Converting Excel data to Acad DXF

[tim216]

Doe anyone know of a link that explains how to convert an excel 97/2000 file into autocad dxf file. Any help from all you experts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Tim

 

[prex]

Very broad question!
You should specify first of all what kind of data you have in the Excel file (coordinates? data defining entities of different types? graphical objects?) and perhaps also your goal (what kind of drawing from what kind of data/application?).
I think you'll need to write your own program in Visual Basic: at the least it will be a cumbersome task. prex

http://www.xcalcs.com

Online tools for structural design

 

[pardal]

There is xls2acad , it make a dxf format table .

contact me at k281969@hotmail.com
Pardal

 

[Bayou]

If the data in excel is just coordinates,
you can actually cut and paste from excel to autocad.
You will however have to set up a column for "x,y".
eg.
the column you copy and paste into acad would have the
follow formula if X is in column A & Y is in column B:
A1&","&B1

 

[tim216]

I am trying to import coordinate data of x & y into acad R12. I could write a vb app in 2002 but that would defeat the learning requirement that I have set. I guess what i am looking for is some type of an example to make my code save the coords into a dxf format that can be opened in R12. I figure if I can tackle that hurdle then any thing else should be easy. Even if this becomes a laborous project that is fine since this has become my hobby and I am learning as I go.

Tim

 

[pardal]

Tim , I can send you the file I had downloded , send me your e-mail at
k281969@hotmail.com

you could use it to learn

Pardal Pardal

 

[pardal]

here it is

http://www.idealeng.com/xls2dxf3.htm

Pardal

 

[gearguru]

Tim,
If all what you need is to create curves using precalculated coordinates, you can create a simple script (*.scr file).
You'll find more about it in the ACAD forum or in the ACAD manuals, I learned about it the forum and used it couple times. It also works in ACAD LT.
gearguru

 

[prex]

If you really want to learn, then your best choice should be:
1)Make a sample drawing with a [tt]POLYLINE[/tt] in layer [tt]0[/tt](supposing this is the only entity you want to import)
2)Output the corresponding .dxf
3)Load the .dxf in a text only word processor and look at its structure, that you should study, at least the basics, on the manual
4)Discard the [tt]SECTION 'HEADER'[/tt] (unless you want to keep some special settings) and the [tt]SECTION 'BLOCKS'[/tt], thus keeping only the [tt]SECTION 'ENTITIES'[/tt].
5)Write a program in Excel that reads in your coordinates and reproduces the file structure as you obtained in the previous step. Note that it might be simpler for you to discard Excel and use a plain text file to store your coordinates: a simple program written in any language (I suggest Perl) will do the job. prex

http://www.xcalcs.com

Online tools for structural design

 

[tim216]

I was going through a manual from and old version of Sokia map that I had shelved and found the basic format that they used for dxf input. Since I already have code to save my coords to a text file as a csv I pretty much came to the same deduction as gearguru suggest to write a script file and just import that from acad. As much as I am trying to learn excel programing I dont feel I need to reinvent the wheel 100%. Plus a script routine seem to be the simplest of all the options.
Thanks for all the great tips.

Tim