The main customization file is acad.cuix in AutoCAD, and acadlt.cuix in AutoCAD LT. You can either customize this file or load another customization file.

In addition to the main customization file, AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT use these other files:

You can create your own full (main or enterprise) or partial customization files, using any name that you want. You'll have the best results if you place all your customization files in the same folder as the main customization file.

Note

To find the location of acad.cuix or acadlt.cuix, choose Application Button

There are two types of customization files: partial and full. A partial customization file usually has only one or two ribbon panels, menus, or toolbars. You can then load this partial customization file along with your main customization file. If your customization file consists of simply adding a few items, then you may want to create a partial customization file and add it to your current main customization file. In this way, you don't need to alter the customization in your main customization file. While the customization in the main customization file is not altered, a reference to your partial customization file is added to the main customization file, though, so it is loaded when the main customization file is loaded.

On the other hand, you may also want to have complete alternate interfaces, in which case you can customize the main customization file. Perhaps two different people work on one computer and have different customization needs. For example, you may find it useful to have one customization file for architectural drawings, another for mechanical drawings, and a third for electrical schematics.

Loading and unloading a customization file

Using your own customization file is a good way to keep the original file safe, in case you want to go back to it. Generally, you start by making a copy of the default main customization file, acad.cuix or acadlt.cuix.

You can copy a customization file (or any file, for that matter) in Windows Explorer. Right-click the file and choose Copy. Then right-click in any blank space in the Explorer window and choose Paste. The new file appears at the bottom of the list of files. Click the file to select it, and then click it again to change its name. Enter the new name, and then press Enter.

Each loaded customization file must have a unique name. If you want to work with your own customization file, you first need to unload the current customization file. Use the CUILOAD command on the command line both to unload and load a customization file. The Load/Unload Customizations dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 33.1. Choose the customization file that you want to unload, and click Unload.

Figure 33.1. The Load/Unload Customizations dialog box.

To load a customization file, follow these steps:

1. In the Load/Unload Customizations dialog box, choose the current customization file and click Unload.

2. Click the Browse button.

3. Navigate to and select the customization file you want to load. Click Open.

4. In the Load/Unload Customizations dialog box, click Load.

5. Click Close to close the dialog box.

   Tip

   You can determine the current main customization file by choosing Application Button

   

6. Choose Manage tab

   

7. In the Customizations In pane, the top drop-down list should show All Customization Files or Main Customization File. The top item in the pane lists the current main customization file. It may still show the customization file that you unloaded; in that case, right-click it and choose Rename. Enter the name of the customization file that you loaded, and press Enter to match the customization group name to the filename.

By default, when you start AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, the last customization file that you used, the name of which is stored in the Windows registry, is loaded. If you want to use a new customization file while in AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, unload the current customization file and load the new one.

The best way to start customizing the user interface is to look at a ribbon panel and its corresponding representation in the Customize User Interface Editor. Each type of user interface content has its own unique features, but certain features apply to most, if not all, menu types.

Figure 33.2 shows the AutoCAD Draw panel of the Home tab in the 2D Drafting & Annotation workspace.

Figure 33.2. The AutoCAD Draw panel of the Home tab as it appears in the 2D Drafting & Annotation workspace.

Figure 33.3 shows the same panel as it is displayed in the Customize User Interface Editor. Compare this list to the panel shown in Figure 33.2.

In Figure 33.3, the LINE command is selected, and the right side of the Customize User Interface Editor shows the information relating to that command. Note that commands have the following elements:

Drop-down and shortcut menus (the entire menu, not their items) also have aliases that you use when referring to the menu. You can add an alias by clicking the Ellipsis button to the right of the alias item.

Note

In Windows XP, by default, the underscores appear only if you access the menu by using the keyboard. To access a menu, press Alt and the underscores appear. Then type the underscored letter to open the menu. To choose a menu item, type its underscored letter. To disable this behavior and display the underscores all the time, choose Start

The macro is the heart of a custom command. To enter a macro, click the text box to the right of the Macro item and start typing. If your macro is long, click the Ellipsis button at the right of the text box to open the Long String Editor dialog box. You need to know a number of special characters and conventions in order to write menu macros. Table 33.1 lists some of the most common ones.

