Recording Action Macros

When recording an action macro, you should be aware of the following:

• The current drawing settings used when recording an action macro are not completely retained by an action macro. To make sure that specific drawing settings are used during playback, record them as part of the action macro using the system variable name or the SETVAR command.
• While many commands are recorded, there are some commands that are not recorded. The commands that are not recorded are related to drawing file operations, working with the Action Recorder, and grip editing. The following table lists the commands that are not recorded by the Action Recorder.

  ACTSTOP	ACTUSERINPUT
  ACTUSERMESSAGE	-ACTUSERMESSAGE
  DXFIN	EXPORTLAYOUT
  FILEOPEN	NEW
  OPEN	PARTIALOPEN
  PRESSPULL	QNEW
  RECOVER	TABLEDIT
  VBAIDE	-VBALOAD
  VBALOAD	VBAMAN
  VBANEW	VBAPREF
  -VBARUN	VBARUN
  VBASTMT	VBAUNLOAD
  XOPEN	ACTBASEPOINT
  ACTMANAGER

• Actions recorded with the Action Recorder are limited to interactions with the Properties palette, Quick Properties palette, the Layer Modeless dialog box, and any user interface element that starts a command.

  Some of the user interface elements that start commands are: most tools on tool palettes, some actions in DesignCenter, and some tools on the status bars.

• When a view change occurs, that is not explicitly made by a command or coordinate change, (such as with the ViewCube, mouse wheel, or 3D Orbit), a View Change (Observation Change) node is added to the Action tree. You can delete a View Change node when recording is stopped. Upon deletion, during playback, you might be prompted to provide input or continue the playback because the view change did not occur. This might affect the creation of a selection set or the use of a command.
  NoteBefore deleting a View Change node, consider creating a copy of the original macro file since you cannot undo the deletion of the node.
• Changes to a dialog box are not recorded, but the dialog box is displayed during playback. Instead of using a dialog box during recording, use the command line version of the command to ensure that the action macro behaves consistently each time it is played back.
• Commands defined with AutoLISP and ObjectARX can be recorded with an action macro, but the command must be loaded before the action macro is played back. VBA macros and .NET assemblies can also be recorded as part of an action macro, but they must be loaded in order to be played back.
• Action macros cannot have the same name as a command that is already defined and loaded into AutoCAD.
• The direction of an arc segment created with the Arc option of the PLINE command is not played back correctly unless the Direction option is used to define the arc segment.
• While recording an action macro, you can record the current default value displayed on the command line or use the default value that is current when the action macro is played back. Pressing Enter without entering a specific value during recording, displays a dialog box where you select to use the current value during recording or the default value at playback.
• While recording the TABLE command, the creation of the table is recorded but any edits made to the cells of the table are not recorded.

Editing an Action Macro

When editing an action macro, the action macro files that are found in the paths defined by the system variables ACTRECPATH and ACTPATHare loaded. If more than one action macro file has the same name, the first action macro file that is found is loaded into the Action Recorder. The other files with the same names are ignored and not loaded.

To identify the path of a loaded action macro, select the action macro from the Action Macros drop-down list and expand the Action Recorder panel. Right-click the action macro’s node in the Action tree and click Properties. In the Action Macro dialog box, the path to the action macro file is displayed in the Folder Path text box.

Playing Back an Action Macro

When playing back an action macro, you should be aware of the following:

• When playing back an action macro, the results of an action macro may vary from those achieved when initially recording the action macro due to differences between the drawing settings in the current drawing and the one open when the action macro was recorded.
• When playing back an action macro that displays a dialog box, the macro will pause and wait until the dialog box is dismissed after changes are made. If the dialog box is canceled, the macro will continue to play back but the results may differ from those expected.
• When playing back an action macro that contains commands defined with AutoLISP, ObjectARX, or .NET assemblies, playback of the action macro will fail if the files that define the commands are not loaded. If an action macro references a VBA macro, the playback of the action macro will fail if the project file is not loaded.

Exchanging Action Macros

When exchanging action macros with others, you should be aware of the following:

• Action macros recorded with one of the AutoCAD based vertical products may not play back correctly based on the commands that were used when the action macro was recorded.
• Action macros may not play back correctly when recorded in one language of AutoCAD and then played back with a different language of AutoCAD.