When you double-click the icon on your desktop or start AutoCAD from the Start menu, you are executing a statement. You can customize this statement by adding parameters, also called switches.

To learn the statement of your desktop [...]]]>

You can launch AutoCAD with a specific template of your choice. You do this with a command line switch.

When you double-click the icon on your desktop or start AutoCAD from the Start menu, you are executing a statement. You can customize this statement by adding parameters, also called switches.

To learn the statement of your desktop icon, right-click it and choose Properties. On the Shortcut tab, look in the Target text box. This is also where you add a switch. For example, the statement might look like this:

“C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2012\acad.exe”

To add a switch insert a space after the end of the statement and add a forward slash (/), then the switch you want. (AutoCAD has a number of switches, not just for templates.) In most cases you also add a descriptor.

For a template named mytemplate, you would add /t mytemplate. The statement for the Tutorial-iArch template would then look like this:

“C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2012\acad.exe” /t Tutorial-iArch

Note: You need to add quotation marks around any path or name (such as the template name) that contains spaces.

I recommend duplicating the existing shortcut. When you use this method, you can create different shortcuts for different templates. To change the command line switch, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the shortcut and choose Copy.
2. Right-click the desktop and choose Paste. You’ll either get a new shortcut with “Copy” appended to the name or a dialog box that gives you the option to keep both the original and the copy with a number appended to the name. You can change the name of the shortcut to reflect the name of the template it will open.
3. Right-click the shortcut copy and choose Properties.
4. On the Shortcut tab, in the Target text box (not the Start In box), move the cursor to the end of the existing statement.
5. Press the spacebar to add a space, then type /t and another space. Finally add the name of the template. Be sure to add quotation marks around the template name if it contains spaces.
6. Click OK.

Try out your new shortcut by double-clicking it!

Did you find this helpful? Do you use switches? How?

If you don’t know how to turn it off permanently, here are the steps:

It’s happened to all of us. A car outside backfires, a door slams or a cheeky college sneaks up behind you and gives you a tickle; before you know it your AutoCAD user interface is a mess!

If you’ve invested a lot of time setting up AutoCAD’s UI [...]]]>

This is a guest blog post from Paul Munford.

It’s happened to all of us. A car outside backfires, a door slams or a cheeky college sneaks up behind you and gives you a tickle; before you know it your AutoCAD user interface is a mess!

If you’ve invested a lot of time setting up AutoCAD’s UI the way you like it, I seriously recommend that you save your user interface as a custom workspace.

However, I have another quick tip to share with you that can prevent your Ribbon tabs, Toolbars or Tool palettes accidentally being nudged around the screen.

Locking the User Interface

The secret is the little padlock icon down in your system tool tray. Clicking on this little button will lock down AutoCAD’s user interface, so that you can’t accidently move anything.

Tip: If you can’t see the control, click on the arrow at the far end of the system tool tray and select Display Locking.

Locking separate elements of the User Interface

Clicking on the Lock UI button gives you a few choices about which UI elements you want to lock.

• Lock all controls
• Lock only floating Toolbars or Ribbon panels
• Lock only docked Toolbars or Ribbon panels
• Lock only floating windows*
• Lock only docked windows*

*In this case ‘Windows’ refers to controls such as the Ribbon, the Design Center, and the Properties palette.

You can also type lockui at the command line to access the User Interface locking settings. The LOCKUI setting is stored as a bitcode using the sum of the following values:

• 0    Toolbars and windows not locked
• 1    Docked toolbars locked
• 2    Docked or anchored windows locked
• 4    Floating toolbars locked
• 8    Floating windows locked

But what if I WANT to move a control?

Here is one more quick tip for you. If you have your AutoCAD User Interface locked down, and you just want to nudge one control out of the way – simply hold down the CTRL key while you drag the Tool bar, Tool palette or Ribbon tab to temporarily allow moving and re-sizing of the control.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this quick tip, now – LOOK BEHIND YOU! (Tickle, tickle)

 Paul Munford is the writer of The CAD Setter Out, supplying tips, tricks and tutorials for Drafters using AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor to create drawings for the construction industry. In his spare time Paul enjoys Drawing and Woodworking. He thinks that modelling his Joinery designs in 3D is the most fun anyone can have, by themselves…

The number of mouse-clicks required to perform a task is generally a good indicator of productivity. The fewer the number of clicks, the less time required–hence more productivity.

