how can you get the current grid settings

 Ole, I'm not trying to hijack your thread but I found something I think is interesting using these new axlDBGrid* functions.

My co-workers and I want the ability to pick various pre-defined grids from keyboard commands and also from the menu. Previously, to change the grid size I'd used either scripts or a series of commands directly in site.env or allegro.men. However, it occurred to me that either method was equivalent to typing into the Command Window, which I might be able to use to launch a SKILL function with axlCmdRegister().

So, I changed (just a single line as an example below) my site-wide allegro.men to:

MENUITEM "0.5 unit",        "qscGridSet .5"

 and site.env to:

alias    ~1    "qscGridSet 1"

which calls:

axlCmdRegister("qscGridSet" 'qscGridSet)

procedure(qscGridSet(gridNew)
    let((grid)
        grid = axlDBGridGet("TOP")
        grid->name = 'all
        grid->xGrids = atof(gridNew)
        grid->yGrids = atof(gridNew)
        axlDBGridSet(grid)
    )
)

It works!! So I am able to launch a SKILL function and pass it an argument. The argument comes in as a string, so I have to make it a float (even integers aren't accepted). This is much less distracting (no forms flashing open) and quicker to run than a script. Win-win!

I am also using a similar method to execute my own SKILL function which adjusts layer visibility to have easily-accessed Layer Sets.

Is there anything wrong with this method? It seems a little, well, like I'm breaking the way things are supposed to work. Is there danger in counting on this method to always work in future releases (of course there's always the possibility of anything breaking)?

BTW, it seems odd that I just have to pick any layer as an argument to axlDBGetGrid() if I want to adjust the grids for all layers. If I have each layer defined, and also a "non-etch" argument, why not an "etch" and/or "all" argument? It seems far more intuitive. I suppose this might be a fxffxf question??

 Ole, I'm not trying to hijack your thread but I found something I think is interesting using these new axlDBGrid* functions.

My co-workers and I want the ability to pick various pre-defined grids from keyboard commands and also from the menu. Previously, to change the grid size I'd used either scripts or a series of commands directly in site.env or allegro.men. However, it occurred to me that either method was equivalent to typing into the Command Window, which I might be able to use to launch a SKILL function with axlCmdRegister().

So, I changed (just a single line as an example below) my site-wide allegro.men to:

MENUITEM "0.5 unit",        "qscGridSet .5"

 and site.env to:

alias    ~1    "qscGridSet 1"

which calls:

axlCmdRegister("qscGridSet" 'qscGridSet)

procedure(qscGridSet(gridNew)
    let((grid)
        grid = axlDBGridGet("TOP")
        grid->name = 'all
        grid->xGrids = atof(gridNew)
        grid->yGrids = atof(gridNew)
        axlDBGridSet(grid)
    )
)

It works!! So I am able to launch a SKILL function and pass it an argument. The argument comes in as a string, so I have to make it a float (even integers aren't accepted). This is much less distracting (no forms flashing open) and quicker to run than a script. Win-win!

I am also using a similar method to execute my own SKILL function which adjusts layer visibility to have easily-accessed Layer Sets.

Is there anything wrong with this method? It seems a little, well, like I'm breaking the way things are supposed to work. Is there danger in counting on this method to always work in future releases (of course there's always the possibility of anything breaking)?

BTW, it seems odd that I just have to pick any layer as an argument to axlDBGetGrid() if I want to adjust the grids for all layers. If I have each layer defined, and also a "non-etch" argument, why not an "etch" and/or "all" argument? It seems far more intuitive. I suppose this might be a fxffxf question??