AutoCAD®

2008

Essentials of Customizing AutoCADAutodesk® Official Training Courseware(AOTC)

00128-050008-1715AMay 2007

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v

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Chapter 1: Customizing AutoCAD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Lesson: Using Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2About Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Workspace Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5The Customize User Interface Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Creating and Activating Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Exercise: Create a Workspace for Visualization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Lesson: Creating Keyboard Shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15About Customization Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Customize User Interface Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17About Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19About Custom Keyboard Shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Working with Keyboard Shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Guidelines for Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Exercise: Prepare the Software for Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Exercise: Create a Keyboard Shortcut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Lesson: Customizing Toolbars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31About Custom Toolbars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Toolbar Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Customizing Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Guidelines for Customizing Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Exercise: Customize Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Lesson: Customizing Dashboard Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44About Custom Dashboard Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Dashboard Panel Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Creating Custom Dashboard Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Guidelines for Customizing Dashboard Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Exercise: Create Custom Dashboard Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Lesson: Creating and Modifying Double-Click Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53About Double-Click Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Creating and Modifying Double-Click Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Exercise: Create a Double-Click Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

vi ■ Contents

Lesson: Customizing Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63About Custom Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Menu Customization Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Customizing Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Exercise: Create a Custom Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Lesson: Migrating Customization Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74About the Migrate From a Previous Release Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Export and Import AutoCAD Settings Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77About the Customize User Interface Dialog Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Migrating Custom Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Exercise: Migrate a Custom Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Chapter 2: Creating Custom Scripts and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Lesson: Using Script Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88About Script Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Working with Script Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Exercise: Set Up a Drawing by Using Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Lesson: Creating and Using Linetypes and Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96About Custom Linetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Creating and Using Custom Linetypes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103About Custom Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Creating Custom Hatch Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Exercise: Create and Use a Linetype. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Exercise: Create and Use a Custom Hatch Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Lesson: Creating and Using Custom Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116About Custom Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Process of Creating and Using Custom Shapes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Exercise: Create and Use a Custom Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Lesson: Working with Custom Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Custom Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Loading and Running Custom Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Exercise: Load and Run Custom Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Chapter 3: Working with Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Lesson: Configuring Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142About Tool Palettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Tool Palettes Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Exercise: Set Tool Palettes Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Contents ■ vii

Lesson: Creating Custom Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153About Content Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154About Command Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Creating Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Exercise: Create a New Tool Palette with Custom Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Lesson: Organizing Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166About Tool Palette Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Creating and Activating Tool Palette Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Exercise: Create and Activate a Custom Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Chapter Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Chapter 4: Managing Custom Tool Palettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Lesson: Standardizing Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178About Tool Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Setting Tool Palettes Read-Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Exercise: Standardize Tool Palettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Lesson: Sharing Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Sharing Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Working with Tool Palette Files on Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Exercise: Share Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Chapter Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Chapter 5: Project Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Project Exercise: Customize AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Chapter Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Appendix A: Additional Support and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Courseware from Autodesk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Autodesk Services & Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Autodesk Subscription. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Autodesk Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Autodesk Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Autodesk Authorized Training Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Autodesk Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Useful Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

viii ■ Contents

ix

Introduction

Welcome to the AutoCAD 2008: Essentials of Customizing AutoCAD Autodesk Official Training Courseware (AOTC), training courseware for use in Authorized Training Center (ATC) locations, corporate training settings, and other classroom settings.

Although this courseware is designed for instructor-led courses, you can also use it for self-paced learning. The courseware encourages self-learning through the use of the AutoCAD® Help system.

This introduction covers the following topics:

■ Course objectives■ Prerequisites■ Using this courseware■ Default installation■ CD contents■ Completing the exercises■ Installing the exercise data files from the CD■ Imperial and metric datasets■ Notes, tips, and warnings■ Feedback

This courseware is complementary to the software documentation. For detailed explanations of features and functionality, refer to the Help in the software.

Course Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

■ Customize AutoCAD by creating workspaces, toolbars, dashboard panels, keyboard shortcuts, double-click actions, and menu bars.

■ Create custom script files, linetypes, hatch patterns, and shapes.■ Describe and access the default tool palettes and their options. ■ Create and organize custom tool palettes.■ Manage custom tool palettes and plan for their deployment. ■ Describe and use the options for sharing tool palettes with others.

x ■ Introduction

Prerequisites

This course is designed for the experienced user who needs to customize AutoCAD.

It is recommended that you have a working knowledge of:

■ The current or a previous release of AutoCAD.■ Microsoft® Windows® 2000 or Microsoft® Windows® XP.

Using This Courseware

The lessons are independent of each other. However, it is recommended that you complete these lessons in the order that they are presented unless you are familiar with the concepts and functionality described in those lessons.

Each chapter contains:

■ Lessons

Usually two or more lessons in each chapter.■ Exercises

Practical, real-world examples for you to practice using the functionality you have just learned. Each exercise contains step-by-step procedures and graphics to help you complete the exercise successfully.

Default Installation

The information in this course is presented in such a way that it is assumed you have installed AutoCAD using the default installation parameters. You should be using the 2D Drafting & Annotation workspace as your active workspace throughout the course.

CD Contents

The CD attached to the back cover of this book contains all the data and drawings you need to complete the exercises in this course.

Completing the Exercises

You can complete the exercises in two ways: using the book or onscreen.

■ Using the book

Follow the step-by-step exercises in the book.■ Onscreen

Click the AOTC - AutoCAD 2008 Essentials of Customizing AutoCAD icon on your desktop, installed from the CD, and follow the step-by-step exercises on the screen. The onscreen exercises are the same as those in the book. The onscreen version has the advantage that you can concentrate on the screen without having to glance down at your book.

Introduction ■ xi

After launching the onscreen exercises, you might need to alter the size of your application window to align both windows.

Installing the Exercise Data Files from the CD

To install the data files for the exercises:

Unless you specify a different folder, the exercise files are installed in the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Autodesk Learning\AutoCAD 2008\Customizing AutoCAD

After you install the data from the CD, this folder contains all the files necessary to complete each exercise in this course.

1. Insert the courseware CD.

2. When the setup wizard begins, follow the instructions on screen to install the data.

3. If the wizard does not start automatically, browse to the root directory of the CD and double-click Setup.exe.

xii ■ Introduction

Imperial and Metric Datasets

In exercises that specify units of measurement, alternative files are provided as shown in the following example:

■ Open i_stair_settings.dwg (imperial) or m_stair_settings.dwg (metric).

In the exercise steps, the imperial value is followed by the metric value in parentheses as shown in the following example:

■ For Length, enter 13'2" (4038 mm).

For exercises with no specific units of measurement, files are provided as shown in the following example:

■ Open c_stair_settings.dwg (common).

In the exercise steps, the unitless value is specified as shown in the following example:

■ For Length, enter 400.

Notes, Tips, and Warnings

Throughout this courseware, notes, tips, and warnings are called out for special attention.

Feedback

We always welcome feedback on Autodesk Official Training Courseware. After completing this course, if you have suggestions for improvements or if you want to report an error in the book or on the CD, please send your comments to AOTC.feedback@autodesk.com.

Notes contain guidelines, constraints, and other explanatory information.

Tips provide information to enhance your productivity.

Warnings provide information about actions that might result in the loss of data, system failures, or other serious consequences.