Tip 2264: Get the Code! Search
Harry s new routine, Get the Code! Search, was inspired by a loyal reader, Mike Stachulak, who has compiled a list of all  Hot Tip Harry tips (including tip names and descriptions) from 1992 through 2007 into a single, searchable Microsoft Word file. Harry awards Stachulak this month s Top Tip honor  and a $100 prize  for sharing this invaluable resource.

You can download Stachulak s list (getthecode.doc) as part of the January 2008 Get the Code! files available on the Cadalyst Web site (www.cadalyst.com/code). The Get the Code! archive is organized by month and year to correspond with each  Hot Tip Harry column, dating back to 1992. (Cadalyst introduced  Hot Tip Harry in the late 1980s. According to Harry s legend and lore, pre-1992 code was destroyed by a virus on an old backup disk. Apparently, someone sneezed on it. But that s just legend; no one knows the real truth to the matter. Except maybe Harry, and he s not talking.)

Also included in this month s batch of code is a Visual LISP program (getthecode.lsp) and 16 text files that contain the same basic information you can find online for  Hot Tip Harry tips, including tip publication dates, titles, and descriptions. Copy these files to the default work folder and load the LISP code. The LISP program will run in versions of AutoCAD that contain Visual LISP. When you use the tool inside AutoCAD, it will help you find which month a particular tip or tool appeared. Next, type HTH at the AutoCAD command prompt to activate this simple but useful indexing tool. You will be asked to locate the file hth1992.txt if it is not found automatically. When located, the program reads the hth*.txt files and is ready for you to type in a search keyword. A dialog box pops up for that purpose. After a search is performed, the results are displayed in the dialog box. Pick the tip of interest in the list to see more details and note the month and year of publication.

You ll find the corresponding file on the Get the Code! site at www.cadalyst.com/code. Navigate to the year and month where your desired tip resides and download the ZIP or EXE file for that month. The trick is to figure out which tip in the download is the one you want. In some cases, it s obvious; in others, you ll have to work at it a bit. Generally, each download contains roughly 6 12 tips, so it shouldn t take too long to locate the specific one of interest.

Get the Code! Search isn t fully automated, as you can see. And of course, you can always try the Search function built into the Get the Code! site. However, this routine will help those users who like the idea of launching the search from AutoCAD, and in many cases could produce better results. By searching offline for specific tips, you can determine in advance if there s anything that may serve your purpose before visiting the Web site.