Verify ~ CAD standards tool

Most organizations define some type of CAD standard and expect drafters using CAD software such as AutoCAD and IntelliCAD to abide by that standard. A standard is usually set for such things as 'approved' layer names, text styles, linetype styles, block names, view names, dimension styles etc.

Considerable frustration occurs where drafters don't follow standards. This is especially true when electronic drawings are provided to the organization by outside contractors and these need to be modified by other drafters at a later time. If the drawings have not been checked thoroughly, much time can be lost while the drawings are brought 'up to scratch' at considerable expense. Since CAD files may remain in the archives for many years before they need to be worked on again, the original bill may have been paid and the organization providing the contract drafting service may well have moved on. There is clearly a need for a system enabling the electronic checking of CAD drawings.

Autodesk provide such as system in AutoCAD. All you do is load a CAD drawing in your discipline that meets the required standard and save that as a CAD standard template and the AutoCAD tool does the job for them. It si possible to do the same thing in the IntelliCAD environment using AutoLISP, one of IntelliCAD's programming languages. We call it VERIFY; software which enables rapid, electronic checking of drawings against a CAD standard. 


Tip  Verify cannot work effectively unless you have developed a CAD standard.

Program design

Sequence
 

Programming language

We chose to write VERIFY in the simplest of AutoCAD and IntelliCAD's programming languages, namely AutoLISP. Programs written in AutoLISP can be loaded into any copy of AutoCAD or IntelliCAD and can be run from the command line.
 
TipAutoLISP programs require the full version of AutoCAD or IntelliCAD. AutoLISP is not available in AutoCAD LT.

Operation and output from VERIFY

VERIFY interrogates the drawing database and produces a comprehensive report, listing the current status of the drawing and flags instances where the drawing being analyzed fails to meet the expected drawing standard.

Step 1. Create ASCII files defining standard

Create a series of ASCII files containing lists of approved layer names, block names, lettering styles, named views, viewports names, linetype styles, and dimension styles standards approved by our company. 
Verify uses a group of simple text files to contain approved names. The filenames must confirm to the list below and include the extension .STD.  
Filename
Purpose
layers.std
List of layer names
blocks.std
List of block names
styles.std
List of text styles
views.std
List of stored views
viewport.std
List of paper space viewports
ltypes.std
List of linetypes
dimstyle.std
List of dimension styles
Tip These files must be 'clean' ASCII files, created with Windows Notepad or some other text editor. 

Examples of standards files

The figure below shows part of a typical layers standards file. The filename is layers.std. Note the use of the semi-colon for comments in the file. We do recommend that you insert copious comments in the file.
; GENERAL LAYER NAMES FOR DRAWING MANAGEMENT 
File LAYERS.STD July, 2001 Authorised by J Bloggs
0
BORDER
MANAGEMENT_CONSTRUCTION
MANAGEMENT_LOGO
MANAGEMENT_NORTH_PT
MANAGEMENT_NOTES_LEGEND
MANAGEMENT_SERV_RELOCATION
MANAGEMENT_TEMPLATE
MANAGEMENT_TITLEBLOCK
MANAGEMENT_VPORT
TEXTS
TEXTM
TEXTL
DEFPOINTS
;-APPROVED LAYER NAMES FOR EXISTING DRAINS -----
EX_DRAIN_BC
EX_DRAIN_DSEP
EX_DRAIN_GI
EX_DRAIN_HW
EX_DRAIN_INV
Other 'standards' files are structured similarly.
 
Tip A reminder - install VERIFY on your computer

Use Windows Explorer to make a folder called VERIFY. Copy all the files from the distribution disk to this folder. The following files should be present:

Verify.lsp
blocks.std
dimstyle.std
layers.std
ucs.std
verify.cfg
styles.std
viewport.std
views.std

Create an output folder

Although not an absolute requirement, for ease of use we recommend that you set up a folder called Output under the VERIFY folder as shown in the figure below. In the next section, we will alter the configuration file so that the output files that VERIFY generates are deposited in this folder.
 

Edit the VERIFY configuration file

We have provided a configuration file with VERIFY. The file is called Verify.cfg
As mentioned in the previous section, this file can be edited in order to set the destination folder for the output files that VERIFY generates. In VERIFY version 1.3, there is only one line in this file. 
The line 'as delivered' is shown below.
C:\Verify
We recommend changing the line to:
C:\Verify\Output.
Tip Make sure that you use Windows Notepad to edit this file. Do not use Microsoft Word.

Running VERIFY

You are now ready to run VERIFY on one of your drawings.
Start AutoCAD (12, 13, 14 or AutoCAD 2000 - 2011) or IntelliCAD (any version). 
Open the drawing that you want to check. 
Load Verify using the following syntax by typing at the command line.
(load "c:/Verify/Verify.lsp") 
You must include the opening and closing bracket and the quotes around the path and filename. Note the use of the forward slash. 
You should see the statement 'Loading Verify 1.3'. Loading this file creates a new command - VERIFY. 
Type the new command VERIFY on the command line and the program will run. You are first asked (in the conventional AutoCAD fashion, whether you want to analyze the Layers/Blocks/Styles etc. separately or (the default)  - all of these. 
The contents of the drawing are compared to those of the standards and VERIFY creates an output file of the same name as the drawing, but the suffix will be .VFY. 
The figure below shows a screen shot of the IntelliCAD text box while VERIFY is running. VERIFY inserts a series of dot (period) on the Command line as it runs to indicate that processing is taking place.
 
 
Process
 
After processing, VERIFY offers the chance to view the output file immediately with Windows Notepad. We have set the default to (No) and recommend that you do not try and view the report on screen. (IntelliCAD will report a shell error).
Start Windows Notepad as a separate process to view the output file (which will be stored in the C:\Verify folder).
Customizing the AutoCAD environment to use VERIFY more efficiently
We find it useful to put a custom 'Load and run VERIFY' option on one of the drop down menus. This is especially useful if you have lots of drawings to check. The figure below shows a typical custom menu.
Custom
 
We hide behind the menu item quite a reasonably complex series of steps.
(load "C:/verify/verify");verify;A;N;close;open;

Search path

Alternatively, you might find it useful to put the VERIFY folder on the search path. Then you will only need to type (load "verify"). A call to Verify.lsp could also be made in the ACAD.lsp or ICAD.lsp file.
View the output file
Part of a typical output file from VERIFY is shown below. Note that several of the layers (shown on the right) do not match the company standard (indicated by a 'No" statement in column 3).

Output

Output
 
Any word processor may be used to examine the file. It will contain a complete report about the drawing, similar to that shown above.
Since ACAD and IntelliCAD allow you to load multiple drawings in the same session, the VERIFY command can quickly be run on multiple drawings. Start Windows Explorer and select a group of drawing files that you want to 'VERIFY'. Drag the (the group of files) onto the AutoCAD or IntelliCAD icon.

Auditing drawings

Note that our program is not a replacement for the IntelliCAD command AUDIT. Click here to learn about auditing drawings.

 

Please email info@designcad.com.au if you have requests for improvements/changes to VERIFY.