Introduction to GstarCAD Express Tool: AutoXLsTable

What is AutoXlsTable?

AutoXlsTable is a very useful tool to help users deal with Excel table in GstarCAD.

With AutoXlsTable, users can easily edit the imported Excel table and keep it updated to the original one automatically. Besides, users can perform area/ length calculation in real-time and much more. Let’s explore more about AutoXlsTable now.

How to access AutoXlsTable?

Since AutoXlsTable is such a useful express tool, it can be accessed very easily from Menu: Express > AutoXlsTable, as shown in the following picture,

As we can see, there are Create Table, Update Table, Edit Table, Selection Management;

if we pull down the AutoXlsTable menu, we can also see the Update All the Tables, File Link Management, Path Settings, as shown in the following picture,

A step-by-step AutoXlsTable tutorial

Create Table

Menu: Express > AutoXlsTable > Create Table,

Command Entry:_CAOT_AUTOXLSTABLE_CREATE

as shown in the following picture,

Click Create Table and a new empty Excel Table opens automatically.
You can enter your data and make you own table from scratch or you can copy (CTRL+C) and paste (CTRL +V) table contents from an existing Excel table.
Press the Finish button and then we are prompted to save the table with a name.
Now we are back to the GstarCAD interface and we can specify an insertion point for the table within the drawing area.

Update Table

Menu: Express > AutoXlsTable > Update Table

Command Entry:_CAOT_AUTOXLSTABLE_UPDATETBL

as shown in the following picture,

Click Update Table.
Then select the table to be updated and this table will update automatically according to the corresponding Excel table.

Edit Table

Menu: Express > AutoXlsTable > Edit Table

Command Entry: _CAOT_AUTOXLSTABLE_EDIT

as shown in the following picture,

Then select the table to be edited in GstarCAD in order to open the original table in Excel.
When we finish editing, click the Finish button.
When prompted to save the modification, we can save it with same or different file name.
When we go back to GstarCAD, the table in GstarCAD has changed accordingly.

Selection Management

The Selection Management helps users calculate the area and length of objects, when the length and are changed, the calculating results update automatically.

Menu: Express > AutoXlsTable > Selection Management,

Command Entry: CAOT_AUTOXLSTABLE_SELECTION

as shown in the following picture,

How to calculate the area of a circle and a rectangle using “Selection Management”?

Draw a circle and a rectangle, use the “Create Table” function to create a table as below.

2. Execute the “Selection Management” command and the “Selection Manager” dialog box will pop up, as shown in the following picture,

3. Input “CIRCLE” and click the “New Group” button, as shown in the following picture,

4. When we are prompted to Select object, as shown in the following picture, just select the circle.

5. Press Enter key, the “Selection Manager” dialog box will add a new item “CIRCLE”, as shown in the following picture,

6. We can add a “RECTANGLE” item using the same method, as shown in the following picture,

7. Click “Close” to exit the “Selection Manager”.

8. Use the “Edit Table” command to edit the table.

9. Click the cell on the right of “CIRCLE” and click the “Insertion Function” icon, as shown in the following picture,

10. In the dialog box, you can specify the entity as “CIRCLE”, Layer as”All” and click “OK” .

11. Use the same operation to insert the rectangle area calculating function, as shown below.

12. Click the pull-down menu “Finish” option of AutoXlsTable

13. Back to GstarCAD and the table will calculate the area of the circle and rectangle, as shown below.

14. Scale the rectangle and the table data will change automatically, as shown below.

Update All the Tables

Menu: Express > AutoXlsTable > Update All the Tables

Command Entry: CAOT_AUTOXLSTABLE_UPDATEALLTBL

as shown in the following picture,

After executing this command, the system will update all the table objects created using the “Create Table” command.

File Link Management

This command allows users to manage the link between a table object and the original external Excel file.

Menu: Express > AutoXlsTable > File Link Management

Command Entry: CAOT_AUTOXLSTABLE_MANAGELINK

as shown in the following picture,

Execute the command and then select a table in the drawing when we are prompted, as shown in the following picture,

2. A dialog box will pop up, click Browse in this dialog box to open the file selection dialog box

3. Select an XLS file which needs to be connected with a table object and click “OK”, then return to the Link Manager dialog box.

4. You can use the “Attach”, “Delete” and “Update” button to complete link related editing and management

Path Settings

As this command’ name suggests, it is used to set the path for an Excel file.

Menu: Express > AutoXlsTable > Path Settings

Command Entry: CAOT_AUTOXLSTABLE_USINGPATH

as shown in the following picture,

Execute the command and a “Excel File Path Setting” dialog box will pop up, as shown in the following picture, we can set the path pattern for the Excel file.