reliable custom menu

I would like to create a bullet-proof custom menu or at least one with a reasonable amount of durability that will not turn to smiley faces, question marks, or whatever seemingly at random. I have a number of bitmaps I would like to use with names that make sense to me like "line", "copy multiple", "escape", etc. Autocad likes to rename these "icon1234" or "RCDA1234" and they seem to end up scattered all over my computer. I need step by step guidance here apparently as all previous methods have invariably failed seemingly at random. Do I need to create my own partial menu to edit? How? Where do I put it. Where should my bitmap icon files reside? Do I need to reference my menu in the support path? I have been trying to understand these concepts for years, but I cannot seem to get my mind wrapped around it. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. tcl

 

I'd recommend creating a custom menu and modifying the [menufile].mnu file
manually. You can then modify this adding the bitmaps you have already
defined. This will keep the smiley faces (as happy as they look) out!

There are way too many concepts to explain right here, but read the
following in acad help:
Customization Guide

This is my advice, and how I set up our custom menus. Not "bulletproof" but
it keeps you from screwing up the standard menus and eliminates the pesky
smiley faces at the same time.

kemp

reasonable amount of durability that will not turn to smiley faces, question
marks, or whatever seemingly at random. I have a number of bitmaps I would
like to use with names that make sense to me like "line", "copy multiple",
"escape", etc. Autocad likes to rename these "icon1234" or "RCDA1234" and
they seem to end up scattered all over my computer. I need step by step
guidance here apparently as all previous methods have invariably failed
seemingly at random. Do I need to create my own partial menu to edit? How?
Where do I put it. Where should my bitmap icon files reside? Do I need to
reference my menu in the support path? I have been trying to understand
these concepts for years, but I cannot seem to get my mind wrapped around
it. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. tcl

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, read Mark Middlebrook's
discussion of doing toolbars "the right way"
http://www.markcad.com/autocad/acadtoolbars.htm . The only way to get the
bmp's named right is to hand edit the mns file. For info on partial menus &
modular customization see
http://www.cadalyst.com/solutions/mc/1100cm/1100cm.htm .

reasonable amount of durability that will not turn to smiley faces, question
marks, or whatever seemingly at random. I have a number of bitmaps I would
like to use with names that make sense to me like "line", "copy multiple",
"escape", etc. Autocad likes to rename these "icon1234" or "RCDA1234" and
they seem to end up scattered all over my computer. I need step by step
guidance here apparently as all previous methods have invariably failed
seemingly at random. Do I need to create my own partial menu to edit? How?
Where do I put it. Where should my bitmap icon files reside? Do I need to
reference my menu in the support path? I have been trying to understand
these concepts for years, but I cannot seem to get my mind wrapped around
it. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. tcl

 

Firstly create a seperate folder for all your customising, sub-folder are
o.k. too.
Place all your customising here, including your custom menu files.
Write an acaddoc.lsp (located in your custom folder) which loads your
partial menu from here.
Add your custom folder to the autocad search paths under options.

About a simple as it gets.
Hope this helps
Regards
Andrew McDonald

Sample acaddoc.lsp file :