Here is one macro from the Draw panel (hidden in a flyout) — Arc: Start, Center, Angle — that uses the backslash and the space:

^C^C_arc \_c \_a

Here's how this command works:

The backslash allows for only one input, except when used with the SELECT command. Therefore, you can use the SELECT command in menu macros to collect a selection set, and then use another command with the Previous option to act on the entire selection set. For example:

^C^Cselect move previous ;.1,0 ;

This macro cancels any existing command, starts the SELECT command, and lets you select as many objects as you want. You end object selection by pressing Enter. Then the macro automatically moves those objects to the right by 0.1 unit. Using the All selection option is another way to select more than one object in a menu macro.

Here are a few more examples of macros from earlier chapters:

You can customize the ribbon by adding or deleting buttons, rows, sub-panels, panels, and tabs. You can add existing commands or create a custom command. I discuss how to create custom commands for toolbars in Chapter 29; the process is the same for the ribbon. You add commands to a panel; you can't add commands to a tab. If you want a new panel, you add it and then add commands to it. Also, you can add a tab and add panels to that tab. After you create a tab, you can display it on the ribbon by assigning it to a workspace or a contextual tab state.

Adding a tab to a contextual tab state

1. At the top of the Customizations in All Files pane, expand the Ribbon and Contextual Tab States items.

2. Expand the Tabs item and select the tabs that you want to add to the contextual tab state. You can select more than one tab by pressing Ctrl as you click each tab. You may find it helpful to collapse the Command List pane first by clicking its double arrows.

3. Click and drag any of the selected tabs and drop them on the contextual tab state in which you want to assign them.

4. Select one of the tabs you just assigned to the contextual tab state.

5. In the Properties pane, choose a display type for the ribbon tab under the Contextual Display Type field. You can select Merge to merge the ribbon tab with all displayed ribbon tabs, or choose to display it as its own ribbon tab by selecting Full.

Note

You can control the display behavior of context tabs with the Ribbon Contextual Tab State Options dialog box. To display the Ribbon Contextual Tab State Options dialog box, open the Options dialog box and click the Selection tab. Then click the Contextual Tab States button in the Ribbon Options section. (Choose Application Button

The Menus item of the Customize User Interface Editor controls the menus, which appear along the top of your screen in the AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT Classic workspace and drop down when you click them. You can customize existing menus or add your own menu to the main customization file. You can also create a partial customization file with one or more menus. Adding a command to a menu is very similar to adding a command to a toolbar (see Chapter 29) or ribbon panel (see the discussion earlier in this chapter).

Here are the basic procedures for creating drop-down lists:

Creating submenus

Submenus help you to organize your menu so that related commands stay together. Figure 33.4 shows the Ellipse sub-menu on the Draw menu, as shown on the menu bar.

Figure 33.4. The AutoCAD Draw menu with the Ellipse sub-menu displayed.

To add a submenu, right-click any menu item and choose New Sub-menu. Name the submenu the same way that you would name a regular menu. You also add commands to a submenu in the same way that you add commands to a menu.

STEPS: Customizing the Ribbon and Menu

1. If you haven't already done so, back up the menu files. (These are the acad.cuix, acad.mnr, and acad.mnl, or acadlt.cuix and acadlt.mnr files.) You use the backup files at the end of this exercise to undo the changes you made to the main customization file.

   Warning

   Don't continue with this exercise until you've completed Step 1. If you're working on someone else's computer, ask permission before doing this exercise. To find the location of your menu files, choose Application Button

   

2. Open a drawing by using the acad.dwt or acadlt.dwt template.

3. The workspace should be set to 2D Drafting & Annotation. If it isn't, click the Workspace Switching button on the status bar and choose 2D Drafting & Annotation.

4. Display the Home tab. Click the Modify panel's title to expand the panel. Notice the Set to ByLayer button at the top left of the expanded panel. This executes the SETBYLAYER command. You would like to have this command more easily accessible and on the Layers panel. Note that there's room for it on the right side. You can't put a single command in a partial customization file, so you need to change the main customization file.

