Plot file path

We are finally upgrading computers, OS and Autocad. We are now running Autocad 2004 on XP. I think I have all of our printers working, but have been running into something annoying.

We have each project in its own folder/directory. When I plot to file, I want it to place the plt file in the same directory as the drawing. However, the path shown in the plot dialog box shows that Autocad will throw the plt file into the directory that I last plotted into, which may be a different directory.

Is this something simple that I am not seeing? Most of the glitches I have encountered have been. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Try plotting one to a really weird directory and then search the Windows
Registry for the directory and you'll find where AutoCAD stored it. On 2005
it's under the profile


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R16.1\ACAD-301:409\Profiles\Test
\Dialogs\BrowseforPlotFilePlotDlg

Keyname = InitialDirectory

The bad news is that it appears that it's like most other profile settings
that are not really properties so it writes it there but it doesn't use that
value the next time. Go figure, I didn't think it would be that easy and
I'm glad I decided to test it first for you.

Now in ActiveX they have a PrintFile which is part of the properties but
that doesn't work with the standard plot dialogs in 2005. So that doesn't
appear to help you either.

Now I'm not sure if there is anything else but you're probably best off
using a custom routine or lisp routine to plot it instead of the AutoCAD
dialogs which apparently don't work as one would think.

--
Rodney McManamy
President
CADzation
-------------------------

-------------------------
518 South Route 31 Suite 200
McHenry, IL 60050
www.cadzation.com
Providing Industrial Strength
PDF & DWF Solutions to the
Global CAD Marketplace.

Autocad 2004 on XP. I think I have all of our printers working, but have
been running into something annoying.

want it to place the plt file in the same directory as the drawing.
However, the path shown in the plot dialog box shows that Autocad will throw
the plt file into the directory that I last plotted into, which may be a
different directory.

have encountered have been. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Am I right in that this is a new "feature" (read "bug") with 2004/2005? It worked fine in 2000, which is what we upgraded from.

 

Dean,

I had tried the registry way and it still didn't appeear to recognize the
change. I know with our software I actually have to change the profile to
get it to recognize settings like the Hide System Printers. One would think
that it would check the registry for the latest value but it appears that
AutoCAD stores everything in memory.

--
Rodney McManamy
President
CADzation
-------------------------

-------------------------
518 South Route 31 Suite 200
McHenry, IL 60050
www.cadzation.com
Providing Industrial Strength
PDF & DWF Solutions to the
Global CAD Marketplace.

 

Thanks Dean but I just work with a limited portion of the whole problem.
But it does really irk me that for years they have been throwing in settings
and not adding them to the object model and worse yet not reading them back
from the registry each time they are accessed. Granted there is more
paperwork to do in a large company but if I had to add a property to say the
Preferences object for HideSystemPrinters even with updating a help file you
are talking maybe an hour at the max. I don't know how they keep track of
it all themselves. This value we read from the registry, this one is stored
in this file, this one is stored in the drawing, and this one is in some
encrypted file.

And in the meantime both programmers and end users get screwed and waste way
more time than needed.

--
Rodney McManamy
President
CADzation
-------------------------

-------------------------
518 South Route 31 Suite 200
McHenry, IL 60050
www.cadzation.com
Providing Industrial Strength
PDF & DWF Solutions to the
Global CAD Marketplace.

 

Thanks Dean and Rodney. I didn't know what to search for! I did a search on plot file location and registry edits. I deleted the "PlotTo FileBrowseDir" key. And Rodney was right--it didn't work. The Plot dialog box still reverts back to the last directory it plotted to.

It does appear that some people may be using lisp routines around this. I am NOT a lisp programmer. I did enough to pass the class 15 years ago & haven't tortured myself since. It does appear that the registry should be the key. I am not a registry expert. Do I need to put something else in the registry key?