In this post we will see [...]]]>

This is a guest post by Sanjay Kulkarni, an AutoCAD programmer. You can read more about him at the end of this post.

The number of mouse-clicks required to perform a task is generally a good indicator of productivity. The fewer the number of clicks, the less time required–hence more productivity.

In this post we will see an example of reducing the number of mouse-clicks, and thus improving productivity, using AutoLISP. We will use the example of the FILLET command.

Thanks to one of the blog readers Bruce Newman, who sent a problem to me. It was the source for this post.

The most simple situation where you create a fillet is when two perpendicular lines meet. Inside the FILLET command, you select the two lines (requiring 2 clicks) and AutoCAD creates the fillet.

The equivalent AutoLISP code would be

(command “fillet” (car (entsel “\nSelect the first line: “))(entsel “\nSelect the second line: “)))

This still requires two clicks.

So, the problem now reduces to finding a method to select two lines with a single click.

Before trying in AutoLISP, let’s find out if we can do it manually. There seems to be no option or a work-around to do what we want.

Luckily, we have a single point (the intersection) that is common to both lines. So, let’s explore if we can somehow use the intersection point to select the 2 lines. If you have to click only one point to select multiple objects, obviously it should be the intersection point.

Study of selection methods shows that there are two options that base their selection on two points: crossing & window. Since W must include the objects fully, it won’t be suitable. So let’s try C option.

Use the SELECT command and then the c option and click on the intersection point in response to both points. AND …….. Both lines are selected!

The equivalent AutoLISP code would be

(setq ssLines (ssget “c” (setq pt1 (getpoint “\nSelect Intersection: “) ) pt1))

Now I can use each line to create a fillet.

(command “fillet” (ssname ssLines 0) (ssname ssLines 1))

And yes … the fillet appears!

So, here is my simple program:

(defun c:FiletByPt ()

;;; creates fillet by single click

;;; ssk 110918

(setq ssLines (ssget “c” (setq pt1 (getpoint “\nSelect Intersection: “) ) pt1))

(command “fillet” (ssname ssLines 0) (ssname ssLines 1))

)

(prompt “\nCreates a fillet by single click. Type ‘FiletByPt’”)

Note: In the command name above, FiletByPt, “fillet” is intentionally spelled “filet” to avoid confusion as you start to type the custom AutoLISP command.

To use the above code, copy and paste it into Notepad and save it as filetbypt.lsp in a location that is in AutoCAD’s support file search path. Instructions for loading the program are here.

However life is always not so simple. The lines may extend beyond the intersection point. My R&D shows that the above code still works as shown in Fig. 3.

It even works when the two lines are not perpendicular.

When two lines are selected using a single point, AutoCAD finds and trims shorter segments of each line and then creates a fillet between the two remaining segments.

There might be situations (when two lines meet at the midpoint) where the code may not work or possibly needs modification.

But, if creating fillets is a major task for you, and saving 50% of time can result in significant gain, go ahead and use this code.

Are you stuck-up with such trivial tasks that are strain on your resources? Let me know and we’ll see if I can help you with useful hints or sample code.

Sanjay Kulkarni is an experienced CAD (AutoCAD, Inventor, SolidEdge, CATIA, NX) programmer and a member of the Autodesk Developer Network. He is fluent in AutoLISP, VBA, and VB.NET. He has written for AugiWORLD and Inside AutoCAD. He can be contacted at sanganaksakha@gmail.com

In the current era of globalization, many times you may have to work on drawings received from others. Sometimes, you may not be able to control the quality of the drawings you receive. [...]]]>

This is a guest post by Sanjay Kulkarni, an AutoCAD programmer. You can read more about him at the end of this post.

