Turn Layers On and Off

Layers in which are turned off are regenerated with the drawing but are not displayed or plotted. By turning layers off, you avoid regenerating the drawing every time you thaw a layer. When you turn a layer on that has been turned off, AutoCAD redraws the objects on that layer.

Use the IsOff property on the Layer Table Record object that represents the layer you want to turn on or off. If you input a value of TRUE, the layer is turned off. If you input a value of FALSE, the layer is turned on.

Turn off a layer

This example creates a new layer and turns it off, and then adds a circle to the layer so that the circle is no longer visible.

VB.NET

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices

Imports Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry

<CommandMethod("TurnLayerOff")> _

Public Sub TurnLayerOff()

  '' Get the current document and database

  Dim acDoc As Document = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument

  Dim acCurDb As Database = acDoc.Database

  '' Start a transaction

  Using acTrans As Transaction = acCurDb.TransactionManager.StartTransaction()

      '' Open the Layer table for read

      Dim acLyrTbl As LayerTable

      acLyrTbl = acTrans.GetObject(acCurDb.LayerTableId, _

                                   OpenMode.ForRead)

      Dim sLayerName As String = "ABC"

      Dim acLyrTblRec As LayerTableRecord

      If acLyrTbl.Has(sLayerName) = False Then

          acLyrTblRec = New LayerTableRecord()

          '' Assign the layer a name

          acLyrTblRec.Name = sLayerName

          '' Upgrade the Layer table for write

          acLyrTbl.UpgradeOpen()

          '' Append the new layer to the Layer table and the transaction

          acLyrTbl.Add(acLyrTblRec)

          acTrans.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(acLyrTblRec, True)

      Else

          acLyrTblRec = acTrans.GetObject(acLyrTbl(sLayerName), _

                                          OpenMode.ForWrite)

      End If

      '' Turn the layer off

      acLyrTblRec.IsOff = True

      '' Open the Block table for read

      Dim acBlkTbl As BlockTable

      acBlkTbl = acTrans.GetObject(acCurDb.BlockTableId, _

                                   OpenMode.ForRead)

      '' Open the Block table record Model space for write

      Dim acBlkTblRec As BlockTableRecord

      acBlkTblRec = acTrans.GetObject(acBlkTbl(BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace), _

                                      OpenMode.ForWrite)

      '' Create a circle object

      Dim acCirc As Circle = New Circle()

      acCirc.Center = New Point3d(2, 2, 0)

      acCirc.Radius = 1

      acCirc.Layer = sLayerName

      acBlkTblRec.AppendEntity(acCirc)

      acTrans.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(acCirc, True)

      '' Save the changes and dispose of the transaction

      acTrans.Commit()

  End Using

End Sub

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.DatabaseServices;

using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Geometry;

[CommandMethod("TurnLayerOff")]

public static void TurnLayerOff()

  // Get the current document and database

  Document acDoc = Application.DocumentManager.MdiActiveDocument;

  Database acCurDb = acDoc.Database;

  // Start a transaction

  using (Transaction acTrans = acCurDb.TransactionManager.StartTransaction())

      // Open the Layer table for read

      LayerTable acLyrTbl;

      acLyrTbl = acTrans.GetObject(acCurDb.LayerTableId,

                                   OpenMode.ForRead) as LayerTable;

      string sLayerName = "ABC";

      LayerTableRecord acLyrTblRec;

      if (acLyrTbl.Has(sLayerName) == false)

          acLyrTblRec = new LayerTableRecord();

          // Assign the layer a name

          acLyrTblRec.Name = sLayerName;

          // Upgrade the Layer table for write

          acLyrTbl.UpgradeOpen();

          // Append the new layer to the Layer table and the transaction

          acLyrTbl.Add(acLyrTblRec);

          acTrans.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(acLyrTblRec, true);

      else

          acLyrTblRec = acTrans.GetObject(acLyrTbl[sLayerName],

                                          OpenMode.ForWrite) as LayerTableRecord;

      // Turn the layer off

      acLyrTblRec.IsOff = true;

      // Open the Block table for read

      BlockTable acBlkTbl;

      acBlkTbl = acTrans.GetObject(acCurDb.BlockTableId,

                                   OpenMode.ForRead) as BlockTable;

      // Open the Block table record Model space for write

      BlockTableRecord acBlkTblRec;

      acBlkTblRec = acTrans.GetObject(acBlkTbl[BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace],

                                      OpenMode.ForWrite) as BlockTableRecord;

      // Create a circle object

      Circle acCirc = new Circle();

      acCirc.Center = new Point3d(2, 2, 0);

      acCirc.Radius = 1;

      acCirc.Layer = sLayerName;

      acBlkTblRec.AppendEntity(acCirc);

      acTrans.AddNewlyCreatedDBObject(acCirc, true);

      // Save the changes and dispose of the transaction

      acTrans.Commit();

VBA/ActiveX Code Reference