Short description
Sort / Purpose: Interactively pick nested TEXT, MTEXT, DIMENSION, LEADER, and BLOCK entities, extract their text and send it to the clipboard, then clean up temporary copies.
• Scope: Works on nested entities inside blocks or references using CTC3 as a “pick-through” text exporter.
• Goal: Quickly grab text content from visually picked nested items, copy that text to the Windows clipboard, and automatically delete the intermediate copied entities from the drawing.
Command:
Command name: CTC3
How to run: Type CTC3 in the command line and begin picking nested entities.
• CTCCOPY: Runs automatically after picking finishes, collecting text and sending it to clipboard.
Description:
• Nested Picking: Lets the user select entities *inside* blocks or complex structures using NENTSELP.
• Entity Duplication: Each picked item is duplicated using ENTMAKEX so its text can be extracted independently.
• Transformation: Applies the exact nested transformation matrix so the copy matches the original nested orientation.
• Text Extraction: Reads text differently depending on entity type: TEXT, MTEXT, DIMENSION, LEADER, or BLOCK attributes.
• Clipboard Export: After finishing selections, CTCCOPY extracts text from all temporary copies and sends it to the Windows clipboard.
• Cleanup: Deletes all generated temporary entities after copying text so the drawing stays unchanged.
Helper function: (if any)
Internal helper functions:
• c:GetTextFromEntity: Extracts readable text depending on entity type (TEXT, MTEXT, DIMENSION, LEADER, BLOCK_REFERENCE).
• CTCCOPY: Collects all stored copied entities, extracts text, pushes it to clipboard, and deletes temp entities.
Key AutoLISP / COM functions:
• nentselp: Picks nested references inside blocks.
• entmakex / entdel: Creates and deletes temporary entities.
• vlax-tmatrix / transformBy: Applies nested transformation matrices.
• vlax-ename->vla-object: Required for dimension & leader text access.
• htmlfile COM object: Writes the cleaned result directly to Windows clipboard.
Functionalities:
• Nested Entity Picking: Supports selecting items inside block references with full transformation accuracy.
• Supported Types: TEXT, MTEXT, DIMENSION (with override or measurement), LEADER (via Annotation), and BLOCK attribute text.
• Temporary Copy System: Creates duplicates on the current layer for consistent extraction.
• Text Aggregation: Multiple selected entities produce a combined clipboard output, each separated by line breaks.
• Clipboard Automation: Automatically exports collected text into Windows clipboard without extra interaction.
• Cleanup Guarantee: All temporary entities are removed after copying, leaving the drawing unmodified.
Result:
Result: All text gathered from your picked nested entities is extracted, combined, and copied directly into the Windows clipboard.
• Accurate extraction: TEXT + MTEXT + DIMENSION override/measurement + LEADER annotation + BLOCK attributes.
• Fully automatic cleanup: All temporary entity copies used to extract text are deleted automatically.
• Clipboard-ready output: Final text is immediately paste-ready for Excel, Word, Notepad, emails, or documentation.
• Unmodified drawing: No permanent entities remain from the extraction process.
Copy code:
Images, animations etc.
Additional info:
Based on / Source code:
Open Website
Based on / Source code:
Open Website
Based on / Source code:
Open Website
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