licenses but after looking into it what happens is anytime you use a civil design command, civil design stays loaded until you exit that drawing or unload it manually. I am not sure how to go about this so that a progam would detect when civil design is used.

[Opie]

Can you have the network license manager revoke any of the licenses?

[chrisw.94380]

That would be an option but the person who has access is in another office. Also I would not know if that person was really using the license or not. If anyone has any other suggestions even outside of writing a lisp routine or macro let me know.

[Opie]

Are they in a physically seperate building / office or are they just in another office within the same building?

Is there a routine to check in the civil design? You may be able to write a routine to automatically check it back into the server after the command has been completed for a period of time. I think that is what you are trying to do here.

[chrisw.94380]

Yes that is what I am trying to do. Some people are using a command one time but then the civil license is tied up until they close the drawing. I would like something that would unload civil design after a period of time but would ask the user if they were still using it or not. I would like to set a timer for the window that would ask the user if they were using it or not in case they are not at their desk or at lunch. If there are any questions or if this doesnt make sense let me know.

[chrisw.94380]

I've been trying to look for a timing command. Something that would run the commad "unloadcd" after a certain period of time. Also how do I get the lisp to run when a civil design command is ran. I know now that I just want this command to run as soon as a civil design command is used and if one isn't used within 10 minutes then it will unload civil design.

[ccowgill]

I've been trying to look for a timing command. Something that would run the commad "unloadcd" after a certain period of time. Also how do I get the lisp to run when a civil design command is ran. I know now that I just want this command to run as soon as a civil design command is used and if one isn't used within 10 minutes then it will unload civil design.

Try searching this forum for Auto save, Peter posted a code that performs an auto save every 10 minutes, you can probably use this for a jumping off point

  (setq	sngCdate (atof
		   (substr
		     (rtos
		       (variant-value
			 (vla-getvariable
			   (vla-get-activedocument
			     (vlax-get-acad-object)
			   )
			   "cdate"
			 )
		       )
		       2
		       4
		     )
		     1
		   )
		 )
  )
  (if sngCdateOld
    (if	(or (>= (- sngCdate sngCdateOld) 0.0010);  this is the line that determines 10 minues .0001 is 1 minute and .01 is an hour
	    (< (- sngCdate sngCdateOld) 0.0)
	)

[rkmcswain]

Are they in a physically seperate building / office or are they just in another office within the same building?

Is there a routine to check in the civil design? You may be able to write a routine to automatically check it back into the server after the command has been completed for a period of time. I think that is what you are trying to do here.

Opie, we have been down this road before. I'm not sure why duplicating the post was necessary

ChrisW, IMHO - you have wasted more billable time in search of a free answer than it would cost to hire out your request. There are many talented VBA/Lisp programmers out there that would probably be willing to fulfill your request.