In the current era of globalization, many times you may have to work on drawings received from others. Sometimes, you may not be able to control the quality of the drawings you receive. In such a situation, you may have to carry out a repair job on the drawings. Such tasks can be made less tedious if you standardize these tasks and carry them out using AutoLISP.

One of my Indian clients receives drawings from their European principals. One of the repair jobs is to change the font of the text inside dimensions, attributes, tables & notes. Since all these texts are included inside their respective block, the task becomes more complicated than is really necessary.

Most of the text, however, is controlled by the text style. Thus, the job is really to change the font in the text style. But there are a handful of the text styles. So, it becomes a time consuming task.

I helped them with a simple AutoLISP function that made this job virtually painless. The function changes the association of a text style from existing font file to another font file. The function takes 2 parameters, the name of the existing text style and the name of the font file that will be associated with the text style.

You can download the function here.

How to use the AutoLISP function

This function can be used like this:

(chngFontOfTxtStyle “<TextStyleName>” “<DifferentFont.xtn>”)

As you may have noticed, this function can be used only inside another AutoLISP program. This calling AutoLISP program can provide the user interface that you may need. Following are a couple of sample situations that you can build around this function.

1. Ask the user to type the names of the text style and font file and store them in variables. Call the above function with these two variables as parameters.

2. Ask the user to type the name of the font file. Browse programmatically through all the text styles and repeatedly call the above function with name of each text style and name of the font file as parameters. This will change the font of all text styles.

As you can see, there is no limit to the situations you can build and keep using the function.

For example, you could enter the following on the command line:

(chngFontOfTxtStyle “Something Funny” “arial.ttf”)

In this case, the name of the text style is Something Funny and you want to change the font to Arial.

How to get help for the function

Also note that this function has built in help. The message is displayed as soon as you load the lisp file to type cfot? (note the use of ? to indicate help) at the command prompt. If you type this, minimal help is displayed at the command prompt.

How do you know that the font name association was successfully changed? As described in help, the function returns 0 if successful or -1 if not. You will need to check the return value.

What other tasks do you want to automate?

Are you stuck-up with such trivial tasks that are strain on your resources. Let me know directly (my email is below) and we’ll see if I can help you with useful hints or sample code. Or you can post a comment.

Sanjay Kulkarni is an experienced CAD (AutoCAD, Inventor, SolidEdge, CATIA, NX) programmer and a member of the Autodesk Developer Network. He is fluent in AutoLISP, VBA, and VB.NET. He has written for AugiWORLD and Inside AutoCAD (a monthly magazine that has since gone out of publication). He can be contacted at sanganaksakha@gmail.com

This is a guest post by Sanjay Kulkarni, an AutoCAD programmer.

Learning AutoLISP (or any other programming language) doesn’t compel you to become a programmer. You can still use it to better understand the internal working of AutoCAD and enhance your interactive working skill. This can also give you an edge over others.

Recently [...]]]>

This is a guest post by Sanjay Kulkarni, an AutoCAD programmer.

Learning AutoLISP (or any other programming language) doesn’t compel you to become a programmer. You can still use it to better understand the internal working of AutoCAD and enhance your interactive working skill. This can also give you an edge over others.

Recently I received a client’s drawing that was in AutoCAD 2004. Even when I saved it in AutoCAD 2010, the dimension would not adjust when I changed the length of a line. Only after I recreated the dimension was I able to use this capability. The reason, I found, was that the dimension in AutoCAD 2004 did not have the reactor (discussed below). Only when I created the dimension in AutoCAD 2010 was the reactor added.

Let’s learn this lesson with an example

Everybody knows that when you dimension an object, the dimension automatically updates when you modify the object. Have you ever wondered how the dimension knows it has to update? AutoLISP can help you find this out, if you don’t already  know.

Here’s the example:

1. Draw a line.

2. Get its entity list by typing the following piece of AutoLISP code at the command prompt:

(entget (car (entsel)))

and selecting the line when prompted to select an object. You’ll see something similar to the following at the command line in return.

