Menu Customization Documentation

I have several pdf files from Autodesk.
vlisptut.pdf
vlispDev.pdf
vbaDev.pdf
AlispRef.pdf

I was wondering if there is one for Menu Customization?
I have reviewed the 'on-line help' but would like more.

 

Help says about all there is to say on the subject. Did you have a specific
"how to" question?
___

 

Yes, several.
Can you call a screen or tablet menu after an image menu like this?
From an ACAD11 menu.

***POP7
[Plans]
[Walls]^C^C$i=OPTICADD.walli1 $i=*


***IMAGE
**WALLI1
[Select Wall Type]
[opticadd(wal-side,Wall Edge)]^C^C$S=X $S=WALLS1


***SCREEN
**X
[OptiCADD]^C^CMENU;(STRCAT MNU "OPTICADD");
[* * * * ]$S=OSNAPB

<15 empty lines>

[__LAST__]$S= $S=
[DRAW ]^C^C$S=X $S=DR
[EDIT ]^C^C$S=X $S=ED

***TABLET1
**WALLS1
[2x2]^C^C^P(if (null wallload) (load (strcat alac "WALLLOAD")));+
(wallload "wall-01" (strcat alac "OPTI"));+
(if (null c:WALL4) (load (strcat alac "WALL4")));^PWALL4


Also I saw something like this [text]$Pn= $Pn=* where n is a number
sorry I can't find the exact referance but if I run across it again I'll post it if
this is too vague or out of context.

What does this do?
[__LAST__]$S= $S=

Just started working with menu's so i'm stumbling a lot.

 

Newer versions of AutoCAD use a more 'formal' call
to sections of the menu file. I.E. try adding "OPTICADD."
just after the "=" for all calls to $S= and$i=, like:

[opticadd(wal-side,Wall Edge)]^C^C$S=OPTICADD.X $S=OPTICADD.WALLS1

I think you (can) call the screen section from the Icon section.

On the [_LAST_]$S= $S= ...
This syntax 'recalls' the 'last' $S= sectionname
For instance, if you do:
***1STSECTION
[gotowalls1]^c^c$S=OPTICADD.WALLS1
......
**WALLS1
...
[_LAST_]$S= $S= (calls 1stsection)

Bob

 

Thanks again Bob,
So [_LAST_]$S= $S= (calls 1stsection)
is like a RETURN, unlike a GOTO a specific menu

OK, I added [test] to POP7 & it will not call CABtest so either
I'm doing something wrong or the mns file is defective in some way.

***POP7
[Plans]
[Test]^C^C$S=OPTICADD.CABtest $S=*
[Walls]^C^C$i=OPTICADD.walli1 $i=*
***IMAGE
**WALLI1
[Select Wall Type]
[opticadd(wal-side,Wall Edge)]^C^C$S=OPTICADD.CABtest $S=*
[opticadd(wal-cent,Wall Centered)]^C^C(alert "WALLi1 to WALLS2")

***SCREEN
**CABtest
[test1]^C^C(alert "Here at CAB1")
[test2]^C^C(alert "Here at CAB1")


========================================================
Can you explain what [OSNAP] selection does? $p1= $p1=*
***POP1
[Tools]
[OSNAP]^C^C$p1= $p1=* OSNAP \
Here is another example
***FILTERS
[Filters]
[.X].x $p1= $p1=*

========================================================

 

OK I found a check box in OPTIONS for 'Display Screen Menu'
How is this accessed in the menu or lisp?

 

The ACAD screen menu is designed to overlay in two steps. The X submenu
contains mostly blanks and several items at the top. Its effect is to clear
the previous submenu and to prepare for the new overlay. The second
$S=name adds the specifics for the related command.

To go back to the last screen menu, two screen menus need to be popped,
thus $S= $S=.

Never use: $S=name $S=* The * is only used to display pull down menus.

The function should be obvious by the label. Try using the screen menus
and you will see their effects. AutoCAD commands are now linked to
the screen submenus (an R14 effect) that I attribute directly to my keyboard
macro behavior as written and advertised for R12.

 

(setenv "ScreenMenu" "1") turns it on;
(setenv "ScreenMenu" "0") turns it off;
(setenv "ScreenMenu" (itoa (- 1 (atoi (getenv "ScreenMenu"))))) toggles it.
___

 

I had a similar problem loading my menus within the ACAD,mnu/s files, so I
created one and use MENULOAD.
I've set the ACAD Support files search path to look in my folders first (L:
is a network mapped drive //server/library)

Here is a short primer on support file search path: (This wasn;t your
question... but, when you start customizing AutoCAD it becomes part of the
equasion fast)
http://www.thegrafixshop.com/civildrafter/administration/configure.htm

Here is a primer on menus:
http://www.thegrafixshop.com/civildrafter/administration/mcustom.htm

[I think the problem is how the menu accesses your custom stuff! My menu
starts out like this:]

***Menugroup=GS_CIVILD

***POP1

ID_GS_CIVILD [CI&VIL DRAFTER]
.......many menu lines.......
[SET LAYE&RS]^C^CSCRIPT;SETUPLYR
[--]
[S&ET TEXT]$I=GS_CIVILD.text $I=*

.......more menu lines.......

