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Drawing Properties Management Feature

This guide covers the Drawing Properties feature - a complete Python interface for managing AutoCAD drawing metadata, equivalent to VBA's ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.

Overview

The DrawingProperties class provides methods to access and modify:

  • General Properties: Title, Subject, Author, Keywords, Comments
  • Summary Properties: Manager, Company, Category
  • Statistics (Read-only): Creation date, Modification date, Edit time, Revision number
  • Custom Properties: User-defined property pairs (get, create, remove, list)

This resolves the GitHub issue requesting Python equivalent for VBA's ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.NumCustomInfo.

Quick Start

from AutoCAD import AutoCAD

# Initialize AutoCAD
autocad = AutoCAD()

# Set properties
autocad.properties.set_title("My Drawing")
autocad.properties.set_author("Jones Peter")

# Add custom properties
autocad.properties.add_custom_property("ProjectID", "PROJ-2026-001")

# Get custom properties count (equivalent to VBA NumCustomInfo)
num_custom = autocad.properties.get_num_custom_info()
print(f"Number of custom properties: {num_custom}")

# Get all custom properties
all_custom = autocad.properties.get_all_custom_properties()
print(all_custom)  # {'ProjectID': 'PROJ-2026-001'}

# Save
autocad.save()

General Properties

Setting and Getting General Properties

# Title
autocad.properties.set_title("Factory Layout")
title = autocad.properties.get_title()

# Subject
autocad.properties.set_subject("Manufacturing Floor Plan")
subject = autocad.properties.get_subject()

# Author
autocad.properties.set_author("Engineering Team")
author = autocad.properties.get_author()

# Keywords (comma-separated)
autocad.properties.set_keywords("layout, manufacturing, equipment")
keywords = autocad.properties.get_keywords()

# Comments
autocad.properties.set_comments("Updated for Q1 2026 equipment upgrade")
comments = autocad.properties.get_comments()

Summary Properties

# Manager Name
autocad.properties.set_manager("John Smith")
manager = autocad.properties.get_manager()

# Company Name
autocad.properties.set_company("Manufacturing Corp Inc.")
company = autocad.properties.get_company()

# Category
autocad.properties.set_category("Facility Management")
category = autocad.properties.get_category()

Statistics (Read-Only)

These properties provide document information and cannot be modified:

# Creation Date
created = autocad.properties.get_created_date()

# Last Modification Date
modified = autocad.properties.get_modified_date()

# User who last saved the document
saved_by = autocad.properties.get_last_saved_by()

# Total editing time in seconds
edit_time = autocad.properties.get_edit_time()

# Revision Number
revision = autocad.properties.get_revision_number()

Custom Properties

Custom properties allow you to store user-defined metadata.

Adding Custom Properties

# Add a single custom property
autocad.properties.add_custom_property("ProjectID", "PROJ-2026-001")
autocad.properties.add_custom_property("ClientName", "Acme Corp")
autocad.properties.add_custom_property("DrawingVersion", "1.0")

Getting Custom Properties

# Get a specific custom property
project_id = autocad.properties.get_custom_property("ProjectID")

# Get number of custom properties (Python equivalent of VBA NumCustomInfo)
count = autocad.properties.get_num_custom_info()

# Get all custom properties as a dictionary
all_props = autocad.properties.get_all_custom_properties()
for key, value in all_props.items():
    print(f"{key}: {value}")

Updating and Removing Custom Properties

# Update an existing custom property
autocad.properties.update_custom_property("DrawingVersion", "1.1")

# Remove a single custom property
autocad.properties.remove_custom_property("ClientName")

# Clear all custom properties
autocad.properties.clear_all_custom_properties()

Complete Example

from AutoCAD import AutoCAD
import time

def setup_drawing_metadata():
    """Complete example of setting up drawing metadata"""
    
    autocad = AutoCAD()
    time.sleep(1)
    
