Symbols: now it works, now it doesn't...

[jkramer]

Hi,

not that long ago I asked some advice on how to insert Symbols in an Annotation Flat View.
I got some great advice, and got it working perfectly (thanks again!).
Our current SD version is 9.4, but I'm test-driving OSD 11 now.
Almost everything works fine (only needed to insert some OLI:: stuff), EXCEPT for the Symbol Lisp Routine I made.
Basically, I use these 3 lines to insert a Symbol:


(am_symbol_settings :type "GENERIC" :adjust 1)
(am_geo_set_domain :2dview vjoew)
(am_create_symbol_generic :file2d_in "O:/Symbool/gatarcering_symbol.mi" :go :ok :symbol_position puntje)


The first time I run the routine I get the error
"Not all necessary inputs are specified.", although it does place the symbol correctly (into the right owner!!).
The stupid thing is, that I only get this error message the first time I run the routine. The second time it will work correctly without error message.
The problem is, that the routine is written to place a LOT of symbols, but it stops now after the 1st symbol, because of the error message.
I tried every thinkable syntax to avoid the message, but no success so far :-(
Anyone a clue why it worked in SD 9, and doesn't work in osd 11??
Thanks!
Regards,
Jaap Kramer

[John Scheffel]

I don't know the answer, but here's a tip that might help figure it out. It sounds like the syntax of one of the commands you use has changed, maybe additional options are now required. The syntax of most commands is documented in Help. If you installed Collaboration with 11.6 you should now be able to search Help for the LISP function names you are using. If not, you can use the Windows File Find (NT) or Search (2000) to search the "help" directory. Open an Explorer window and find the help directory under the main Modeling directory you installed, right click on it and select Find or Search, then search for files "containing text" of the command you want info about. For example search for all files containing "am_create_symbol_generic". This will find the Help HTML files, which you can load into a web browser.

[jkramer]

Thanks for the tip, John. I use this trick a lot, together with (oli::sd-online-reference) and the Sleuthhound search utility, that searches all OSD documentation for me.
In the case of am_create_symbol_generic, the documentation isn't consequent, in that, for example, the html docs don't mention the :file2d_in option, that is needed to load the symbol.
Weird problem..... :mad:

Regards,
Jaap

[Wolfgang]

You should first set the default owner for creating symbols and then create the symbol..

(am_geo_set_domain :2dview vjoew) ist not a good solution

use:
(oli::sd-am-set-default-owner :symbol :2dview vjoew)
(am_create_symbol_generic
:file2d_in "O:/Symbool/gatarcering_symbol.mi"
:symbol_position puntje)

am_geo_set_domain pushes some things into the input buffer.. (like oli::sd-put-buffer) and this can cause problems with recorder/playback or programmatically call.