Getting Cline Seg list and Cline Seg data, and saving user data/settings

Hi all, I have a 3 part question.

Getting Cline Segs:

I am interested in selecting Cline Segs, and I don't know of any better way than using the Allegro select functions as axlDBGetDesign()->?doesn't show Cline Segs. Is there a better way to create a list of all Cline Seg dbids than to turn on all etch layers and use axlAddSelectAll() after setting the Find Filter to only Cline Segs?

Saving environment settings:

Assuming not, I want to save the Find Filter settings since I will need to (possibly) change it to enable Cline Segs. However, I am getting "nil" instead of a meaningful list when I use axlGetFindFilter(nil) or axlGetFindFilter(t). I run the function when sitting in EE mode with several boxes checked. Why wouldn't I get a list returned to me?

I found a (possibly internal Cadence) function Dave put at www.cadence.com/.../18504.aspx. This also retuns nil. Why? (BTW, it's used in Larry Bowman's Allegro SKILL programs).

I then tried the function that Craig wrote about in the same post. That seems to work, but what is retuned is "axluidata:<number>". How do I use this?

When I'm done, even if I don't restore the Find Filter, it never changes. If I set enabled and onButtons to list("noall" "clinesegs"), the Find Filter is no different than before I run my program. But if I comment out the line where I change the Find Filter no Cline Segs are found. So I know the program is setting the Find Filter, at least while it if running, but the Find tab isn't changing.

Finding Cline Seg angle:

Checking the properties of a Cline Seg (dbid->??) doesn't show the info in the "Delta-xy" or "Normalize angle" fields from the Show Element form of an "odd" Cline Seg. I am assuming this means this information is calculated when the Show Element form is created. Is there a way to directly extract this info from a Cline Seg? Getting the angle from Allegro is almost certainly better than the (seemingly) overly complicated program I've written which doesn't even quite work perfectly yet...

By the way, it appears to me that Allegro's "Normalize angle" is finding the angle within 2pi (0 to 360 degrees) , and then subtracting 0.5pi if the seg is in quadrant II, subtracting pi if the angle is in quadrant III, etc. So the "Normalize angle" is always between 0 and 90 degrees. Does anyone know for sure if this is Allegro's method? If so, I'm sure I can modify my code to report that Allegro's giving me if I can't get the angle directly. I haven't gotten it all figured out yet so any tips, for instance this same code in another language, would be helpful.

Thanks in advance!