(defun-q DTstartup ()
(setvar "filedia" 0)
(setvar "cmdecho" 0)
(command "menuunload" "DT") <----your custom menu name
(command "menuload" "c:/DT2004/DT") <----your custom menu name
(menucmd "p3=+DT.pop1")
(menucmd "A1=+DT.AUX1")
(menucmd "A2=+DT.AUX2")
(menucmd "P0=DT.QUICK")
(setvar "filedia" 1)
(setvar "cmdecho" 0)
(command "ucsicon" "noorigin")
(setvar "cmddia" 1)
(setvar "sortents" (boole 7 (getvar "sortents") 16)) ;force 16 bit for
draworder
(setvar "filletrad" 0.0000) ;sets fillet radius to 0
(setvar "pdmode" 3) ;point mode = X
(setvar "pdsize" 200) ;point size
(setvar "lunits" 2) ;Decimal
(setvar "luprec" 4) ;0.0000
(setvar "aunits" 1) ;degrees/minutes/seconds
(setvar "auprec" 3) ;0d 0' 0"
(setvar "angdir" 0) ;counter-clockwise for angle measurement
(setvar "cecolor" "bylayer") ;sets color to draw bylayer
(setvar "highlight" 1) ;shows dragging of objects
(setvar "isavepercent" 0) ;ensures all saves are full saves
(setvar "osmode" 0) ;turns objects snaps off
(setvar "snapmode" 0) ;turns of snapping
(setvar "ucsicon" 1) ;turns ucsicon on
(prompt "\nDesigners Toolbox© menu utilities ... loaded
sucessfully")(princ)
)
(princ)

(setq S::STARTUP (append S::STARTUP DTstartup))

;; load dwg-scale at status bar program
(if (and (findFile "dwg-scale.vlx")
(not (vl-vlx-loaded-p "dwg-scale")))
(load (findFile "c:/dt2004/lsp/info/dwg-scale.vlx") nil))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/modify/lfd" '("lfd"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/upatt" '("upatt"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/draw/leader" '("le"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/draw/nd" '("nd"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/text/chtext" '("cht"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/TEXT/ED" '("ed"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/DDCHPROP" '("dcp"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/TEXT/DIMARC" '("da"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/modify/c2c" '("c2c"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/modify/mz" '("mz"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/modify/SSX" '("ssx"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/info/dz" '("dz"))
(autoload "c:/DT2004/LSP/DT-KEYS" '("50i" "90" "110" "140" "190"
"BA" "BD" "BDY" "BE" "BOV" "BOUT" "BT" "BU"
"C1" "C2" "C3" "C4" "C5" "C6" "C7" "C8" "C9" "C13"
"CB" "CC" "CE" "CL" "CO" "CS" "CT"
"DI" "DM" "DO" "DP" "DU" "DY"
"EGL" "EL" "EQ" "EW"
"F" "FC" "FE" "FFL" "FGL" "FIX" "FP" "FR" "FS" "FT" "FU" "FV"
"G" "GA" "GR" "GL" "GBA" "GFA" "GU"
"H1" "H15" "H2" "H25" "H3" "HA" "HB" "HC" "HF" "HG" "HID" "HK" "HO" "HR"
"HRT" "HS" "HT" "HY"
"IN"
"J" "JO"
"K"
"L1" "L13" "L18" "L2" "L3" "L5" "L7" "L10" "LG" "L0" "LM" "LO" "LS"
"MV"
"NP"
"ON"
"PB" "PD" "PM" "P0" "PV"
"RA" "RC" "RET" "REV" "RF" "RFO" "RFU" "RL" "RP" "RS" "RT" "RW"
"S18" "S2" "S3" "SE" "SEW" "SI" "SL" "SQ" "SR" "SW" "SWR"
"T18" "T2" "T3" "T5" "T7" "TBR" "TE" "TEL" "TI" "TOA" "TM" "TT" "TU"
"UP"
"VS"
"W" "WA" "WG" "WI" "WPM"
"ZD" "ZE" "ZP" "ZL"))

reasonable amount of durability that will not turn to smiley faces, question
marks, or whatever seemingly at random. I have a number of bitmaps I would
like to use with names that make sense to me like "line", "copy multiple",
"escape", etc. Autocad likes to rename these "icon1234" or "RCDA1234" and
they seem to end up scattered all over my computer. I need step by step
guidance here apparently as all previous methods have invariably failed
seemingly at random. Do I need to create my own partial menu to edit? How?
Where do I put it. Where should my bitmap icon files reside? Do I need to
reference my menu in the support path? I have been trying to understand
these concepts for years, but I cannot seem to get my mind wrapped around
it. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. tcl