Script to read block name, copy name and enter as text

QCAD Professional QCAD Script Programming & Contributions
21

I think you’d be hard pressed to find a teacher anywhere in the world who would consider LLM output as a legitimate homework submission, but I digress since the QCAD forum doesn’t have a rule against not doing your homework before posting. Lucky you. It should. For the record, doing your homework in this context would mean that you know Javascript already; have read through all of the QCAD API programming tutorials; got at least a bare minimum development environment set up so you could edit the code and see the edit’s effect in QCAD; searched through the forum to find threads similar in scope to what you’re looking for; and at least tried to solve it yourself.

So you didn’t slowly push CVH’s script away from the thread subject in the direction of xref functionality? You also did all of what I said above before posting? Also, your thread is currently unsolved. Anyone viewing your thread now and in the future won’t get any practical information as to a “Script to read block name, copy name and enter as text”. If you are indeed “not a “taker””, you might want to make a detailed post to help anyone who views this thread. Needing this to be explained is a bad sign though… :unamused:

I don’t know either! I know he means well and it is coming from a good place but he hurt everyone involved responding this way. He hurt himself by communicating his time isn’t worth anything. Hell, I have a laundry list of scripts I’m working on. If it is free, I can keep him busy. He hurt me because if it is free then that means my time spent learning the QCAD API was a waste of time. Not to mention having to waste my time on worthless back and forth about how my comment applies to a knowledgeable coder coding something in private. He hurt the community because, as of this post, anyone who reads through this thread will be wasting their time and not even get an answer by the time they reach the end and also because it is free for you and not for them and his time could’ve been spent working on QCAD itself. And, last but not least, he hurt you because a “Script to read block name, copy name and enter as text” is the perfect first script for someone to try to write. That opportunity is now lost for you. :frowning:

If you’ve sent PMs to him through the course of him writing this script for you, then you have both private and professional communication with him. You’re striking me as the kind of person who says one thing while doing something different. :unamused:

This seems like a goofy comparison to try to make while you’re coding things in private and when the script CVH wrote for you is still being kept private. :unamused: I’m assuming this is in response to my suggestion that CVH bill you for his time? You don’t charge for your time working on other people’s projects? If it’s not all about money then that means you’re doing CAD work for free for people, right?

22

The Why? is easy and twofold.
I saw potential in the tool request and Rolinger indicated that he was not very familiar with QCAD scripting.

The only way to know what Block a Block Reference is showing is to select it and verify it in the Property Editor.
Scrolling down may be required.
A simple preview of the Block name label when pointing near it is far more easier.
Creating it permanently is not really required but labeling Block References is always an option.

The question Why off-forum? is also easy to answer.
As shown in the video contributed by Rolinger (Thank you) it is a bare minimum.
A quick draft to show how the request could be coded as an all inclusive interactive tool .

For one, Rolinger asked to use the Text Dialog attributes and that may not be the first choice for any user.
The current state is that it includes a preference page to configure those things:
Default font + style, by Text Dialog attributes or by Dimension preferences falling back on defaults when not specified.
Among several other preferences aside from the tool options.

From the start I intended to include a Wipeout entity so that the label text was always readable wherever it was displayed.
This is a novel thing in QCAD and not well documented to start with, see Reference.
My last post there (7/3/2025) indicates that other fixes were still required.

I need to wait at least for the upcoming release of QCAD before publishing it.
See QCAD Changelog after v3.32.2. In detail: FS#2649 (11/03/2025), FS#2650, FS#2651 and FS#2654.

Meanwhile included a curve instead of a hard corner for the Leader.
Included Selection Groups IDs to select and manipulate a label as a whole.
Automatic labeling all/all selected and that may include a database for offsets and positions if you add that yourself.
…

But one thing can never be solved because all entities are unrelated to other content: Labels on top of other labels.
And that will be the biggest hurdle for setting up a personal custom database.


@333onlyhalfevil,
I regard your partly accusatory comments as misplaced frustrations because the tool has not yet been shared publicly.

“Figure it out for yourself” is not a productive answer in any case.

I don’t consider myself as a thief or any other user as a ‘taker’.
Ifso, then never reply on anything because you are spending your previous time on someone others behalf.

Asking for answers based on little to no input and sharing nothing at all with the community is very selfish.
The community is there to solve things together.
If I solve yours or others, don’t blame me for that.

As soon there is a follow up for v3.32.2. it will be published.
No one but Andrew can force that process.

Regards,
CVH

23

I’m not frustrated about this as it’s a tool that’s similar to one I already have.

What I’m frustrated about is that you’re not getting the points that I’m making. :unamused: What’s frustrating is having to go back and forth with you 10 times defending a comment that was meant for newbies coding a script based on the thread title themselves. Until you release it, other people have to code it themselves. You are not the only person on this forum. The comment I made about the database was meant for newbies, not you. How is that so hard to understand? ::pissed off emoji they don’t have:: Do you really not understand the separation between public and private? You’re still replying about the public database comment as it relates to your private script. Like, come on. Really? :unamused:

And there’s only so much time in the day and I don’t like seeing someone who has been helping me having someone take free coding services from them for free. The fundamental difference between posting help on a forum and coding scripts in private is that the posts on the forum benefit the community as a whole and coding scripts in private benefits Rolinger only. Private coding services is a skill that people go to work and charge money for. You can code things for people for free if you want, I don’t care that much. But you might want to notice when someone is sticking up for you.

I never said this. I said for someone to show that they’ve at least tried to figure it out themselves first. Big difference.

No one said you were a thief. You don’t want to view another user as a taker because you’re the one getting taken from. Again, there’s a difference between public and private. Please make that distinction. Public replies help everyone. Private replies help 1 person. Notice the difference. I’m talking down about the private help for free and you’re trying to blanket my reply over everything that’s both public and private. If YoU dOnT cOdE tHiNgS fOr PeOpLe FoR fReE iN pRiVaTe ThEn YoU mIgHt As WeLl NoT rEpLy To AnYtHiNg At AlL. :unamused: When you reply in public on a forum you’re contributing to the community. When you code something for someone in private, you are working for them as a free coding consultant. There’s a big difference.

Is this meant at me or Rolinger or in general? I’ve posted good information as follow ups to most of my threads. I’ve also tried to post help multiple times on multiple different threads and you’ve argued with me about my replies more than once. Don’t dominate the forum and argue with people about their posts and then call people selfish for “sharing nothing at all with the community”. There’s only so much that can be said on these threads. You posting a big giant thing as a reply doesn’t make everyone else selfish for not saying anything.

24

Your original reply started out on a positive note, but that changed drastically along the way …

It remains my choice NOT to make something public that is not yet fully supported.
For that I filed several Bug Reports and all have the status fixed.
‘Fixed’ by Andrew does not mean that your copy of QCAD is up to date.

In the meantime, I’m simply waiting for the RWipeoutEntity resources to be fixed in a newer version of QCAD.

  • = - = - = - = -

I never hesitated to share: comments, thoughts, insights, solutions or whatever unless too custom or proprietary.
It would be as simple as asking for a preliminary issue … Off-forum of course.
Two part-time script developers may be more successful when working together.

Regards,
CVH