LISP loading error: "bad argument type: stringp nil"

[Steve Mayman]

We have a menu system which is loaded through .lsp and .mnl files. It is
not uncommon to have the loads fail after the message in the subject line.
It seemed related to the LISP "load" command as evidenced by the following
command:

Command: (load "acad.lsp")
; error: bad argument type: stringp nil

This happens for any LISP routine on AutoCAD's search path. If you try to
load a file that does not exist or is not on the search path you get the
usual "Error: Load failed." Anybody have any idea what's going on?

Thanks,

Steve

[Jürg Menzi]

Steve

Do you use global variable(s) in your LISP?
Seems like one of them is not set.

Cheers
--
Juerg Menzi
MENZI ENGINEERING GmbH, Switzerland
http://www.menziengineering.ch

[Paul Turvill]

Could someone have mistakenly used the protected word "load" as a symbol in
one of your startup programs? (e.g., something like (defun load ()...) or
(setq load ...))
___

"Steve Mayman" <St...@ErgoArchitecture.com> wrote in message
news:B5ADF940357F29FE...@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
>
> I use global variables in a menu that is in use when the problem occurs,
but
> this occurs with any LISP, even if there are no variables at all. For
> example if I tried to load a LISP with a single princ statement and no
> variables defined I still get the same message. My guess is that the
string
> that LISP doesn't like is the string in the LOAD command that is being
> issued (the name of the file to load.) It should also be noted that I can
> load the files through TOOLS>LOAD APPLICATION successfully.

[Steve Mayman]

Juerg,

I use global variables in a menu that is in use when the problem occurs, but
this occurs with any LISP, even if there are no variables at all. For
example if I tried to load a LISP with a single princ statement and no
variables defined I still get the same message. My guess is that the string
that LISP doesn't like is the string in the LOAD command that is being
issued (the name of the file to load.) It should also be noted that I can
load the files through TOOLS>LOAD APPLICATION successfully.

Thanks,

Steve

[Steve Mayman]

Paul,

I am almost certain the answer is "no" unless it is a program that we did
not write and is somehow being loaded without our knowledge. Things work
perfectly about 95% of the time, but every couple weeks or so one of the
machines on our network will develop this problem and not be able to load
our custom routines. Closing and re-opening AutoCAD does not help, but very
often simply shutting down the computer and re-starting will get things
running normally again. At first it seemed network related, but it is
finding the files we are trying to load or we would simply get a "load
failed" message. Could some system variable be getting tweaked and causing
this?

Thanks,

Steve

[Alfredo Medina]

That sounds like there is one lisp routine on the list of routines to be
loaded by acad.lsp that contains an error. No matter how many routines have
to be loaded, if there is just one error in one of them, acad.lsp will stop
loading and AutoCAD will display the message. You have to load them
individually until you found which one is the wrong routine, that one will
display the exact message: "bad argument type: stringp nil" . Usually is
due to a symbol that is not the type of data that the program is expecting.

Alfredo Medina
alfm...@hotmail.com

[Steve Mayman]

Alfredo,

Thank you for your comments, but I get this message if I load ANY lisp
routine, no matter how simple. If I close AutoCAD, reboot the computer, and
open AutoCAD again then the routines begin to load properly again. It seems
to me that if there were errors in the routines they would never work, but
they work fine most of the time. Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Steve

[Alfredo Medina]

Steve,

Do you have an acaddoc.lsp file? Or only an acad.lsp file? If you have
both, are there some routines being loaded in one file that are not listed
on the other one? What is your current setting in the "System" tab of
"Options" for the "Load Acad.lsp with every drawing" option?

Alfredo Medina
alfm...@hotmail.com
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