AutoCELL is a FLEXIBLE ActiveX Information Engine that provides a linkage between AutoCAD properties and Microsoft Excel. Areas, volumes, lengths, and quantity takeoff are dynamically updated on demand as the drawing changes.

Note: This tool is not designed to pull tables of information from Excel into the drawing.  For this capability, see XL2CAD.

Flexibility is the key element that makes this tool usable for all environments:

• Bill of Materials (BOM)
• Quantity Takeoff
• Drill Schedules
• Property Lot Reports
• Solid Modeling Data
• Linked 2-way Attribute Extraction
• Expression Editor

AutoCELL offers a batch mode (explained below) for automatically establishing dozens or hundreds of links at a time in rows or columns. However many times the user want to add selective individual links. The AutoCELL Expression Manager was designed to handle this situation. Simply place AutoCAD and Excel side-by-side on the desktop and place the Excel cell pointer on the cell where you would like to add a linked rule. The AutoCELL Expression Manager and Excel essentially 'talk' to each other through the ActiveX channel.

With this easy to use dialog you can simply click between Excel and AutoCELL, establishing links quickly and easily with complete control over the results.

Data Integrity & Portability

AutoCELL keeps all relational information inside the DWG. The data table is stored inside a dictionary in the drawing made possible with R14 drawings. The pointers to the individual objects is made through the use of unique signatures applied to the objects referenced. We do not use the volatile AutoCAD handle for reference to objects as these can change when a drawing is wblocked and/or inserted into another drawing.

Rather than considering the volatile 'relative' cell naming (A1, C3, etc) of Excel we chose to implement 'named' cells. With unique names assigned to the spreadsheet cells means that you can insert/delete any number of columns/rows within the spreadsheet, and still maintain an absolute pointer to the proper cell on update. AutoCELL even takes care of all cell naming for you.

Eventually named objects may need to be inserted into another drawing or be wblocked out. To allow the definition rules to follow these named objects we provide for the export of the expression rules to an external file. That file can then be imported into the drawing acquiring the referenced objects. Since the object signatures are unique, the imported rules begin working again as though the objects and rules were never separated.

Excel "Wake Up Call"

You obviously have to launch Excel and open the appropriate spreadsheets when you are in the process of creating links. However, when you step back into a drawing with AutoCELL link information, simply issue AutoCELL's Update option. AutoCELL will proceed to 'wake up' Excel, open all referenced workbooks and update the cells. Keep in mind that a single drawing can reference and update several (no known limit) workbooks.

Batch Table Building

AutoCELL's Batch Mode is an exciting option when you have a lot of objects you wish to export and link. This allows you to fill in an entire table by exporting selected properties of an entire selection set of objects. An example of the batch mode dialog is shown below.

Note that when presented with this dialog you can highlight a property on the list on the left, and 'throw' it over to the output list on the right. This allows you to specify the export fields in the order you would like them to appear in the spreadsheet. When all inserts selected are of the same insert type, all attributes of the selection set are available for linked export.

Two advanced batch options exist for block counts, each includes options to ignore batch expression if it evaluates to zero. For example if there are no occurances of a particular block it will not appear in the spreadsheet and no expression is generated.

• BlockCount: Count all selected blocks with optional block name in 2nd column. 
• BlkCntByLayer: Counts of all selected blocks on all selected layers with optional block/layer name in 2nd/3rd column.

2-Way Linkage

Keep in mind that all 'push' expressions that AutoCELL is able to process do not lend themselves to reverse flow. For example while AutoCELL is able to push the total area of a given layer, there is no logical way to change the geometry if the area number is changed in the spreadsheet. Therefore a limited set of expressions can flow backward (pulled). These are listed below.

• Insert Position X/Y/Z and All Attributes
• Circle Center X/Y/Z and Radius/Diameter
• Line Start & End X/Y/Z
• Point Node X/Y/Z

User Properties (XDATA)

To maintain a human relationship between the AutoCAD object and its position in the spreadsheet often requires additional data to be linked to the object, allowing the user to add their own 'user' properties. This is thoroughly implemented in AutoCELL using a totally flexible XDATA system. It was implemented on a simple name key and value approach. You can assign these individually for unique fields (such as part or room number) or to a selection set that shares the property (like material or floor number). In the batch dialog above, PART-NUM, MATERIAL, and WEIGHT-PER-UNIT were examples of these user properties. These user properties are attached to the objects as XDATA, and stay with the object until removed. Extensive tools have been created to manage these user properties.

