AutoCAD and Python Part 2

In Part 1 I talked about my search to replace AutoLISP with another customization method. Today I am sharing my success controlling AutoCAD (which I have been using for fifteen years) with Python (which I have never used).

Obviously I have AutoCAD running. So the next item of business was to install Python. I got the ActivePython installation package from ActiveState and installed it. Then I got the win32all package from Sourceforge. I downloaded it in zip file format, extracted the zip file, and double-clicked first on setup.py, then on pywin32_postinstall.py. I was just guessing, so I dont' know if the second one was necessary. Then I opened the Python Interactive Shell from the Windows Start Programs menu and pasted the Tim Riley snippet on my Part 1 post line by line into the shell. What do you know if it didn't actually echo "Hello from Python" to my AutoCAD Civil 3D command line!


import win32com.client
acad = win32com.client.Dispatch("AutoCAD.Application")
doc = acad.ActiveDocument
doc.Utility.Prompt("Hello from Python\n")

Now let's try combining that with some of the experimentation I tried at my Accessing the AutoCAD Object Model post. Let's go back to that Python Interactive shell.


doc.ModelSpace.AddCircle

Nope. It's an error. And I can't find the solution today.  Please leave a comment if you know how to get further than this in AutoCAD with Python.  I am very interested.