Acad.mns Customization

Hi there Everyone, I have created a custom pull down menu here in my office,
and want to be able to update the menu with the New Codes that we come up
with. The problem is, all I can think of to update the menu is to menu
unload ...then menu load it back in to recognize the new updates to our
custom Pull Down. If would be nice so i dont have to do all this on every
computer in the office that whould be awsome!!............Thanks.Mark
Douglas

 

Create your own partial menu and load that. Do not edit the acad.mns/mnu
files as you'll lose your changes when you upgrade.

If you create your own partial menu and load that then when you make changes
to the mnu file on your system, then unload/reload on your system you just
need to distribute those files and the ppl will have the updates without
having to do that.

You could also put that menu on the network and have it loaded from there so
you don't even have to copy it to each workstation, your user's just get the
updates the next time they open autocad.

You could also create a lisp routine to reload the menu so they don't even
need to restart autocad, you just tell them to issue the command to reload
the menu and it's done.

 

Kevin's right, it's cleaner and better to keep your customizations
separately in a partial menu. All the same things apply as far as
distributing the revised partial menu. If the menu is shared, they'll see
the new one next time they open Acad. If it's local, same thing ... if you
replace an MNS and it has a later date than the corresponding MNC, it will
recompile next time they open Acad.

I just don't bother with forcing menus to unload and reload on the spot. For
one thing, pulldowns get lost when the menu is unloaded, so there's the
extra step of getting them back in place when you reload it. That doesn't
happen when you leave the menu alone and let it recompile. I take the lazy
way out and don't bother with the unload/reload.

Outside of a testing/debugging situation, it doesn't matter to me whether a
new menu get loaded instantly. It's going to recompile automatically the
next time Acad is opened anyway. Send around your update at the end of the
day, and everybody will have a new menu first thing in the morning.

Tom

 

create first younameit.mnu file, autocad will create younameit.mns
just edit your partial menu younameit.mns load it w/ menuload command
don't even touch the younameit.mnu file until you are sure that it is the final one save it just for backup.
let the profile you are sharing and using look for acad.mns for the main menu so each user can customize their own separately without you loading the menu and force them to lose whatever work they did on their menus.
make sure you put the younameit.mns file in a shared directory and path it in the shared profile.
does it make sense?

 

I'm lazy and I don't like waiting for acad to startup or hearing "my menu
isn't there". The code below is in my MNL file. Not only does it
"autoload" the pulldowns, but it also creates a command that will unload and
reload the menu. If you menuload just the mns/mnu file, it loads the MNL
file which executes the code below upon loading thus loading the popup
menus.

I actually created this for testing purposes as it's faster than
menuunload/menuload, but it's turned out to be a nice tool to have.

I also have code in out global acaddoc.lsp that checks to see if the MNL
file was loaded (via a flag set in the MNL file), if not it loads the MNL
file, thus loading the menu. I have the same sore of code in the MNL file
for the acaddoc.lsp file. This completely bypasses the MRU bug as well as
ensuring that our standard menu and lsp routines are always loaded. The
only way for this to not work is if the user removed the support paths
pointing to the network.

;;; Load SafeWorks Menu if not loaded
(_swsm:LoadSWMenu)

(defun _swsm:LoadSWMenu (/ mnuloc)
(if (and (not (menugroup "SAFEWORKS"))
(or (setq mnuloc (findfile "SAFEWORKS.MNS"))
(alert "Cannot find the SafeWorks menu file.\nCheck your support
paths.")
)
)
(command "_.MENULOAD" MNULOC)
)
(princ)
)

(defun _swsm:LoadPullDowns ()
(menucmd "GAMPP.WINDOW=+SAFEWORKS.POP1")
(menucmd "GAMPP.WINDOW=+SAFEWORKS.POP2")
(menucmd "GAMPP.WINDOW=+SAFEWORKS.POP3")
(menucmd "GAMPP.WINDOW=+SAFEWORKS.POP4")
(menucmd "GAMPP.WINDOW=+SAFEWORKS.POP5")
(princ)
)

;;; Load Pull downs if not loaded
(_swsm:LoadPullDowns)

;;FUNCTION TO RELOAD SAFEWORKS MENU
(defun C:SAFEMENU ()
(if (menugroup "safeworks")
(command "menuunload" "safeworks")
)
(_swsm:LoadSWMenu)
(princ)
)

 

The way I have done it it to put the autocad files on a network shared file
server and have those paths on each workstation, along with all lisp,
blocks, plotter info, etc. Then, when I add or change a plotter, or the mnu
file, it changes on ALL machines when they reopen autocad.

 

Thanks Kevin. That does look like a nice tool to have around.

 

1) I agree as it makes it easier on the user.

2) Where is this written. I've read through most of the help file on menus
and don't remember reading this anywhere. As I stated. I do that for
testing so that I know I'm not using a production menu.

Yes, but I'm just testing. See I'm the CAD Admin here and I
edit/create/fix/etc everything related (remotely or directly) to CAD here.

Really, since when? I've had over 30 up there (for testing purposes)
becuase someone said there was a limit. I even closed acad and re-opened
and all were still there. People have mentioned this several times and I've
tested it a couple of times. It makes a mess, but I've never had a problem
with putting a ton of pull-down menus up there.

Kevin

 

snip-->>
I've had over 30 up there (for testing purposes)
becuase someone said there was a limit. I even closed acad and re-opened
and all were still there. People have mentioned this several times and I've
tested it a couple of times. It makes a mess, but I've never had a problem
with putting a ton of pull-down menus up there.

Oh, yeah, you Are right - as I discovered once upon a tinme, too.
It is a mess when the POPs go to 2 (or 3) lines - and they get hard to pick.

As for "who said" ... [I've read through most of the help file on menus
and don't remember reading this anywhere]
Some stuff isn't In the Help files... but in tutorials. I seem to have seen
it somewhere, but can't recall whose say-so I've been loyal to.
Also, the ORDER that Autodesk uses in its POP menus is identical (guess why)
to the order of pop menus in Microsoft products. So it's also for user
familiarity.

Nonetheless... a "custom" menu is Yours to customize... just know the root
of other user's confusion when (if) it comes up <G>.