((-1 . <Entity name: 7ee45a18>) (0 . “LINE”) (330 . <Entity name: 7ee43cf8>) (5 . “22B”) (100 . “AcDbEntity”) (67 . 0) (410 . “Model”) (8 . “0″) (100 . “AcDbLine”) (10 10.0 10.0 0.0) (11 160.0 160.0 0.0) (210 0.0 0.0 1.0))

This, you might have guessed, is the record that AutoCAD stores in its database.

3. Create a dimension (aligned for example) to show the length of the line and get the entity list of the line again. You should get a result similar to:

((-1 . <Entity name: 7ee45a18>) (0 . “LINE”) (5 . “22B”) (102 . “{ACAD_REACTORS”) (330 . <Entity name: 7ee45ae8>) (102 . “}”) (330 . <Entity name: 7ee43cf8>) (100 . “AcDbEntity”) (67 . 0) (410 . “Model”) (8 . “0″) (100 . “AcDbLine”) (10 10.0 10.0 0.0) (11 160.0 160.0 0.0) (210 0.0 0.0 1.0))

You might have noticed a new item starting with (102 . “{ACAD_REACTORS”) (330 . <Entity name: 7ee45ae8>) (102 . “}”) in the entity list of the line.

This is a reference to a reactor object that AutoCAD has created after adding the dimension. This reactor ensures that dimension gets modified when the object (line in this case) gets modified.

A reactor is a program that executes automatically when a particular action (change in the length of line in this case) is completed. A reactor executes only AFTER an editing action is completed. Hence, you see that the dimension is modified after the command that modifies the line completes and is not dynamically updated while length of line is being modified.

4. Next, entget the dimension using the same code but selecting the dimension this time.  You will get something similar to:

((-1 . <Entity name: 7ee45a20>) (0 . “DIMENSION”) (5 . “22C”) (102 . “{ACAD_XDICTIONARY”) (360 . <Entity name: 7ee45a90>) (102 . “}”) (102 . “{ACAD_REACTORS”) (330 . <Entity name: 7ee45ae8>) (102 . “}”) (330 . <Entity name: 7ee43cf8>) (100 . “AcDbEntity”) (67 . 0) (410 . “Model”) (8 . “0″) (100 . “AcDbDimension”) (280 . 0) (2 . “*D6″) (10 173.511 146.489 0.0) (11 98.5106 71.4894 0.0) (12 0.0 0.0 0.0) (70 . 33) (1 . “”) (71 . 5) (72 . 1) (41 . 1.0) (42 . 212.132) (73 . 0) (74 . 0) (75 . 0) (52 . 0.0) (53 . 0.0) (54 . 0.0) (51 . 0.0) (210 0.0 0.0 1.0) (3 . “Standard”) (100 . “AcDbAlignedDimension”) (13 10.0 10.0 0.0) (14 160.0 160.0 0.0) (15 0.0 0.0 0.0) (16 0.0 0.0 0.0) (40 . 0.0) (50 . 0.0))

You will notice that exactly same reactor appears in the entity list of dimension. Thus, this reactor is the link between the line and dimension.

5. Add one more dimension to the line and get the entity list of line once more. You will see one more item with (330 . in the reactor reference. Thus each dimension associated with line is added as an item with 330 dxf code in the entity list of line..

6. Now delete one of the dimensions and get the new entity list of the line. You will find that one of the (330 . item has been removed.

7. After you delete all dimensions, the entity list of the line returns to its original form without any (102 . items.

A possibility to improve associativity

It is interesting to note that when object is deleted, dimension does not get deleted. Thus it lacks true associativity with the object.

You could create a situation whereby the dimension would be deleted when the object was deleted by adding a reference to one more reactor in the dimension’s entity list that responds to deleting its associated object, but you would have to write code to do so.

Sanjay Kulkarni is an experienced CAD (AutoCAD, Inventor, SolidEdge, CATIA, NX) programmer and a member of the Autodesk Developer Network. He is fluent in AutoLISP, VBA, and VB.NET. He has written for AugiWORLD and Inside AutoCAD (a monthly magazine that has since gone out of publication). You can contact him at sanganakskha@gmail.com.

