Chapter 18: Customizing AutoCAD

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Chapter 18 Customizing AutoCAD
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After completing this Chapter, you will be able
to do the following

• Workspaces
• Ribbons Tabs and Panels
• Quick Access toolbar
• Toolbars
• Menus
• Shortcut menus
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Mouse buttons
• Command Aliases
• Creating custom linetypes, hatch patterns,
  shapes, and fonts

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Customizing the User Interface
To customize workspaces, panels, tabs, toolbars,
menus, shortcut menus, keyboard shortcuts, or
mouse buttons, right-click on any toolbar and
choose Customize from the shortcut menu. AutoCAD
displays the Customize User Interface (CUI)
dialog box
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Workspaces
Workspaces are user interface configurations that
you create. For each workspace, you can display
toolbars, buttons, menus, and/or menu items and
dockable windows such as the Properties palette
and the Sheet Set Manager. In the CUI dialog
box, open the Workspaces node (double-click or
select the in the square next to the Workspace
node), and the named workspaces are displayed in
tree mode. Select the AutoCAD Default workspace
and its contents are displayed in the Workspace
Contents pane. Other panes displayed include the
Command List and Properties panes.
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Ribbon Panels
Panels contain the buttons that, when chosen,
invoke a command, mode, or custom macro, or
display a dialog box. Customizing panels can
make drawing tasks easier and more efficient.
Frequently used buttons can be consolidated on
one panel and rarely used buttons can be removed
or hidden. You can also create custom panel, and
create or change the button image associated with
a command. Ribbon panels are organized by rows,
sub-panels, and panel separators. A ribbon can
have one or more rows. A row, similar to a
toolbar, determines the order and position that
commands and controls appear on the ribbon panel.
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Customize User Interface - Creating a new panel
from the flyout menu
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Ribbon Tabs
Ribbon tabs control the display and order of
ribbon panels on the ribbon. Ribbon tabs can be
added to a workspace to control which ribbon tabs
are displayed on the ribbon. Ribbon tabs do not
contain any commands or controls like a ribbon
panel does instead, they manage the display of
ribbon panels on the ribbon. Once a ribbon tab is
created, references can be added to any of the
ribbon panels from the Ribbon Panels node.
References to a ribbon panel can be created by
using copy and paste, or by dragging a ribbon
panel from the Ribbon Panels node onto the ribbon
tab. New ribbon tabs are added automatically to
all workspaces, just like new toolbars and menus
are. Ribbon tab from a particular workspace can
be removed using the Workspace Contents pane.
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Customize User Interface - Creating a new tab
from the flyout menu
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Quick Access Toolbar
The Quick Access Toolbar is located to the right
of the menu browser and provides direct access to
a defined set of commands. It is always located
in the same place in the program, but different
commands may be displayed on it based on the
current workspace. Commands can be added,
removed, and reposition. Several commands can be
added, and if there is no room available,
commands roll into a flyout button.
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Customize User Interface Available commands in
the Quick Access toolbar
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Toolbars
Toolbars contain the buttons that, when chosen,
invoke a command, mode, or custom macro, or
display a dialog box or flyout toolbar. Customizi
ng toolbars can make your drawing tasks easier
and more efficient. Frequently used buttons can
be consolidated on one toolbar and rarely used
buttons can be removed or hidden. You can also
specify a text string to be displayed when the
cursor is near a button. You can create custom
toolbars and flyout toolbars, and create or
change the button image associated with a toolbar
command. Toolbar buttons that cause flyouts to be
displayed have a black triangle in the lower
right corner. To create a flyout, you can start
from scratch or drag an existing toolbar onto
another toolbar.
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To create a new toolbar, select the Toolbar node
or one of the individual toolbars in the
Customizations in All CUI Files pane of the CUI
dialog box.
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When you choose an individual command that is
added to the newly created toolbar in the
Customizations in All CUI Files pane, AutoCAD
displays under the Properties pane the lists of
properties for the selected command under the
headings of General, Macro, Advanced, and Images
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Menus
Pull-down menus are displayed as a list under a
menu bar. In the CUI dialog box, the Menus node
displays menus defined in all workspaces.
