JAG - I recently had the need to automate some file conversions within AutoCAD. Specifically, I needed to convert native AutoCAD drawing files (in DWG format) to the more palatable DXF format. After some research, I found that AutoCAD exposes a fairly standard COM automation interface - which seemed to make my task a perfect match for tcl coupled with the tcom extension.
So, the following is some very basic sample code to do what I needed. I'll eventually create a stand-alone application (with all the required frills), but for now, I thought this might help others:
package require tcom # --- the file (extensions are assumed based on filetype) set file [file join "c:/" "test"] # --- various dxf output formats set type(R12_dxf) [expr 1] set type(R13_dxf) [expr 5] set type(R14_dxf) [expr 9] set type(R15_dxf) [expr 13] set type(R18_dxf) [expr 25] set type(2000_dxf) [expr 13] set type(2004_dxf) [expr 25] # --- open AutoCAD set app [::tcom::ref createobj AutoCAD.Application] # --- keep it hidden $app Visible 0 # --- get a handle to the Documents collection set docsCollection [$app Documents] # --- open our file as a new document set theDoc [$docsCollection Open $file] # --- save our file as a specific DXF format $theDoc SaveAs $file $type(2000_dxf) # --- close the file $theDoc Close # --- quit from AutoCAD $app Quit