Here is a macro combined with a couple of scripts that I wrote this week. What it does is import data from another drawing (containing street names in this case) with a Map 3D query based on a rectangular area.

The Macro:

^C^Cscript;P:/GIS/XREF-CITY-MAP.scr;(alert "Pick two diagonal points to define the import area.");(setq firstp (getpoint "Pick first point: "));\(setq secondp (getpoint "Pick second point: "));\script;P:/GIS/IMPORT-STREETNAMES.scr;

I’ll break it down for you.

The first part of the macro…

script;P:/GIS/XREF-CITY-MAP.scr;

…XREFs a map into the drawing so you can visually pan and zoom to your location. Here is the contents of “XREF-CITY-MAP.scr”:

-layer
n
X-BASE
s
X-BASE

-xref
a
P:\GIS\City-Map.dwg
0,0,0
1
1
0

The middle part of the macro…

(alert "Pick two diagonal points to define the import area.");(setq firstp (getpoint "Pick first point: "));\(setq secondp (getpoint "Pick second point: "));\

…creates an alert box telling the user to pick two diagonal points to define a rectangular area which will be used in the query. Notice that I am defining the coordinates for “firstp” and “secondp” and using back slashes (\) to pause for user input.

The last part of the macro…

script;P:/GIS/IMPORT-STREETNAMES.scr;

…defines and executes the Map 3D query. Here is the contents of “IMPORT-STREETNAMES.scr”:

-xref
d
*
ADEDRAWINGS
al
d
P
a
P
P:
x
at
P:\GIS\Street_Names.dwg
x
adequery
c
p
c
x
d
l
w
c
!firstp
!secondp
p
and
la
*
x
e
d
ADEDRAWINGS
de
Street_Names.dwg
x

Notice that I used “!firstp” and “!secondp” in the script to input the coordinates defined earlier in the macro.

I hope this helps you see the power of macros and scripts. If this is foreign to you, take some time to learn the basics of creating macros.