Question for the masses..........

Running Acad2K4 on a network w/winXP Pro on our desktops. We're using the local acad.lsp to load and run any local custum files the users have on their machine. Problem is this: when we double click on a file in windows explorer to open it, it either doesn't use the local version of the acad.lsp, or doesn't use the acad.lsp at all (I can't seem to determine which it is). I'm aware that this could be a windows issue, but has anyone seen anything like this? TIA

 

When you say "We're using the local acad.lsp to load and run any local custum files the users have on their machine." does this mean on each individual user's computer or on your server?

 

On each individual computer. We have many different divisions (and locations) in the company, and wanted the AutoCad to be a network installation. However, there are some differences between the divisions, so we have to maintain the ability to load and run custom files from the users desktop. Is that a bad thing?

 

I'm not sure if this is the problem but in
Toools--->Options--->System tab
make sure you have "load acad.lsp with every drawing" checked

 

Thanks Aaron. It is selected, as well as the acadlspasdoc variable is set to 1, which should load it in every drawing opened. That's the reason I'm more inclined to believe that it's a Windows issue rather than an AutoCAD issue. It loads fine from AutoCAD, but if you open a file by double clicking on it in Windows explorer, it doesn't load. All the file associations in windows are set the same as the acad.exe file. Thanks for help.

 

I've read that there are some problems with opening a drawing thru windows explorer. I'm not sure if this is one of the known problems or not?

 

I use an acad.lsp and have for over 20 years and never experienced any problems with it (unless I did something wrong in writing it). I also never used explorer to open a dwg and don't know why anyone would use it for this purpose. Be that as it may - to each his own - I just tried it and found no problem using explorer - it opened one dwg okay.
However, having said that, why not just open drawings through autocad? After all, the point of using an acad.lsp is to pre-set layers, linetypes, fonts, dimension setting, etc, when you start autocad and from there open any dwg.
In the long run, I can't answer you question as to why explorer isn't working. Have you tried to re-install XP. By the way, I am not all that impressed with XP - NT2000 did not give me some of the problems I'm experiencing from time-to-time as I have experienced with XP.

 

I agree with you completely about XP. We've had to deal a number of issues that have come about due to it. As of right now, I've got everyone opening drawings thru AutoCAD. But there is the occasional one that forgets, and opens thru windows. When they do, all the tools are not available to them. The reason for using explorer to open them? I can't give you a good one. Thanks for the input, Walt. I just thought someone else may have experienced the same thing.

 

You might try setting the path to your acad.lsp at the top of the list in
the support file search path.

local acad.lsp to load and run any local custum files the users have on
their machine. Problem is this: when we double click on a file in windows
explorer to open it, it either doesn't use the local version of the
acad.lsp, or doesn't use the acad.lsp at all (I can't seem to determine
which it is). I'm aware that this could be a windows issue, but has anyone
seen anything like this? TIA

 

Type (findfile "acad.lsp") and see what comes up. I personally use
AcadDoc.lsp instead of Acad.lsp.

Don

local acad.lsp to load and run any local custum files the users have on
their machine. Problem is this: when we double click on a file in windows
explorer to open it, it either doesn't use the local version of the
acad.lsp, or doesn't use the acad.lsp at all (I can't seem to determine
which it is). I'm aware that this could be a windows issue, but has anyone
seen anything like this? TIA

 

"C:\\Program Files\\AutoCAD 2004\\acad.lsp". Right where it's supposed to be. Before we went to the network installation, I always used the acaddoc.lsp too, but now it's located on the network, and everyone uses the same one. We have to use the acad.lsp to customize. Thanks for the reply, Don.

 

I'm not familiar with the network version. Oh well...

Don

be. Before we went to the network installation, I always used the
acaddoc.lsp too, but now it's located on the network, and everyone uses the
same one. We have to use the acad.lsp to customize. Thanks for the reply,
Don.

 

This may send you on a wild-goose chase, as I haven't tested it (and I'm not in the habit of opening drawings by clicking on them in MS Exploder), but...

It seems to me that you could tweak the parameters of the file type in Exploder to use the same profile as your desktop Acad Icon:

Folder Options -> File Types -> Dwg -> Edit File Type -> 'open' -> insert same profile parameters in 'Target' as in your Acad desktop icon's Properties.

Have you tried that?

 

Thanks Randy, but been there, done that. The acad.exe uses a /p switch that points to our profile on the network. Adding that switch in exploder has no effect.