Mastering AutoCAD VBA

Rating:
Summary: 4 Stars for beginners ...3- for everyone else
Review: Clear, simple code and very basic operations make this a good primer for those just starting. In order to actually write the app you had in mind, you will need much more information( Joe Sutphin's book at least). Even on a beginners level much is left out --- filtering selection sets, DXF codes, classes, .DLL's, the API, just for starters. As a low end intermediate user the book is a disappointment, but I'll keep it anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended for beginners
Review: The book assumes the reader is a novice at both AutoCAD and VBA. This is good, since other books seem to assume a lot of prior knowledge. Certain topics which would seem to demand more explanation, such as a transformation matrix, are left without any. Still, I recommend this book for beginner.

Rating:
Summary: For AutoCAD Novices with Lots of Time
Review: Yes, this book is for beginners, but geared more toward AutoCAD (and perhaps programming) novices rather than toward those wishing to systematically learn and employ VBA in AutoCAD. This is in contradisctinction to its back cover description, which says "[this book] is written specifically for AutoCAD users." (And the book description in the editorial above is even more misleadling!) Topics and headings are arranged around AutoCAD, not around VBA, as though the subject is AutoCAD, not VBA. In addition, code may reference other code from two or three chapters back, but with needed intermediate changes found only one or two chapters back. Too many such 'goto' statements make this book tedious even for someone wanting to focus his new VBA skills on a particular aspect of AutoCAD. The reader is forced to delve into every chapter in order to gain just one or two necessary--but unlabeled--points about VBA buried within the pages. (And don't expect the accompanying CD to be of any help here. Instead of including the necessary VBA projects--.dvb files--it merely includes the listings in the chapters as text, sans the changes needed to make 'em work!) I'm still looking for the book that will lead one through VBA (with bold references to important steps) using AutoCAD as the teaching environment. If the author had paid more attention to the VBA side of the equation, I'm sure I would have given this book a much higher rating. It would appear that this book (written by a professor) was really designed to supplement a semester course in learning some basics of AutoCAD with reference to VBA. It needs major input from an instructor. It certainly can't do the job by itself.

Rating:
Summary: For AutoCAD Novices with Lots of Time
Review: Yes, this book is for beginners, but geared more toward AutoCAD (and perhaps programming) novices rather than toward those wishing to systematically learn and employ VBA in AutoCAD. This is in contradisctinction to its back cover description, which says "[this book] is written specifically for AutoCAD users." (And the book description in the editorial above is even more misleadling!) Topics and headings are arranged around AutoCAD, not around VBA, as though the subject is AutoCAD, not VBA. In addition, code may reference other code from two or three chapters back, but with needed intermediate changes found only one or two chapters back. Too many such 'goto' statements make this book tedious even for someone wanting to focus his new VBA skills on a particular aspect of AutoCAD. The reader is forced to delve into every chapter in order to gain just one or two necessary--but unlabeled--points about VBA buried within the pages. (And don't expect the accompanying CD to be of any help here. Instead of including the necessary VBA projects--.dvb files--it merely includes the listings in the chapters as text, sans the changes needed to make 'em work!) I'm still looking for the book that will lead one through VBA (with bold references to important steps) using AutoCAD as the teaching environment. If the author had paid more attention to the VBA side of the equation, I'm sure I would have given this book a much higher rating. It would appear that this book (written by a professor) was really designed to supplement a semester course in learning some basics of AutoCAD with reference to VBA. It needs major input from an instructor. It certainly can't do the job by itself.