Using Dialog boxes with DIESEL by Alt or Tab keys

I am attempting to create some automated work-arounds for bugs I am experiencing with AutoCAD (e.g. objects in viewports are printing with extremely fine lineweight) My work-around is to array each viewport slightly offset from the original so that I print each viewport 4 times, and simulate the normal lineweight.

The problem I am having is that the filter command only has a dialog box, without a command line equivalent. To use the dialog box, I must use the TAB key and/or ALT from my keyboard. However, I cannot get the Menu command to successfully use these characters.

The DIESEL help says that ^I can be use for the TAB character, but it doesn't seem to be working for accessing dialog boxes. Note that I've tried both the upper case "I" (Eye) and the lower case "L" (the font does not distinguish).

Any ideas (other than LISP)

Joe Dunfee

 

This sounds like you have the "scale lineweights" box checked in the
plot dialog.

Martin

 

No, this lineweight problem is not related to any actual settings. It occurs at random, but once a particular drawing starts doing it, it occurs quite frequently. One time a viewport might print with superfine lineweight, then immediately follow with a reprint which prints properly. Note that this only occurs with viewports set to hide.

Joe Dunfee

 

Joe,

Have you exhausted all other possibilities? Forcing a viewport to plot 4
times with 4 offsets sounds extreme! Are you using anythink like
Architectural Desktop which may have display capabilities beyond layers?

jb

 

Yes, it is an extreme solution, and a real pain to implement for every print. This problem has been hounded to death over the last 2 years.

I have 2002 Inventor series, but am just using vanilla AutoCAD. Actually, the same problem occurs on both the full verison of AutoCAD and LT 2002. I've seen several others in the newsgroups with the same problems as well.

Actually, I like the "faint linetype" as a feature, because then I could show a bold version of an object overlaying the assembly which is faint. The problem is this is not a controlable thing.

I've just accepted it as a non-solvable problem with AutoCAD. Sometimes you get lucky, but sometimes you run into the bugs and *SPLAT*.

Joe Dunfee

 

Wish I could help. I've never seen this problem here. Maybe you could
post an example file?

Martin

 

Thank you very much for the offer. But the problem has been hounded to death over the last two years, and I don't really want to invest more time attempting to find the cause. At this point I want to work on a solution that has a chance to work.

Am I asking for something that doesn't exist... a way to use commands without command prompt versions through the macro and Diesel system?

Joe Dunfee