Customizing

Commands,

Toolbars, and

Tool Palettes

Customizing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT can increase your efficiency and productivity. The time spent in preparation will be paid back

many times. Before you start customizing, you need to know some basics that apply to almost all customization. After you understand these basics, the process becomes much easier.

Overall, AutoCAD LT offers less customizability than AutoCAD; however, most of the features in this chapter apply to both AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT.

Working with Customizable Files

The capability to customize AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT is based on the fact that most of the support files are text files that you can edit yourself. Table 29-1 lists the most important files and their functions. Some customization can be done using dialog boxes.

Figure 29-1 shows a portion of one of these files, acad.pgp, which lists command shortcuts, or aliases. The equivalent file for AutoCAD LT is aclt.pgp.

29C H A P T E R

In This Chapter

Understanding the basics of customization

Creating keyboard shortcuts for commands

Customizing the toolbars

Customizing tool palettes

890 Part VI Customizing AutoCAD

Figure 29-1: Acad.pgp, one of the customizable files.

Table 29-1: Customizable Files

AutoCAD Filename	AutoCAD LT Filename	Function
sample.cus	sample.cus	Custom dictionary file. You can add words to the
		custom dictionary for use with the SPELL command.
acad.pgp	aclt.pgp and	Program parameters file. This file is generally used to
	acad.pgp	create keyboard shortcuts (called aliases) for commands.
acad.mnu	aclt.mnu	Template menu file. You can also create your own
		menu template files.
acad.mnl	N/A	AutoLISP routines used by AutoCAD’s main menu. If you
		create your own menus, you can have an MNL file with
		the same name as your menu for AutoLISP routines.
		AutoCAD only.
acad.mns	aclt.mns	Menu source file generated from the template MNU
		file. You can also create your own menu source files
		from custom template files.
acad2005.cfg	aclt2005.cfg	Configuration file for storing digitizer and other settings.
		Usually, you should use the Options dialog box to make
		these selections instead of manually editing this file.
		See Appendix A for more information about this file.
acad.dcl	aclt.dcl	Dialog Control Language (DCL) file. This file describes
		the standard dialog boxes. You usually don’t edit this
		file, but you can create your own DCL files to create
		dialog boxes.

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AutoCAD Filename	AutoCAD LT Filename	Function
acad.lin	aclt.lin and	Linetype definition file. You can also create your own
	acad.lin	linetype definition (LIN) files or add your own definitions
		to acad.lin.
acad.lsp	N/A	AutoCAD’s AutoLISP file. You can create this file from
		scratch. If it exists, you can edit or add to this file to
		automatically load AutoLISP routines. Other customiza-
		ble LSP files are discussed in Chapter 35. AutoCAD only.
acad.mln	N/A	AutoCAD’s multiline library file. AutoCAD only.
acad.pat	aclt.pat and	AutoCAD’s hatch pattern file. You can also create
	acad.pat	your own.
*.pc3	*.pc3	Plot configuration files. You can also create your own. A
		PC3 file contains all configuration settings for a plotter.
		This is not a text file; you customize it using a dialog box.
		For more information, see Chapter 17 and Appendix A.
		You can use these files with the Batch Plotting Utility.
acad.fmp	aclt.fmp	Font mapping file. Use this file to specify substitute fonts,
		whether or not the original fonts are available on your
		system.
acad.psf	aclt.psf	PostScript support file. It is used for the PSOUT and
		PSFILL commands.
acad.slb	aclt.slb	Slide library file, used for hatch pattern examples in
		menus. You can use this file or create your own slide
		libraries. This is not a text file; see Chapter 30 for an
		explanation of how to create a slide library.
*.scr	*.scr	A script file that you create and name. Script files are
		macros of commands and options that run automatically.
*.shp	*.shp	A shape file that you create and name. Shape files
		usually hold fonts but can hold other shapes as well.
		A shape file is then compiled into a file with an SHX
		extension for more-efficient use.
acad.rx	N/A	A list of ARX (an interface for programming AutoCAD)
		applications that load automatically. AutoCAD only.
mtextmap.ini	mtextmap.ini	Font mapping for the appearance of text in the MTEXT
		editor.
acad.unt	aclt.unt	A file that defines every conceivable type of unit.

Editing customizable files

To customize AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, you usually have to edit the appropriate customizable file. These files are often in text-only (ASCII) format. To edit them, you need a text editor, which is like a word processor but does not place any codes in the file. Files that are not in ASCII format generally have an interface in the program for editing them. For most of the ASCII files, you

892 Part VI Customizing AutoCAD

can use Notepad, which comes with Windows. All major word processors let you save documents as Text Documents — just remember not to click that Save button until you’ve specified the right file format.

Backing up customizable files

Before editing any preexisting files, back them up. Some of these files, especially the menu files, are critical to the program’s functioning. You should back up in three stages:

Back up the original file as it came out of the box. Keep a disk with all the customizable files that you might ever edit in their original form.

After you edit the file, back it up before each editing session. This way you always have your most recent version of the file. If you make a mistake, it’s easy to copy that file on top of the one with the mistake and put everything back to normal.