Pull-down menus should have one alias in the
range of POP1 through POP499. Menus with an alias
of POP1 through POP16 are loaded by default when
a menu loads. All other menus must be added to a
workspace to be displayed. To edit properties of
an existing menu, select the menu name in the
Customizations in All CUI Files pane and AutoCAD
lists the corresponding properties for the
selected menu under the headings of General and
Advanced. The General section displays the Name
and Description of the selected menu. The
Advanced section displays the Alias name and
Element ID (read-only). Here you may make changes
to the properties of an existing menu.
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To edit properties of an existing menu, select
the menu name in the Customizations in All CUI
Files pane and AutoCAD lists the corresponding
properties for the selected menu under the
headings of General and Advanced. The General
section displays the Name and Description of the
selected menu. The Advanced section displays the
Alias name and Element ID (read-only). Here you
may make changes to the properties of an existing
menu.
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Shortcut Menus
Shortcut menus are displayed at your cursor
location when you right-click. The shortcut menu
and the options it provides depend on the pointer
location and whether an object is selected or a
command is in progress. Context-sensitive
shortcut menus display options that are relative
to the current command or the selected object.
Shortcut menus are referenced by their aliases
and are used in specific situations. To create a
new shortcut, right-click shortcut menus in the
Customizations in All CUI Files pane and from the
shortcut menu, choose MENU from the NEW flyout
menu. AutoCAD creates a new menu (named
ShortcutMenu1) and places it at the bottom of the
Shortcut Menu tree. Rename it with an appropriate
name. Select the new shortcut menu in the tree
view, and update the Properties pane
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Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts include shortcut keys and
temporary override keys. Keyboard shortcuts are
used to assign commands to custom keystroke
combinations. You can assign shortcut keys
(sometimes called accelerator keys) to commands
you use frequently, and temporary override keys
to execute a command or change a setting when a
key is pressed. Shortcut keys are keys or key
combinations that start commands. You can
create and edit keyboard shortcuts for a selected
command in the Properties pane. In the CUI dialog
box, expand the Shortcut Keys node in the
Customizations in All CUI Files pane. Then drag
the command (to be invoked by the new shortcut
combination of strokes) from those listed on the
Command List pane in the CUI dialog box to the
list of Shortcut Keys in the Customizations in
All CUI Files pane. In the Properties pane, the
properties for the newly created shortcut key are
display which can be modified.
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Mouse Buttons
Mouse buttons control the functions of a Windows
system pointing device. You can customize these
functions in the Customize User Interface dialog
box. For a pointing device with more than two
buttons, you can change the functions of the
second and third button. The first button on any
pointing device cannot be changed in the
Customize User Interface dialog box. Different
functions of the pointing device can be created
by using various combinations of SHIFT and CTRL
keys with clicking. The number of possible
functions depends on the number of assignable
buttons. The combinations include click,
SHIFTclick, CTRLclick, and CTRLSHIFTclick.
The tablet buttons are numbered sequentially.
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The Legacy node of the Customizations in All CUI
Files pane lets you make changes in features that
are considered obsolete or of minimal usage in
the latest version of AutoCAD. These include
Tablet Menus, Tablet Buttons, Screen Menus, and
Image Tile Menus. The Partial CUI Files node of
the Customizations in All CUI Files pane lets you
load partial CUI files. Partial CUI files are
loaded on top of the main CUI file. They allow
you to create and modify most interface elements
(such as toolbars, menus, and so on) in an
external CUI file without having to import the
customizations to your main CUI file.
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Command Aliases
Command aliasing provides an alternate keystroke
for invoking a command. An alias can only
invoke a command, not the options associated with
the command. Aliases are stored in the ACAD.PGP
file. The format to define an alias is as
follows ltAliasgt,ltFull command namegtThe
abbreviation preceding the comma is the character
or characters to be entered at the Command
prompt. The asterisk () must precede the command
you wish to invoke. Aliases cannot be used in
scripts.
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Customize Menus with Macros
Selecting an item from a menu or toolbar might
execute a command, an AutoLISP routine, or a
macro, or cause another menu to be displayed. If
you perform an application- specific task on a
regular basis that requires multiple steps to
accomplish this task, you can place this in a
menu macro (in the Macro text box in the
Properties pane of the CUI dialog box) and have
AutoCAD complete all the required procedures in a
single step while pausing for input if necessary.