This post describes the method to load an AutoLISP program in an open drawing.

An AutoLISP program runs inside (in the same workspace of) an open drawing. Therefore it is necessary to load the program in [...]]]>

This is a guest post by Sanjay Kulkarni, an AutoCAD programmer.

This post describes the method to load an AutoLISP program in an open drawing.

Some basic & fundamental information before we move to the procedure

An AutoLISP program runs inside (in the same workspace of) an open drawing. Therefore it is necessary to load the program in each individual drawing you want to use the program in. You can load a program into a drawing at any time.

Once you load the program in a drawing, it remains loaded into that specific drawing until the drawing is closed. This means that you can use the functions in the program multiple times once you load the program.

The flip side is that you can’t unload an AutoLISP program once you load it except by closing the drawing.

If you want to use the same program in multiple drawings, you will need to load the program in each individual drawing even if there exists a drawing in which the program has been already loaded.

Loading an AutoLISP program

Now to the action:

1. Type appload at the command prompt (In AutoCAD 2012, you can go to Manage tab>Applications panel>Load Application.). This will display the Load/Unload Applications dialog box as shown below.

1. Click the History List tab at the bottom of the dialog box. In case the program was previously loaded in any drawing with Add to History checked, it will be listed there. Select the desired file in the list and go to step 7. Otherwise, go to step 3.
2. Make sure that Files of type displays the .lsp extension.
3. Using the LookIn drop-down, you browse to the desired location (folder).
4. If you want to be able to use step 2 above in future, select the Add to History checkbox.
5. Select the .lsp file to load in the window.
6. Click Load. If the file is successfully loaded, a message to that effect is displayed at the bottom of the dialog box. Also if you have checked Add to History, the names of loaded programs are added to in the History List tab of the window.
7. Click the Close button to close the dialog box.

You are now ready to use the functions in the loaded files.

Notes:

• You can select multiple files in the History List or the browser using Shift & Control keys and then click the Load button to load all the selected files simultaneously.
• You can double-click on an individual file to both select and load it. Then you don’t need to click the Load button.
• When you double-click on a file in History List with Add to History checked, the file name is added again to the History List. You can remove filenames in the History List by selecting the file and clicking the Remove button.
• If you load a file multiple times in a drawing, AutoCAD does not generate any error and overwrites the previous version of the loaded file.

For a quicker method of loading a program, see the tip, “Loading AutoLISP programs quickly.” This will also obviate the need to load program in each drawing.

Sanjay Kulkarni is an experienced CAD (AutoCAD, Inventor, SolidEdge, CATIA, NX) programmer and a member of the Autodesk Developer Network. He is fluent in AutoLISP, VBA, and VB.NET. He has written for AugiWORLD and Inside AutoCAD (a monthly magazine that has since gone out of publication). You can contact him at sanganakskha@gmail.com

In an earlier post, Ellen showed how to align a rectangle with a line on the fly. You can easily create the same effect using AutoLISP. This AutoLISP routine is simple, and you [...]]]>

This is a guest post by Sanjay Kulkarni, an AutoCAD programmer. You can read more about him at the end of this post.

In an earlier post, Ellen showed how to align a rectangle with a line on the fly. You can easily create the same effect using AutoLISP. This AutoLISP routine is simple, and you can use the code as a starting point for your own routines.

First, Ellen has created a video to show you how this works.

Here are the steps to use this AutoLISP routine:

1. Download the AutoLISP file. You need to do this only once, of course.
2. Start the APPLOAD command. In AutoCAD 2012, you can go to Manage tab>Applications panel>Load Application.
3. In the Load/Unload Application dialog box, make sure that the Files of Type drop-down list displays the .lsp extension. In the Look In box, navigate to the AutoLISP file and select it.
4. Click the Load button. You should see a message at the bottom of the dialog box saying that the file was successfully loaded.
5. Click Close to close the dialog box. For a quicker method of loading a program, see my tip, “Loading AutoLISP programs quickly“.
6. Draw a diagonal line in your drawing.
7. On the command line, type ra and press Enter.
8. Follow the prompts. At the Select the line to align rectangle with: prompt, select the line to align the rectangle with. The program repeats the prompt until you select a line or press the Escape key to abort the program.
9. At the Specify first corner point or [Chamfer/Elevation/Fillet/Thickness/Width]: prompt, specify the first corner of the rectangle. You can now see that the rectangle is aligned with the line.
10. At the Specify other corner point or [Area/Dimensions/Rotation]: prompt, specify the other corner of the rectangle to finish the routine and create a rectangle aligned with the selected line.
    