[The menugroup part is why my original menu did not work when I edited the
original ACAD menu. I THINK ONCE YOU GET THIS WORKING YOUR SCREEN MENU WILL
DISPLAY CORRECTLY. The menu you want to display is named "text". it is
referenced from "GS_CIVILD". The primer on menu customization helps explain
this. The next part is your screen menu...It goes under a heading ***Images]

***IMAGE

**TEXT
[text fonts and text size]
[text(font,SELECT FONT)]
[text(standard,- STANDARD)]^C^CTGD
[text(existing,- EXIST)]^C^CTEX
[text(helv,- HELV)]^C^CTHV
[text(ldot,- LDOT)]^C^CTDO
[text(shadow,- SHADOW)]^C^CTSH
[text(size,SELECT TEXT SIZE)]
[text(L60,- .06")]^C^C(setq lz 0.060) (if (not c:setsize) (load
"LSP/setsize")) setsize
[text(L80,- .08")]^C^C(setq lz 0.080 ......more menu lines.......

[the text menu is displayed and as long as your slides are in the support
files search path they will display. If not you get smilie faces. "My web
page on menu customization shows this menu". The third part was the screen
menu which is under the heading ***SCREEN. I'll have to refer to the AutoCAD
menu here, I have reference to screen menus in my custom menus but never
finished the thought]

***SCREEN
**S
[AutoCAD ]^C^C^P(ai_rootmenus) ^P
[* * * * ]$S=ACAD.OSNAP
.......more menu lines.......
[DIMNSION]$S=ACAD.11_DIMENSION
.......more menu lines, then the call to 11_DIMENSION.......

**11_DIMENSION 3
.......Dimension menu lines.......

[the 3 tells ACAD to insert the 11_Dimension menu starting on the third line
of the base menu, if you omit the 3 it will replace the entire menu. Hope
this gets you started, sorry it was so long.]

~KRK~

 

That is a display option to show screen menus or not. Most people don't use
screen menus... (don't hit me) but the functionality was retained for user
preference. Turn it on and the screen menus display off and... It has
nothing to do with wether your menus work or not. But that may be part of
the problem. We were going on the assumption that your screen menus were
toggled on. A lisp or menu toggle would be cool though!

 

CAB2k,
Did you get it to work ?

Bob

 

Bob, YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you all for the help.
I am busy doing "Honey Do's" today so I can't get enough time.
But the SWITCH Paul pointed was the main problem all along. not the only
problem mind you. You would thing calling a screen menu would activate the switch,
but I may try to convert the screen menus to Pop menus.

Thanks to examples and comments by Bob, Kevin and Doug I am gaining an understanding
of the menu system. This is my first menu customizing except to drag buttons.
The project I have undertaken is to bring an AUTOCAD 11 menu & lisp program into
ACAD 2K and I could not get ACAD 11 to work on my Windows 2000 system, seems like
it needs a pure DOS environment to work. So I can not tell what the menu's are
supposed to look like.

I'm sure I'll have more question in the coming days.

CAB

 

Kevin
Thanks for the examples, that is what I miss in the 'On-Line Help', lot's of examples.

 

Hi Kevin,

Have you thought that the Autodesk supplied menus are full of examples.

--


Laurie Comerford
CADApps
www.cadapps.com.au

of examples.

 

Paul,
I could not find this reference to ScreenMenu in the online help?
What reference did it come from?

 

Hi Lourie,
I'm the one looking for examples. In my ACAD2000 there are acad, dbcon and acetmain menus
and in them I found SCREEN menus in acad only but could not find any where they were called or
under what circumstance they would be activated by acad. They appeared to be there for people
used to using then in previous versions.
I did, through this thread & the other one I started, learned that SCREEN menus typically have a
base menu used to clear the previous menu and that the menu when used stays on the screen. I
could find no lisp that activated the screen by switching the environmental variable "ScreenMenu"
I still don't know how the width of the screen menu is controlled. I did not know anything about
the screen menu because I started using ACAD at version 2000. It appears that the Buttons have
replaced the screen menu system.

 

CAB,
Have you looked in
vlide -> help -> customization guide -> custom menus
?

It gives a complete rundown of menu structure. The way
that Autodesk did its own ACAD.MNU file is not the only
way it can be done. But reading it gives a wealth of examples
to learn from. Avoid extensively changing that menu
file and create your own menu file. Make sure you use the
***Groupname=......
and then call your menu with the group name format.
$S=yourgroupname.yoursubmenuname

 

I think I originally ran across it in a post on this forum. Environment
Variables aren't well covered in HELP, but if you're curious, open Regedit
in Windows, and do a search on ScreenMenu; you'll find this one and several
others of interest.
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Thank for the tip.