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Exp_Imp_NamedViews

Short description

🧭 AutoCAD AutoLISP utility for exporting and importing Named Views and related Visual Styles through a DCL dialog, predefined project folders, TXT files, and session aware folder handling.

Command:

ExpImpNVU, NVVIEWSIO, ExportViews, ImportViews, -ExportViews, -ImportViews

Description:

🧭 Exp_Imp_NamedViews is an AutoCAD LISP tool for transferring Named Views between drawings. It provides a dialog driven workflow for exporting current drawing view definitions to a TXT file and importing those saved view definitions back into another DWG.

📤 The export workflow scans the AutoCAD VIEW table, collects all named views, writes cleaned DXF data to a text file, and also exports linked VISUALSTYLE definitions once when a view references a visual style. This helps preserve view navigation settings and visual display configuration when moving view setups between drawings.

📥 The import workflow reads the exported TXT file, recreates VIEW records with entmake, rebuilds Visual Style records with entmakex where required, and writes the imported view names to the command line for quick verification.

🧰 The main DCL command ExpImpNVU provides radio buttons for Export NamedViews and Import NamedViews, a predefined folder popup, Explorer and Notepad++ helper buttons, a Reload button, and a Help dialog with clipboard support. It is designed for CAD users, Civil 3D teams, BIM coordinators, and CAD managers who need repeatable Named View transfer between project drawings.

💾 The tool remembers and reuses folders through a registry based workflow under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JTBWorld\viewsIO. It also supports GUI and command-line variants for both export and import.

Helper function: (if any)​

NV-isStr, NV-path-join, NV-trim, NV-last-dir, NV-set-last-dir, NV-dir-exists-p, NV-unique, NV-split, NV-to-str, NV-ascii-only, NV-for-copy, NV-clipboard-put, NV-persisted-is-predef-p, NV-get-export-startdir, NV-onedrive-roots, NV-resolve-under-any-root, NV-build-predefs, NV-pick-startdir, NV-open-explorer-fixed, NV-find-notepadpp, NV-open-npp-fixed, NV-reload-fixed, NV-write-dcl, NV-help-lines, NV-help-dialog, NVUI_show, NV-on-accept, NV-write-viewsIO-startdir, NV-dispatch, get-persisted-folder, save-persisted-folder, get-default-views-path, ExportViews, ImportViews, dropCodes

Functionalities:

🚀 Launches a dedicated Named Views import and export dialog with the ExpImpNVU command.
📤 Exports all named AutoCAD VIEW definitions from the active drawing to a TXT file.
🎨 Exports linked VISUALSTYLE definitions once when a Named View references a visual style.
📥 Imports saved VIEW and VISUALSTYLE records back into the active drawing.
📁 Offers predefined project folders for Named_Views locations such as Beu, La, Npl, and Bis.
🧭 Uses the drawing name as the suggested TXT filename for fast project based exports and imports.
💾 Persists the last folder through the Windows registry path HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JTBWorld\viewsIO.
🖥️ Provides helper buttons for opening the fixed LISP folder in Explorer and opening the LISP file in Notepad++.
🔄 Includes a reload helper for quickly reloading the fixed Exp_Imp_NamedViews LISP file during development.
📋 Includes a help dialog with copy selected, copy all, copy path, and Unicode toggle actions.
🧩 Supports GUI commands and command-line variants for scripted or manual workflows.
🛡️ Cleans handle, owner, and visual style link DXF codes during export so imported entities can be recreated safely.

Result:

✅ The result is a repeatable AutoCAD Named Views transfer workflow. Users can save Named Views from one drawing, import them into another drawing, preserve related Visual Styles, and standardize view navigation across project DWGs without manually recreating each view.

Images, animations etc.

Pixel

XAML code:

