Some annotations around AutoCAD LT 2004-2009

With LT 2004 - LT 2009, Autodesk has changed some major technical details to knock-out software like LT-Extender - of course, a logical decision from Autodesk's point of view..

This current LT-Extender version v1.9 offers Lisp for LT 2004-2009 and supports all versions of AutoCAD LT 2000-2009.

There are 3 major details which have been changed in LT 2004-2009 by Autodesk :

  1. Autodesk removed the AutoLISP system from LT 2004-2009.
  2. new ADS/ARX version is used - incompatible with previous ADS/ARX interface version of AutoCAD/LT 2000-2002 and 2004-2006

These changes caused enormous efforts for LT-Extender to ensure most completely functionality - compared to previous versions of LT-Extender. For example, the popular AccuRender for AutoCAD 2004-2009 now runs fine in LT 2004-2009.

Beside this "normal" work we have developed and include our own "LISP for LT 2004-2009" processor to provide full LISP support for LT 2004 - LT 2009 (see below).

Important and new features with LT-Extender v1.9 :

  • Supports LISP in LT 2004 - LT 2009
  • several technical improvements for LTE Kernel


Some notes on installation :
Basically, all users can simply re-install version v1.9 into existing LT-Extender folder and overwrite current version - existing LT-Extender license remains valid.

! Important notes on using ADS/ARX applications with LT 2004-2008 !

Because AutoCAD/LT 2004-2009 now use a new ADS/ARX interface (incompatible with ADS/ARX interface of AutoCAD/LT 2000-2002), users can not use any ADS/ARX applications designed for ActoCAD 2000-2002 !
Therfore, only updated ADS/ARX applications designed for AutoCAD/LT 2004-2009 can be used with AutoCAD/LT 2004-2009.
The same applies with AutoCAD/LT 2007-2009 - because of new ARX interface version, only those applications designed and updated for AutoCAD 2007-2009 can be loaded with AutoCAD LT 2007-2009.
Those updated applications should be provided by applications' developers.
A similar change of ADS/ARX interface version also happened with change from AutoCAD R14 to R2000.
For example, you can not use ExpressTools Vol.1-8 / Vol.1-9 designed for 2000-2002 with AutoCAD/LT 2004-2009 - you will need the 2004-2006 resp. 2007-2009 edition of ExpressTools Vol.1-9 !

LISP for LT 2004 - LT 2009
Currently, the "Lisp for LT 2004-2009" processor is still in the last phasis of development and already working fine !
Nevetherless, we urgently advise to be very carefully when testing and running Lisp programs !
Finalizing the "LISP for LT 2004-2009" processor is under forced development, so we will offer the final release very soon.

  • functions aleady implemented :
    all Standard AutoLisp functions
    all DCL functions
    all VisualLisp functions of form vl-xxx and vlr-xxx
    all VisualLisp functions of form vla-xxx and vlax-xxx
    complete ADS/ARX <=> Lisp communication
     
  • currently known limitations :
    Since version v1.9.3.4, LT-Extender offers the "LISP at Prompt and inside Menu" feature to provide best compatibility for applications. Because the implemented technology is quite "fresh", you should be aware of some compatibility problems. For these reasons, the AutoCAD LT options dialog has been extended by new "LTE Options" dialog page - there you can disable this "LISP at Prompt and inside Menu" feature in case of trouble.
    If this "LISP at Prompt and inside Menu" feature has been disabled, you can use the following workaround methods to overcome LISP limitations.

    Lisp at prompt
    as workaround, we offer the LISP command - this opens a new Lisp prompt that allows normal Lisp input as usually
    (see documentation).
    Lisp available menus
    as workaround, we offer the "ConvertMNU.exe" tool - this tool analyses menu files (*.mnu/mns) for Lisp expressions, and will move those Lisp expressions as commands into the menu lisp files (*.mnl). Menus prepared this way are compatible with oth AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT. As a side effect, maintainance of menus is simplified - because only those menu lisp files (*.mnl) needs to be edited, and there is no need to re-compile any menus (see documentation).
     

Future plans on LT-Extender and continued development :
Currently we continue developing LT-Extender with these major targets:

  • of course, bug fixing due to results of user feedback
  • completing ACIS support for LT 2004-2009
  • development for integrated VBA code to be provide VBA support for all LT versions
  • improving ActiveX/COM support for all LT versions by LT-Extender

After finishing LT-Extender version v1.9 we will completely update all documentation and these websites.