Menu macros are similar to script files (files
ending with .scr). The following example macro
will create a layer called EL_OFFEQ (Electrical
Office Equipment), assign the color RED, and
make it the current layer
CC-LAYERMEL-OFFEQCRED
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Following is a partial list of the codes you will
encounter in menu macros
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Customize Hatch Patterns
The default hatch patterns used by AutoCAD are
stored in the acad.pat file. You can add pattern
definitions to this file or create your own
files. This can be done by using a text editor
such as NOTEPAD. The Boundary Hatch and Hatch
Pattern Palette dialog boxes display the names of
all the hatch patterns defined in the acad.pat
file. You can add new hatch patterns to the
dialog boxes by adding the hatch definitions to
the acad.pat file.
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Each pattern definition has one header line
giving the pattern name/description and a
separate specification line describing each
family of lines in the pattern. The header line
has the following format pattern-name,
descriptionThe pattern name will be the name
for which you will be prompted when using the
HATCH command. The description can be used to
explain the purpose of the hatch pattern. It is
optional and it will not be displayed while using
the HATCH command. The leading asterisk denotes
the beginning of a hatch pattern.
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The format for a line family is as follows
angle, x-origin, y-origin, delta-x, delta-y,
dash-1, dash-2... The brackets denote
optional segment/space specifications used for
non continuous-line families. In all definitions,
the angle, origins, and deltas are mandatory
(even if their values are zero). An example of
continuous lines that are rotated at 30 degrees
and separated by 0.25 units is as follows
P30, 30 degree continuous 30, 0,0, 0,.25
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Customize Shapes and Text fonts
AutoCAD allows to define shapes to use as drawing
symbols and text fonts. Shapes are objects that
used like blocks. The LOAD command loads the
compiled shape file containing the shape
definition. The SHAPE command is then used to
insert shapes from the file into the drawing.
Similar to Block insert, you can specify the
scale and rotation to use for each shape as you
add it. AutoCAD SHP fonts are a special type of
shape file, and are defined in the same way as
shape files. Blocks are more versatile and
easier to use and apply than shapes. However,
shapes are more efficient for AutoCAD to store
and draw.
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Descriptions of shapes are entered in a specially
formatted text file with a file extension of
.shp. To create the file, use a text editor and
save in ASCII format, and then compile the ASCII
file with COMPILE command. Compiling a shape
definition file (SHP) generates a compiled shape
file (SHX). The compiled file has the same name
as the shape definition file but with a file type
of SHX. If the shape definition file defines a
font, you use the STYLE command to define a text
style. If the shape definition file defines
shapes, you use the LOAD command to load the
shape file into the drawing. Then, you use the
SHAPE command to place the individual shapes in
the drawing (similar in to INSERT command).
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The syntax of the shape description for each
shape or character is the same regardless of the
final use (shape or font) for that shape
description. If a shape definition file is to be
used as a font file, the first entry in the file
describes the font itself rather than a shape
within the file. If this initial entry describes
a shape, the file is used as a shape file.
Each shape description has a header line of the
following form and is followed by one or more
lines containing specification bytes, separated
by commas and terminated by a 0. shapenumber,de
fbytes,shapename specbyte1,specbyte2,specbyte3,.
..,0
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Customize Linetypes
Linetype definitions are stored in files with an
.LIN (default acad.lin) extension. The
definitions are in ASCII format and can be
edited, or you can add new ones of your own by
using a text editor in the non-document mode.
Simple linetypes consist of series of dashes,
dots, and spaces. Complex linetypes have
repeating out-of- line objects, such as text
and shapes, along with the optional in-line
dashes, dots, and spaces. These are used in
mapping/surveying drawings for such things as
topography lines, fences, utilities, and many
other descriptive lines. Instrumentation/control
drawings also use many lines with repeating
shapes to indicate graphically the purpose of
each line.
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Each linetype definition in a file comprises two
lines. The first line must begin with an
asterisk, followed by the linetype name and an
optional description in the following format
ltname,description The second line gives the
alignment and description by using proper codes
and symbols, in the following format
alignment,patdesc-1,patdesc-2,... For example
linetype definition for two dashes and a dot,
called DDD, is as follows DDD,___ ___ . ___
___ . ___ ___ . A,.75,-.5,.75,-.5,0,-.5