Acad menu files

Hi NG;

I would like to add a command into the acad menu file.
Should I change the *.mns or *.mnu file.
Or both of them.

TIA David

 

*.mnu is the template file and *.mns is the actual menu file that acad uses (compare with *.dwt and *.dwg).
You should only change the *.mns file. If you are sure you want to keep this menu you can save the *.mns as *.mnu to replace the original menu template. Best to make a backup copy of the original *.mnu template first.

 

Matter of opinion: I change the mnu file and then recompile.

 

Except that the OP sounds like a noob, and may have edited toolbars, and if
the OP doesn't understand that those changes go into the .mns, *not* the
..mnu, and does what you suggest... well, you may have an unhappy person.

 

See the definitive Cadalyst articles at
http://www.markcad.com/autocad/acadmenus.htm and
http://www.markcad.com/autocad/acadtoolbars.htm.

The MNU file is an essentially useless carryover from pre-R13 menu formats,
and aside from rigid habit, the only reasons for using it are minor and
obscure. (Compiling an MNS file scrambles the order of help strings --
gasp! -- if you ever use them in custom menus, or care about their order,
which doesn't affect their function.) The hazards and extra steps involved
in using the obsolete MNU more than outweigh this tiny flaw in the MNS.

From the first article cited::

Ah, for the good old days before AutoCAD R13, when menu files were simple.
There was an MNU file (the ASCII source file that you edited) and an MNX
file (the binary file that AutoCAD read its menus from and compiled
automatically after you made changes to the MNU file). Now we have deal with
half a dozen different menu file types:

Menu source files:

menuname.MNU: Menu template or "pre-source" file. The MNU file is a vestige
from the old MS-DOS days, when it was the file that you'd edit in order to
customize a menu. It's only purpose now is to confuse you and to give
AutoCAD the opportunity to obliterate your menu customization. You should
delete it and edit the MNS file instead.

menuname.MNS: Menu source file. The MNS file is the real menu source file:
an ASCII file that you edit with a text editor in order to customize menus.
This also is the file that the Toolbars dialog box modifies, if you're
foolish or brave enough to try to use it to customize your toolbars. Note
that, under certain circumstances, AutoCAD will create an MNS file from the
MNU file automatically. This attempt to be helpful can overwrite important
changes in the MNS file. That's why you don't want to have an MNU file.

 

To expand a bit further, it's considered best practice to strictly separate
your customizations from the standard Acad-supplied files.

A better answer would be: Don't touch any of the Acad menu files at all.
Create your own custom partial menu in the form of an MNS (with no MNU at
all), in its own folder, and add that folder to your Acad search path. Then
use menuload to load your partial menu in addition to the standard menu.
This will make it far easier to migrate to the next version of Acad.

When you upgrade, instead of tracking down every little thing you've done to
the enormous standard menu over the course of this version, and then
painstakingly duplicating them in the enormous standard menu in the next
version, you'll have all your customizations in one place, and all you'll
need to do is copy over the partical menu and menuload it.

See Mark Middlebrook's excellent article on this approach at
http://www.cadalyst.com/cadalyst/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=80817. Anybody
who has gone through several upgrades -- and has a willingness to learn
better ways of doing things -- eventually comes to realize that "modular"
customization is the only way to go.

 

Hi Tom,

I have to strongly agree with your comment not to touch any of the AutoCAD
supplied menu files. Everything you do will be lost when you upgrade and
get new menu files with the new Autodesk supplied files.

It is far better to create your own menu and then it can be carried forward
merely with a "menuload"

I do see a role for the MNU file though.
For the user doing their own customisation it can be seen as a backup file
for the MNS file and anyone could readily update the Toolbar information
from an MNS file into the MNU file.
For me, in putting menus together for commercial distribution, the MNS habit
of scrambling the tool tip order is totally unacceptable and I work with MNU
files and distribute MNU files. If there are no MNS and MNC files present
then the MNU file gets loaded. I ensure this in our installation by
deleting both, so that the customer gets the new menu when they install
upgrades.

--


Laurie Comerford
CADApps
www.cadapps.com.au

 

Laurie, we've beat this drum before, but might as well rehearse it again for
the new person's benefit.

The *only* fly in the ointment when using MNS exclusively files is the
scrambling of helpstrings order. You want them alphabetical, I understand.
However, I don't do menus for commercial distribution, and I doubt that
David is going to do that anytime soon either. His one-command personal menu
can work fine without having on-screen help on that command.

Me, I've never bothered with helpstrings at all. I'm pretty sure none of my
users ever looks down there on the status bar to see what a command means in
fine print. I doubt if many of them even know this feature exists. What may
see like a necessity on a commercial menu can be utterly superfluous on a
modest in-house menu. It's a training thing. I want them to know the menu, I
don't want them reading nonsense such as "Reverses the most recent action"
for U, for goodness sakes. If they need to read that, something is seriously
wrong, and it's not in the menu. I do put tooltips on toolbar buttons for
the benefit of beginners, since button icons can be a little cryptic, but
those are part of the button definition and therefore aren't scrambled.

As you tacitly admit, it's far safer for a non-expert user to deal
exclusively with an MNS file, since that's where all their interactive
toolbar changes are going. For a backup -- assuming that a casual user is
going to backup every single toolbar change they ever make, which I've never
seen any of them ever do -- what's wrong with simply right-dragging the MNS
into the same folder in Explorer, and let its name be the default "Copy of
MyMenu.MNS?" This is quicker, less confusing, and you don't even need to
overwrite a file. They can keep Copy(2) and Copy(3) for all I care. It's
exactly the way you'd copy any other file, nothing special, nothing
AutoCADish, not special meanings of file extensions to keep straight, just a
plain old file copy.