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<Bold>Function Syntax: ExpImpNVU</Bold>
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<Bold>Version: 1 Date: 02.10.2025</Bold>
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<Hyperlink>AI+https://jtbworld.com/autocad-viewsio-lsp</Hyperlink>
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<Bold><Run Foreground="DodgerBlue">Function Syntax: Exp_Imp_NamedViews</Run></Bold><LineBreak/>
<Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">Command Name:</Run></Bold> <Bold><Run Foreground="DarkRed">ExpImpNVU</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White">, </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="DarkRed">NVVIEWSIO</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White">, </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="DarkRed">ExportViews</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White">, </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="DarkRed">ImportViews</Run></Bold><LineBreak/>
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<Bold><Run Foreground="DodgerBlue">SEO Friendly Description</Run></Bold><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🧭 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">Exp_Imp_NamedViews</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> is an AutoCAD AutoLISP utility for exporting and importing Named Views between DWG drawings.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📤 The tool saves AutoCAD </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="DarkRed">VIEW</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> definitions to a TXT file and also captures linked </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="DarkRed">VISUALSTYLE</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> records when a view references a visual style.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📥 The import workflow recreates saved views with </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">entmake</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> and rebuilds visual style records with </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">entmakex</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> where required.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📌 This is useful for AutoCAD users, Civil 3D production teams, BIM coordinators, CAD managers, and drafting teams that need consistent view navigation across multiple project drawings.</Run><LineBreak/>
<LineBreak/>
<Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Main Workflow</Run></Bold><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🚀 Run </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">ExpImpNVU</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> to open the NamedViews Import/Export Tools Options dialog.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📤 Choose </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Export NamedViews</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> to write the drawing Named Views to a TXT file.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📥 Choose </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Import NamedViews</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> to read an exported TXT file and recreate the saved views in the current drawing.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📁 Select a predefined Named_Views folder such as </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">Beu Named_Views</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White">, </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">La Named_Views</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White">, </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">Npl Named_Views</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White">, or </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">Bis Named_Views</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> when available.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🧭 The suggested file name is based on the current DWG name, making project based view transfer easier.</Run><LineBreak/>
<LineBreak/>
<Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Functionalities</Run></Bold><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🧭 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Named View export</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - scans the AutoCAD VIEW table and writes saved views to an external TXT file.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🎨 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Visual Style support</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - exports linked VISUALSTYLE data once when a Named View references it.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📥 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Named View import</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - recreates VIEW records in the active drawing from the exported TXT data.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🧩 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">DXF cleanup logic</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - removes handle, owner, and link codes such as </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">5</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White">, </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">330</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White">, </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">348</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White">, and </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">360</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> before export so import can rebuild clean records.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📁 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Predefined folder picker</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - provides fast access to common Named_Views project folders.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">💾 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Registry folder memory</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - stores the last used folder under </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JTBWorld\viewsIO</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White">.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🖥️ </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Explorer helper</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - opens the fixed LISP support folder directly from the dialog.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📝 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Notepad++ helper</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - opens the fixed Exp_Imp_NamedViews LISP file for quick editing.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🔄 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Reload helper</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - reloads the fixed LISP file from the configured support path.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📋 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Help and clipboard tools</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - includes copy selected, copy all, copy path, and Unicode toggle tools in the help dialog.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">⌨️ </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="LimeGreen">Command-line alternatives</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - supports </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">-ExportViews</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> and </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">-ImportViews</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> for non-dialog workflows.</Run><LineBreak/>
<LineBreak/>
<Bold><Run Foreground="DodgerBlue">Important Commands and Helpers</Run></Bold><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🧰 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">ExpImpNVU</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - main DCL dialog command for choosing export or import mode.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🔁 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">NVVIEWSIO</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - alias that launches the same main dialog.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📤 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">ExportViews</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - GUI export command and core export routine name.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">📥 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">ImportViews</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - GUI import command and core import routine name.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">💾 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">save-persisted-folder</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> and </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">get-persisted-folder</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - store and read the last Named Views folder from the registry.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">🧩 </Run><Bold><Run Foreground="Orange">dropCodes</Run></Bold><Run Foreground="White"> - removes problematic DXF association codes before writing export data.</Run><LineBreak/>
<LineBreak/>
<Bold><Run Foreground="DodgerBlue">Practical Result</Run></Bold><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">✅ The final result is a faster AutoCAD workflow for reusing Named Views, transferring saved view setups, preserving related Visual Styles, standardizing drawing navigation, and reducing manual view recreation across project DWG files.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="LimeGreen">🚀 This SEO-friendly description highlights AutoCAD Named View export, Named View import, Visual Style transfer, DCL workflow automation, Civil 3D drafting productivity, and CAD standards management.</Run><LineBreak/>
<LineBreak/>
<Bold><Run Foreground="DarkRed">Important Notes</Run></Bold><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">⚠️ The helper buttons use a hard-coded fixed support folder, so the path should be adjusted before deploying on another workstation.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">⚠️ The TXT import file should be created by this tool. Manually edited or malformed view data may fail during import.</Run><LineBreak/>
<Run Foreground="White">⚠️ Some embedded help lines in the source appear inherited from a UCS import/export tool, but the implemented workflow exports and imports AutoCAD Named Views and Visual Styles.</Run><LineBreak/>


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Exp_Imp_NamedViews.xamlDownload XAML file

Additional info:

Based on / Source code: https://jtbworld.com/autocad-viewsio-lsp

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