Tip: You can repeat the command in the drawing as long as the drawing is open. But if you open another drawing you will need to reload the program. To avoid having to do this, you can add it to your Startup Suite. In the Load/Unload Application dialog box, drag the AutoLISP file from the list of files at the top to the Startup Suite in the lower-right section of the dialog box.

I won’t show you the actual code in all my posts, but this one is simple enough that it will be useful to look at its structure. As I said, you can use this same structure for many situations. It’s similar to a script file; you are using the COMMAND function to execute an AutoCAD command. The code also defines an alias, RA. The PAUSE function waits for your input. Of course, the code also defines some variables, does some error checking, sets up the prompts, and a little more.

(defun RectAlin ()
(setq oOSMODE (getvar “osmode”))
(setvar “osmode” 0)
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;; selecting the line
(setq theLine nil)
(while (= theLine nil)
(setq theLine
(car
(entsel
“\nSelect the line to align rectangle with [Escape to cancel]:”
)
)
)
(setq eLstLine (entget theLine))
(if (/= (cdr (assoc 0 eLstLine)) “LINE”)
(setq theLine nil)
)
)
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
(setq sPt (cdr (assoc 10 eLstLine)))
(setq ePt (cdr (assoc 11 eLstLine)))
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;; Create aligned rectangle
(command “rectang” PAUSE “R” “P” sPt ePt PAUSE)
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
(setvar “osmode” oOSMODE)
(princ)
)
(defun c:RA ()
(RectAlin)
)

Do you use AutoLISP in this way? Let us know how you use simple routines like this in your work–leave a comment!

Sanjay Kulkarni is an experienced CAD (AutoCAD, Inventor, SolidEdge, CATIA, NX) programmer and a member of the Autodesk Developer Network. He is fluent in AutoLISP, VBA, and VB.NET. He has written for AugiWORLD and Inside AutoCAD (a monthly magazine that has since gone out of publication). He can be contacted at sanganakskha@gmail.com

You can make your AutoCAD life easier by [...]]]>

All AutoCAD drawings are connected to related files. At the very least, all drawings need access to a customization user interface (CUI) file. Some drawings also need to access fonts, plug-ins (such as AutoLISP and VBA files), linetypes, and hatch patterns. Drawings may have externally referenced drawings (xrefs).

You can make your AutoCAD life easier by understanding the support file search path and the project files search path. If you sometimes get a message that AutoCAD can’t find a necessary file, you may be able to solve this problem by working with the support file search path. AutoCAD looks for outside files first in the same folder as the current drawing, then in the support file search path. If the file is not in either place, you’ll get a message that AutoCAD can’t find the file.

Work with the support file search path

The support file search path is one or more locations where AutoCAD looks for menus, fonts, linetypes, and hatch patterns. It also looks there for drawings to insert (using the INSERT command) and plug-ins. AutoCAD comes with a default support file search path, which varies based on your version of Windows. To find it, choose Tools> Options. This opens the Options dialog box.

Quick Tip: A shortcut to open the Options dialog box is to right-click in the drawing or command-line area with no objects selected, and choose Options.

Click the Files tab. Then click the plus sign next to the first item, Support File Search Path, to expand the list.

The top item is your default location. Your menu, font, linetype, and hatch pattern files are there by default.

If you want to create your own menu, font, linetype, and hatch pattern files, I recommend creating a folder for them and adding that folder to the support file search path. In this way, you don’t interfere with the default installation of AutoCAD. Also, if you need to uninstall and reinstall or upgrade AutoCAD, your files are safer (although AutoCAD usually saves these files during an upgrade).

