Jeff --
Thinking I could avoid burden on the newsgroup, I sent a couple of response
emails to
[email protected] and they bounced back as "undeliverable" -- so
I'm resending the content via the newsgroup....
EMAIL 1 ---
For the last 19 years I've been designing custom database applications
(mainly for businesses) using an application development package called
"SmartWare".
SmartWare was originally created in the late '70s by a group in Kansas City.
It was "Windows" before "Windows" came along -- it contains an integrated
relational database, spreadsheet and wordprocessor that all talk to each
other (like Access, Excel, and Word).
SmartWare also has its own internal programming language that reminds me of
FORTRAN or BASIC (the languages I used in the late 60s).
Over the years, SmartWare has gone through about a dozen upgrades from an
original DOS version, to Windows and LINUX versions. SmartWare's literature
claims it is comparable to Oracle.
---------------------------
My commercial programming career is gradually fading out, and for the last 4
years I've been setting up and operating a "GIS department" for a small
non-profit organization that does land conservation work in the Ozarks (MO,
AR, KS, OK). I've written a number of SmartWare database applications for
the organization; I continue to upgrade these and write new apps.
So far, my use of AutoCAD Map (simple maps, and some blueprints for
construction) has not required any database connectivity, but SmartWare has
its own ODBC drivers, and because I think it may have application in the
future, I'm moving toward connecting it to AutoCAD... (SmartWare will also
export/import directly to a dBASE format which is (as I recall) one of the
"native" database formats recognized by AutoCAD).
For example, just a brief skimming of Scott McFarlane's "AutoCAD Database
Connectivity" makes me think I could accomplish the *automatic* insertion
and labeling of GPS waypoints with a database of these point (which database
already exists in SmartWare).
I'd love to be a LISP programmer, and have begun (twice) to learn it, but
it's a matter of "use it or lose it" -- I suspect that I wouldn't do enough
programming to retain syntax, strategy, etc.
And there's far too much "regular work" to do in my job as it is -- I *may*
be keeping even with the work load, but I'm certainly *not gaining* on the
backlog (there was no "GIS department" for the first 15 years of the
organization's existence).
I'll give your initial LISP routine "chg_undrln" a try and report back....
EMAIL 2 ---
FYI - I loaded and ran chg_undrln.lsp -- works very well! This will greatly
speed up my work. Thanks...!
Per my previous email, I will send a sample .dwg and a lat/long text file
for testing, but if you don't want to spend the time making the "automation"
work, we can stop with chg_undrln.lsp.
(As a programmer, it's hard to resist the temptation to automate
something -- when a client says "can you make it do xyz?", I generally have
to meet the challenge!)
--
John
)))))))
(o)-(o)
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John Cutler -- Mapping/GIS Director,
Ozark Regional Land Trust
(Ozark Bioregion - MO/AR/KS/OK)
2435 Sweetwater Lane
Mansfield MO 65704
(417) 741-7363
[email protected]