output cursor location ?

Bill Martin wrote:

Hello,

 

Any way to access/output current cursor location on board editor at

run time, for example with a function key press? Interested in

generating motion control commands to an external device for

inspection of boards.

 

Thanks,

Bill

Not easily, but possible.

I used the following technique.

I wrote a ULP which was run using a function key that was assigned to that

ULP. The process was, position the cursor and hit the Function key and I

attained the cursor position.

The secret lies in (@) which is the current mouse  position See HELP /

Editor Commands / Command Syntax

But you cannot simply read the cursor position within a ULP. You have to use

it. I drew a line from the cursor position to a far distant point  on a

custom layer that had an obscure name.

The ULP exited and immediatly re-ran itself with a specific argument this

time to indicate re-entry. Satisfied it was a re-entry it looked for the

custom layer name and for a  line with one end at the known location. The

other end of the line was recovered as this was the cursor co-ords. You have

to write code to clean up the line on the custom layer each time you

initially enter the ULP

I hope a future subversion of V6  has cursor position obtainable from within

the ULP.

HTH

Warren

--

Viewed / responded via the newsgroup at

news.cadsoft.de

Bill Martin wrote:

Hello,

 

Any way to access/output current cursor location on board editor at

run time, for example with a function key press? Interested in

generating motion control commands to an external device for

inspection of boards.

 

Thanks,

Bill

Not easily, but possible.

I used the following technique.

I wrote a ULP which was run using a function key that was assigned to that

ULP. The process was, position the cursor and hit the Function key and I

attained the cursor position.

The secret lies in (@) which is the current mouse  position See HELP /

Editor Commands / Command Syntax

But you cannot simply read the cursor position within a ULP. You have to use

it. I drew a line from the cursor position to a far distant point  on a

custom layer that had an obscure name.

The ULP exited and immediatly re-ran itself with a specific argument this

time to indicate re-entry. Satisfied it was a re-entry it looked for the

custom layer name and for a  line with one end at the known location. The

other end of the line was recovered as this was the cursor co-ords. You have

to write code to clean up the line on the custom layer each time you

initially enter the ULP

I hope a future subversion of V6  has cursor position obtainable from within

the ULP.

HTH

Warren

--

Viewed / responded via the newsgroup at

news.cadsoft.de

On 04/27/2012 12:37 AM, Warren Brayshaw wrote:

Bill Martin wrote:

>> Hello,

>>

>> Any way to access/output current cursor location on board editor at

>> run time, for example with a function key press? Interested in

>> generating motion control commands to an external device for

>> inspection of boards.

>>

>> Thanks,

>> Bill

 

Not easily, but possible.

 

I used the following technique.

I wrote a ULP which was run using a function key that was assigned to that

ULP. The process was, position the cursor and hit the Function key and I

attained the cursor position.

 

The secret lies in (@) which is the current mouse  position See HELP /

Editor Commands / Command Syntax

But you cannot simply read the cursor position within a ULP. You have to use

it. I drew a line from the cursor position to a far distant point  on a

custom layer that had an obscure name.

The ULP exited and immediatly re-ran itself with a specific argument this

time to indicate re-entry. Satisfied it was a re-entry it looked for the

custom layer name and for a  line with one end at the known location. The

other end of the line was recovered as this was the cursor co-ords. You have

to write code to clean up the line on the custom layer each time you

initially enter the ULP

 

I hope a future subversion of V6  has cursor position obtainable from within

the ULP.

 

HTH

Warren

 

>

Thanks for that pointer. I tried what seemed the obvious way to

circumvent the "not available in ULP" issue, with the following:

ASSIGN F12 'RUN chk_args.ulp (@)'

however, the (@) is not expanded and passed as an argv[] parameter as

would be desired. So it looks like your method may be the only way to do

this. Actually, until/if Eagle can pass coordinates to a ulp, I might do

better to look at using gerbv to emit coordinates, there I can alter the

source code if needed...

Regards,

Bill