Quick Way to Change Background Color 1

[idesign73]

I am running AutoCAD 14.01 and need a way to quickly change my background color from black to white, and back to black again (without going through all the dialog boxes). Is there a way to change the status of a system variable to edit-able if it is read only (ie: CurrentProfile)? Is there a way to write a lisp routine to go behind the scenes and change that for me with a push of a button. I would like to be able to create two buttons, one for turning the screen white, and one for turning it back to black. Is this do-able?
Thanks!

 

[CarlB]

Here's a lisp example to change background color, discussed in forum at

http://www.cadalog.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=15692&start=0.

---------------------------------------------------

try this..

(setq DisplayObj
(vla-get-Display
(vla-get-Preferences
(vlax-get-acad-object)
)))
(vlax-put-property DisplayObj 'GraphicsWinModelBackgrndColor 131)

(vlax-release-object DisplayObj)


the 131 is your color...so is the value to change if you want..

 

[Exxit]

...or You toggle by lisp:

Lothar

(defun C:ToggleColors ()
(cond ((= 1 (getvar "tilemode&quot)
(ax:ToggleMsBackground)
(ToggleMsCrosshair)
)
((= 0 (getvar "tilemode&quot)
(ax:TogglePsBackground)
(TogglePsCrosshair)
)
)
(princ)
)
;;
(defun ax:ToggleMSBackground (/ prefDisplay)
(vl-load-com)
(setq
prefDisplay
(vla-get-Display
(vla-get-Preferences (vlax-get-acad-object))
)
color (vlax-variant-value
(vlax-variant-change-type
(vla-get-GraphicsWinModelBackgrndColor prefDisplay)
vlax-vbLong
)
)
)
(vla-put-GraphicsWinModelBackgrndColor
prefDisplay
(vlax-make-variant
(if (= color 0) ; 0 ist schwarz
16777215
0 ; 0 ist schwarz
)
vlax-vbLong
)
)
(princ)
)
;;
(defun ax:TogglePSBackground (/ prefDisplay)
(vl-load-com)
(setq
prefDisplay
(vla-get-Display
(vla-get-Preferences (vlax-get-acad-object))
)
color (vlax-variant-value
(vlax-variant-change-type
(vla-get-GraphicsWinLayoutBackgrndColor prefDisplay)
vlax-vbLong
)
)
)
(vla-put-GraphicsWinLayoutBackgrndColor
prefDisplay
(vlax-make-variant
(if (= color 0) ; wenn er schwarz ist
16777215 ; mach ihn weiß
0 ; mach ihn schwarz
)
vlax-vbLong
)
)
(princ)
)
;;
(defun ToggleMSCrosshair (/ prefDisplay)
(vl-load-com)
(setq
prefDisplay
(vla-get-Display
(vla-get-Preferences (vlax-get-acad-object))
)
color (vlax-variant-value
(vlax-variant-change-type
(vla-get-ModelCrosshairColor prefDisplay)
vlax-vbLong
)
)
)
(vla-put-ModelCrosshairColor
prefDisplay
(vlax-make-variant
(if (= color 0) ; wenn er schwarz ist
16777215 ; mach ihn weiß
0 ; mach ihn schwarz
)
vlax-vbLong
)
)
(princ)
)
(defun TogglePSCrosshair (/ prefDisplay)
(vl-load-com)
(setq
prefDisplay
(vla-get-Display
(vla-get-Preferences (vlax-get-acad-object))
)


color (vlax-variant-value
(vlax-variant-change-type
(vla-get-LayoutCrosshairColor prefDisplay)
vlax-vbLong
)
)
)
(vla-put-LayoutCrosshairColor
prefDisplay
(vlax-make-variant
(if (= color 0) ; wenn er schwarz ist
16777215 ; mach ihn weiß
0 ; mach ihn schwarz
)
vlax-vbLong
)
)
(princ)
)

 

[idesign73]

CarlB, I tried copying and pasting the code into Notepad. I saved it as a .lsp file and loaded it into autocad. It loads it, but I get an error:
Command: _appload
Loading C:\colorchange2.lsp ...
Error: null function*Cancel*

Any suggestions?

 

[smcadman]

The original poster requested a toggle for AutoCAD 14.01, and I do not have r14 on this computer, but I believe vla-vlax only work in ACAD 2k and up.
Below is a toggle for a black screen with white crosshairs, and vise-versa.

;;Background color changer 
;;Gary Maze, SMC Corporation of America 
;;11/27/02 
;; 
;;modified by Miklos Fuccaro 
;;mfuccaro@hotmail.com 
;;November 2003 
;;
;; put this in a macro button to toggle screen color:
;; ^C^C(if c:toggle_BackGround_color (princ)(load "toggle_BackGround_color")) toggle_BackGround_color
;;
(defun c:toggle_BackGround_color() 
  (defun wb () ;;white background 
    (setq whitebackground T) 
    (setq acadobject (vlax-get-acad-object)) 
    (setq acadpref (vlax-get-property acadobject 'preferences)) 
    _(setq acaddisp (vlax-get-property acadpref 'display)) 
    _ _ _(vlax-put-property acaddisp 'GraphicsWinmodelBackgrndColor 16777215) 
    _ _ _(vlax-put-property acaddisp 'ModelCrosshairColor 0) 
    ) 

(defun bb () ;; black background 
  (setq whitebackground nil) 
  _(setq acadobject (vlax-get-acad-object)) 
  _(setq acadpref (vlax-get-property acadobject 'preferences)) 
  _(setq acaddisp (vlax-get-property acadpref 'display)) 
  _ (vlax-put-property acaddisp 'GraphicsWinmodelBackgrndColor 0) 
  _ (vlax-put-property acaddisp 'ModelCrosshairColor 16777215) 
  _) 

  (if whitebackground (bb) (wb)) 
  )

Flores

 

[idesign73]

I believe smcadman is correct. I have an AutoLisp programming book here, and VL, VLAX is not mentioned anywhere. Does anyone know how to do this without using VL-VLAX?

 

[CarlB]

Another way is with environment variables.
To set background to black use (setenv "Background" "0&quot
and for white (setenv "Background" "16777215&quot. Note that the variable name is case sensitive. On my machine (using R2002) I had to toggle between modelspace and layout mode for change to take effect, which if needed you could include in the lisp routine/button.

 

[CarlB]

The "Background" variable changes just the model space background, so your crosshairs will "disappear" (same color as background). Other variables you'll need:

"Layout background" - background color in layout mode. note the space
"XhairPickboxEtc" - crosshair color in modelspace
"LayoutXhairPickboxEtc" - crosshair color in layout mode