After you edit a file, back it up again so that you have it in case your hard drive crashes or you need to reinstall AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT.

In some cases, it’s safer to create your own files than to edit the original file. For example, when customizing menus, you can copy acad.mnu or aclt.mnu to a file named mymenu.mnu, edit mymenu.mnu, and then load your new menu instead of the standard menu.

This means you should have two disks, one with the original customizable files, and one with your most recent versions of them. At the very least, these disks should contain the following files:

acad.lin/aclt.lin

acad.lsp (AutoCAD only)

acad.mln (AutoCAD only)

acad.mnl (AutoCAD only)

acad.mns/aclt.mns

acad.mnu/aclt.mnu

acad.pat/aclt.pat

acad.pgp/aclt.pat

You may also want to back up templates that you’ve created.

You’ll use these disks not only when you make a mistake, but also whenever you need to reinstall AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT — whether due to hard-disk failure, a virus on your system, the replacement of your old computer with a new one, or some other reason. Also, when you upgrade AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT to the next release, you can usually continue to work with your familiar, customized files.

Using the command-line form of commands

For many customization tasks, you need to work with commands. When you create a script file, which is a series of commands, or when you edit the menu file, you need to type out the commands you want to execute. In these cases, the customizable files can only contain the command-line form of the commands. You have no way to enter values in a dialog box from within a script or menu file. As a result, you need to learn a whole new way of working — the old-fashioned way, by typing commands on the command line.

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Tip	If you’re not sure of the command name but know the menu or toolbar item, execute the
	command on the menu or toolbar and then press Esc. You see the command name on the
	command line.
	A number of commands have a non-dialog-box version. Several commands can also be run
	in their command-line version by placing a hyphen (-) before the command name. For some
	commands that have no command-line equivalent, you can use system variables to create the
	same effect. Table 29-2 lists these commands.

	Table 29-2: Command-Line Forms of Commands
Command	Command-Line Form
ARCHIVE	-ARCHIVE (AutoCAD only)
ARRAY	-ARRAY
ATTDEF	-ATTDEF
ATTEDIT	-ATTEDIT
ATTEXT	-ATTEXT
BHATCH	-BHATCH
BLOCK	-BLOCK
BOUNDARY	-BOUNDARY
COLOR	-COLOR
DDPTYPE	PDMODE, PDSIZE
DDVPOINT	VPOINT
DSETTINGS	ORTHO, SNAP, GRID, ISOPLANE, AUTOSNAP, SNAPTYPE
ETRANSMIT	-ETRANSMIT
EXPORT	DXFOUT, STLOUT (AutoCAD only), BMPOUT, PSOUT, ACISOUT (AutoCAD only),
	3DSOUT (AutoCAD only), WMFOUT
GROUP	-GROUP
HATCHEDIT	-HATCHEDIT
HYPERLINK	-HYPERLINK
IMAGE	-IMAGE
INSERT	-INSERT
LAYER	-LAYER
LAYOUT	-LAYOUT
LINETYPE	-LINETYPE
MTEXT	-MTEXT
OSNAP	-OSNAP
PAN	-PAN

Continued

894 Part VI Customizing AutoCAD

	Table 29-2 (continued)
Command	Command-Line Form
PARTIALOAD	-PARTIALOAD (AutoCAD only)
PARTIALOPEN	-PARTIALOPEN (AutoCAD only)
PLOT	-PLOT
PLOTSTAMP	-PLOTSTAMP
PLOTSTYLE	-PLOTSTYLE
PROPERTIES	CHANGE, CHPROP, -COLOR, -LAYER, -LINETYPE, -LTSCALE, CELTYPE,
	CELTSCALE, ELEV, THICKNESS
PURGE	-PURGE
RENAME	-RENAME
STYLE	-STYLE
TOOLBAR	-TOOLBAR
UNITS	-UNITS
VBARUN	-VBARUN (AutoCAD only)
VIEW	-VIEW
WBLOCK	-WBLOCK
XBIND	-XBIND
XREF	-XREF

	In addition, you can use the dimension variables to format dimensions in place of using the
	DIMSTYLE command, which opens the Dimension Style Manager dialog box. See the discus-
	sion of the -DIMSTYLE command in Chapter 15.
	The FILEDIA system variable determines whether a dialog box opens for commands, such
	as SAVEAS and OPEN, that request filenames. When FILEDIA is set to 1, the default dialog
	boxes open.
Note	Even if FILEDIA is set to 1, if a script or AutoLISP/ObjectARX program is active, the command
	prompt is used instead of a dialog box. You can still set the FILEDIA system variable to 0, but
	be sure to change it back again at the end of your script or program. (Scripts are available in
	AutoCAD LT, but not AutoLISP or ObjectARX programs.)

Documenting your files

Placing comments in customized files to explain how you customized them is standard practice. Although your customizations may seem obvious at the time, if you go back to a file later, you may not understand what you were trying to accomplish. Also, other people may need some explanation.