    # Set general properties
    autocad.properties.set_title("Warehouse Layout - Phase 2")
    autocad.properties.set_subject("Warehouse Redesign")
    autocad.properties.set_author("Design Team")
    autocad.properties.set_keywords("warehouse, logistics, design")
    autocad.properties.set_comments("Updated layout for increased storage")
    
    # Set summary properties
    autocad.properties.set_manager("Operations Director")
    autocad.properties.set_company("Logistics Solutions Inc.")
    autocad.properties.set_category("Facility Design")
    
    # Add custom properties for project tracking
    project_meta = {
        "ProjectID": "WH-2026-REDESIGN",
        "Location": "Austin, TX - Building C",
        "Budget": "$500,000",
        "StartDate": "2026-01-15",
        "ExpectedCompletion": "2026-06-30",
    }
    
    for property_name, property_value in project_meta.items():
        autocad.properties.add_custom_property(property_name, property_value)
    
    # Display results
    print(f"Title: {autocad.properties.get_title()}")
    print(f"Custom properties: {autocad.properties.get_num_custom_info()}")
    
    # Save
    autocad.save()

setup_drawing_metadata()

VBA to Python Equivalents

VBA Python
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.Title autocad.properties.set_title() / get_title()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.Subject autocad.properties.set_subject() / get_subject()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.Author autocad.properties.set_author() / get_author()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.Keywords autocad.properties.set_keywords() / get_keywords()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.Comments autocad.properties.set_comments() / get_comments()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.Manager autocad.properties.set_manager() / get_manager()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.Company autocad.properties.set_company() / get_company()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.Category autocad.properties.set_category() / get_category()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.CreateTime autocad.properties.get_created_date()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.ModTime autocad.properties.get_modified_date()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.LastSavedBy autocad.properties.get_last_saved_by()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.EditTime autocad.properties.get_edit_time()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.NumCustomInfo autocad.properties.get_num_custom_info()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.SetCustomByKey() autocad.properties.add_custom_property()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.GetCustomValue() autocad.properties.get_custom_property()
ThisDrawing.SummaryInfo.RemoveCustomByKey() autocad.properties.remove_custom_property()

API Reference

General Properties

  • get_title() → str
  • set_title(value: str) → None
  • get_subject() → str
  • set_subject(value: str) → None
  • get_author() → str
  • set_author(value: str) → None
  • get_keywords() → str
  • set_keywords(value: str) → None
  • get_comments() → str
  • set_comments(value: str) → None

Summary Properties

  • get_manager() → str
  • set_manager(value: str) → None
  • get_company() → str
  • set_company(value: str) → None
  • get_category() → str
  • set_category(value: str) → None

Statistics (Read-Only)

  • get_created_date() → str
  • get_modified_date() → str
  • get_last_saved_by() → str
  • get_edit_time() → int
  • get_revision_number() → str

Custom Properties

  • get_num_custom_info() → int - Python equivalent of VBA NumCustomInfo
  • get_all_custom_properties() → dict
  • add_custom_property(name: str, value: str) → None
  • get_custom_property(name: str) → str
  • remove_custom_property(name: str) → None
  • update_custom_property(name: str, value: str) → None
  • clear_all_custom_properties() → None

Error Handling

All methods include built-in error handling:

from AutoCAD import AutoCAD, CADException

try:
    autocad = AutoCAD()
    autocad.properties.set_title("My Drawing")
    custom_prop = autocad.properties.get_custom_property("NonExistent")
except CADException as e:
    print(f"AutoCAD Error: {e}")

Notes

  • All property values are converted to strings when set
  • Custom properties must have unique names
  • Statistics are read-only and cannot be modified directly
  • Changes to properties are not automatically saved; call autocad.save() to persist
  • The implementation uses COM (Component Object Model) to interact with AutoCAD
  • Works with AutoCAD 2010 and later versions

Testing

Example test functions are provided in tests/test.py:

from tests.test import (
    test_general_properties,
    test_summary_properties,
    test_statistics,
    test_custom_properties,
    test_complete_workflow
)

# Run specific tests
test_custom_properties()
test_complete_workflow()

See Also