Macro site for corel Draw

[Cheryl Smith]

at the risk of sounding a bit of a ninny cos ive had coreldraw for the past umpteen years….what is a macro ???? have i been missing out?!

looks as tho i have….wish id known about some of these a while ago…better late than never!

[Alan Drury]

Not quit sure how to describe them, automating function? adding additional functions? They will use Draw;s core working but essentially VBA (Visual Basic)
Many of the cutting utilities from the plotter manufacturers make use of it ie Winplot from Summa plus others. VBA must be installed, normally when Draw is installed BUT some versions may not instal by default and some versions may not have it at all ie some academic or some OEM versions. The code is made into a gms file this gms file is simply put in the gms folder of Draw, re-run Draw and it will be there when you run macros. A good explanation can be found at http://www.oberonplace.com. You can write the code and make your own gms file (I think Dave does and he can explain better than I)
So many macros are available from various sources, some free and some not but generally pretty cheap, these macros can significantly improve Draw’s working and I would look closely at the banner, Easy Weeder, Click Extreme but many of the others would fit in nicely to anybodys workflow.
hope this helps and I would recommend a close look at them from any source.
Alan D

[Cheryl Smith]

thanks Alan
ive just recently bought X5 so I should have VBA ….ive got the disc and ill have a look when i get a mo….

[David Rowland]

a macro is a small script, a lot of software can be controlled by it.

So if i wanted to write a script to draw a precise box…i would do something like this

sub drawbox()
activelayer.createrectangle(0mm,0mm,100mm,200mm)
end sub

then I activate the DrawBox script and it draws the box on the screen for 100x200mm.

OK that was extremely basic and non-working example but it gives you an idea.

With Corel there is a Record button, which allows it to learn your movement which writes a script for you. e.g. Draw a box and colour it red.

[Cheryl Smith]

quote Dave Rowland:

With Corel there is a Record button, which allows it to learn your movement which writes a script for you. e.g. Draw a box and colour it red.

aw…thanks for the pointer…interesting Dave.

[Alan Drury]

It’s worth noting not all of Draw’s functions can be recorded but some can and it is worth having a play with certain repetitive tasks. I can’t write the scripts so I’ll leave any comments in that direction to Dave. I think Tom at advanced artist has section on writing some scripts and using VBA, also I think Word uses some VBA but I’m not sure – VBA is a Microsoft thing.
Alan D

[David Rowland]

yep… VBA is Visual Basic for Applications which is a Microsoft thing…

Can be great fun making your own routines.

Adobe products can also be remote controlled.