As was introduced in previous DraftSight LISP blogs, like https://swym.3ds.com/#post:15937  or https://swym.3ds.com/#post:7040

the RunCommand () method can be used for loading and running a LISP script  from an API program, as in this C# snippet:

…

dsApp.RunCommand("(load  \\"C:\\\\\\\\abc.lsp\\" ) \\n", false); // load the C:\\abc.lsp script

dsApp.RunCommand("ABC", false); //run the abc.lsp .

…

How can a LISP procedure, command or a script, return values to an API program that executed it, or launch another DraftSight API or just a Windows program?

The LISP startapp, write-line, and other commands* can be useful.

* To review more related LISP commands, in the LISP (Premium) DraftSight Help, Search, enter the 'Windows' keyword and review the search result.

Using the startapp function to execute a Windows application can be hlpful:

The startapp format is: (startapp application [file_name])

In which the arguments are:

The argument application specifies the Windows application to start. The argument must be a string. If application contains no valid path specification, the function browses the environment variable PATH for the application.

Another useful command is the write-line .

The write-line function writes the specified string to the file that an API application can then read. The command is specified by file_descriptor or displays it in the Command Window.

Return Value

The function returns string.

Examples

: (write-line "ABC")

"ABC"

: (setq fd (open "abc.txt" "w")) ;;; fd is the file descriptor

: (write-line "ABC" fd)

"ABC"