To add your own folder, select the Support File Search Path item, and click the Add button. A new text box opens at the end of the list where you can type in the path, but it’s usually easier to click Browse. Then navigate to the folder in the Browse for Folder dialog box, select it, and click OK. The new path appears in your list.

You can create several folders for files and add them to your support file search parth. For example, many people put their AutoLISP and VBA files in a separate folder and add it to the support file search path.

Specify the search path for xrefs

The Project Files Search Path item is for xrefs. You can specify a project name for a drawing, using the PROJECTNAME system variable. Then, that drawing will look for xrefs in the project files search path related to that project name. You use this to ensure that the drawing can find the xref even if it’s moved and therefore isn’t in its original location. Project names are also used for images and DWF underlays.

To add a project name in the Options dialog box, click the Project Files Search Path item to expand it. If you haven’t used this item before, a new line appears, called Empty. Click Add. Then a new project appears, called Project1. It’s highlighted, so you can rename it. Choose a name that’s easy to type, as you’ll have to type it on the command line.

To add a location, follow these steps:

1. Click Add.
2. Either type in a path, or click Browse to navigate to it, as previously described.
3. Click OK, and your new path appears in the listing.W
4. When you’re done, click OK to close the Options dialog box. The project name you specified is now stored in the Windows Registry.

To use a project files search path, enter projectname on the command line. At the Enter new value for PROJECTNAME, or . for none <”">: prompt, enter the projectname that you specified in the Options dialog box. If you enter a name that you haven’t listed in the Options dialog box, you get the following message:

“hello” not found in the registry. Use the Options dialog Files tab to create the project name and set the project search paths.

The next time you open the drawing, AutoCAD will know where to search for the xrefs for that drawing, even if they’ve been moved.

The book is only $10 and he’s offering a 40% discount [...]]]>

Edwin Prakoso has written an excellent and thorough e-book on AutoCAD blocks. In 69 pages, he covers the following:

• Creating, inserting, modifying, and replacing blocks
• Creating and using attributes
• Creating annotative blocks
• Creating dynamic blocks, including visibility states, parameters, and constraints
• Extracting data from blocks
• Best practices examples
• Managing and sharing blocks

The book is only $10 and he’s offering a 40% discount with the CN2010 code.  It’s only good until December 31st, which is why I wanted to get this post out to you now. That makes the book only $6!

I suggest that you take a look by clicking this link. (Full disclosure: I make 30% commission.) He also has 2 e-books on Revit, if you’re interested.

I asked Edwin some questions to learn more about him and why he chose this topic:

Q1: Why did you decide to focus on AutoCAD blocks?

I believe that to be productive in AutoCAD, we need to focus on three areas: having good templates, good libraries, and good customizations. Customization need programming knowledge, and not many people can create a program. But AutoCAD blocks are quite simple to create.

I have seen that AutoCAD blocks today can be really useful, not only as reusable content, but also to automate some tasks. By optimizing blocks, we not only become more productive, but also reduce human errors in our design.

Q2: Tell me a little about your background.

I worked in Architecture consultant for a couple of years, then I moved to a building contractor. So I’m familiar with the design process and how we use AutoCAD in that area. I saw that many people tried to create custom programs to be more productive. Then I started to work at an Autodesk reseller, so I had more chances to explore AutoCAD features. I started to see that much of the automation can be done in AutoCAD without any programming. One feature that we can use is AutoCAD blocks. For example, we can use dynamic blocks and data extraction.

Q3: You have 3 e-books, one on AutoCAD and two on Revit. Why did you decide to start writing? Are there any other books on AutoCAD in the pipeline?

I started to write on my blog since 2004. My first blog was written in Indonesian. Some of the readers asked if I could provide the contents in e-book format. It was not easy and expensive to have an Internet connection at that time. I thought it was a good idea. So I decided to also have e-books, especially for materials that can’t be covered in blog posts. At the moment I only have one AutoCAD e-book, but I have plan to cover more about AutoCAD best practices.
Wish me luck!

Good luck, Edwin!