Drill Schedule Example

Given a drawing with circles representing the holes to be drilled, the designer would need to extract the center coordinates of each of the circles, as well as the radius to make a table. Even on a simple example such as this the user would take several minutes listing each circle and entering it into the schedule, also being subject to human error.

This same collection could be exported to an Excel spreadsheet in seconds with AutoCELL's batch mode. Simply position the cell pointer in Excel, window off the circles, and choose CENTER and RADIUS for the export fields. The best part is that the cells are linked to the original geometry, and as these holes move or change, the spreadsheet can be instantly updated with the new values.

Water Distribution Network

Many times in a quantity takeoff situation the results are not a reflection of a single object, but rather a summation of a given layer. In a water distribution network for example, you may want to export the total length of all objects on a layer, or the count of certain blocks. Take the following rules for example.

• SYSVAR.DWGNAME
• LAYER(6IN-WL).HLENGTH
• LAYER(8IN-WL).HLENGTH
• LAYER(12IN-WL).HLENGTH
• BLOCK(TEE).CNTLYR(JOINTS)
• BLOCK(ELBOW).CNTLYR(JOINTS)
• BLOCK(CROSS).CNTLYR(JOINTS)
• LAYER(6IN-WL-PROPOSED).HLENGTH
• LAYER(8IN-WL-PROPOSED).HLENGTH
• LAYER(12IN-WL-PROPOSES).HLENGTH
• BLOCK(TEE).CNTLYR(JOINTS-PROPOSED)

In relation to the drawing represented below, the designers wish to track expenses on existing systems. However, more importantly they wanted to calculate the projected cost of a proposed addition to the system on the south side. With the ability to report lengths of all geometry on individual layers, the piping costs could easily be calculated. AutoCELL also gives you the ability to report the count of block inserts (in this case the pipe fittings) on an individual layer basis.

The flexibility of AutoCELL to separate the work based on layers allows multiple scenario's such as existing and proposed cost analysis. An example spreadsheet that was 'driven' by the drawing above.

Solid Object Properties

While AutoCAD has some very interesting abilities with regard to 3DSOLIDS, the ability to export the information on these objects has been minimal. The AutoCAD MASSPROP command will give you information, but writing it to a file and parsing it into something useful is a job within itself.

With the availability of all of the 3DSOLID information in the ActiveX properties, you now can have access to this information and export it to your spreadsheets quickly, easily, and most important, accurately.

Linked Attribute Extraction

It is a common practice to export attribute values to Excel, but the problem lies when the attribute value changes in the drawing. With AutoCELL's ability to export and most importantly link, the spreadsheet can quickly be updated when attributes change.

Additional Information

Architectural Desktop Support:

AutoCELL provides the ability to export and link AEC Object properties. In addition to the ability to export the count of objects such as doors (all or bylayer), it supports all the properties AEC_DOOR, AEC_MASS_ELEM, AEC_OPENING, AEC_RAILING, AEC_ROOF, AEC_SPACE, AEC_SPACEBOUNDARY, AEC_STAIR, AEC_WALL, and AEC_WINDOW objects.

Object Lookup from Cell:

Place the Excel cursor in a cell and issue this command. It will report all link information about the selected cell, and zoom the referenced object (if applicable) to the center of the viewport.

User Lisp API:

Contains 7 useful callable functions allowing the user to directly manipulate the spreadsheet.

User Comments:

• "AutoCELL has been an invaluable link to Excel, and the linked attribute export opens up a whole new realm of possibilities." Robert C. Lowery, Architect
• "I am a very satisfied user of AutoCELL 1.0. The program has proved to be very useful in the programming of our CNC equipment. It has effectively taken the place of a $5000 program which we thankfully didn't buy." Brett Van Sciver, Theodore E. Mozer Co.

Important: Requires Microsoft Excel 97 or higher.

Details:Property List

Works with:

• AutoCAD 2007 Based Products (excluding LT)
• AutoCAD 2004-2006 Based Products (excluding LT)
• AutoCAD 2000-2002 Based Products (excluding LT)

Product Support: Email & Discussion Group Support

Price: Only $95

Before You Buy:

• Consider that this is a single function of ToolPac.