5. Type cui

   

6. In the Customizations In pane, expand the Ribbon and Panels items, and then expand the Home – Layers item. Expand Row 1. You want to place the SETBYLAYER command after the Layer, Layer Off command, which displays as the Off item under the row.

7. To find the command, click the Find Command or Text button to the right of the All Commands drop-down list. (The command is not listed under SETBYLAYER.) In the Find and Replace dialog box, enter setbylayer in the Find What text box and click Find Next. The Change to ByLayer item highlights in the Command List and you can see the Properties panel of the item as well, which shows the correct command. Close the Find and Replace dialog box.

8. Drag the Change to ByLayer command from the Command List pane to beneath the Off item in the Customizations In pane. If it pops to the top of Row 2, drag it back down again.

9. Click Apply and wait for the customization files to save your changes. Drag the dialog box down so that you can see the Layers panel. You should now see the SETBYLAYER command at the top right of the Layers panel.

10. 

11. From the drop-down list next to the Create a New Customization File button you clicked, choose Save As. In the Save As dialog box, enter ab2 in the File Name text box. Navigate to your AutoCAD Bible folder, and click Save.

12. 

13. Choose All Customization Files from the drop-down list. Expand the Partial Customization Files item; you now see AB2 listed. Double-click the AB2 item to expand it.

14. Right-click the Menus item and choose New Menu. Enter AB2

    

15. To create a submenu, right-click the new AB2 menu and choose New Sub-menu. Enter &Special Edits

    
16. 

    Name: Move .1 right
    Description: Moves objects .1 unit to the right
    Macro (after ^C^C): _select;\_move;_previous;;.1,0;;
    Element ID: AB_002a

    In the Command List pane, choose the Move .1 right command, which is now highlighted, and drag it to the Special Edits sub-menu. As you do this, you should see a small, left-pointing arrow. When you release the mouse button, the command should appear just below the sub-menu.

17. To allow keyboard access, click the Name property for the Move .1 right command in the Properties pane and type & in front of the name.

18. To create another custom command, again click Create a New Command in the Command List pane. In the Properties pane, enter the following:

    Name: Pedit .1
    Description: Sets polyline width to .1
    Macro (after ^C^C): _pedit;w;.1;;
    Element ID: AB_002b

    Drag the new command below the previous custom command.

19. To allow keyboard access, click the Name property for the Pedit .1 command in the Properties pane and type & in front of the name.

20. To add an existing command to the main part of the menu (not the sub-menu), you need to display all the customization files. From the drop-down list under the Customizations In pane, choose All Customization Files. Then expand the Partial Customization Files item (at the bottom of the pane) to see the AB2 partial customization file. Expand Menus, then AB2.

21. From the Command List pane, choose Change to ByLayer (the same command you used earlier in this exercise), and drag it up to the AB2 item.

22. Click the Save All Current Customization Files button in the Customizations In pane. Your pane should look like Figure 33.5.

    

    Figure 33.5. The new partial customization file in the Customize User Interface Editor.

23. Click OK to close the Customize User Interface Editor.

24. Choose AB2 on the menu bar and click the Special Edits sub-menu to expand it. It should look like Figure 33.6.

    

    Figure 33.6. The AB2 menu, including the Special Edits sub-menu.

    Note

    If the AB2 menu doesn't appear, type cuiload

    

25. Open ab33-a.dwg from the DVD. Save it as ab33-01.dwg in your AutoCAD Bible folder.

26. To try out the menu, choose AB2

    

27. Choose AB2

    

28. To try out the SETBYLAYER command that you placed in the Layers panel of the ribbon, click the Change to ByLayer button there. At the Select objects: prompt, enter all

    

29. Enter cuiload

    

30. Save your drawing.

Note

If some of the items don't work properly, edit the macros and try again.

Customizing shortcut menus

The shortcut menus appear at the cursor. In addition to the Object Snap menu, which appears when you press Shift and the right mouse button, and the Grips menu, which appears when there is a hot grip and you right-click, there are several other shortcut menus. You access a shortcut menu by using the buttons on your mouse or puck. You can customize shortcut menus that are specific to a command or to a selected object. For example, if you right-click when a polyline is selected, the shortcut menu includes a Polyline Edit item. However, if you right-click when a spline is selected, the shortcut menu includes a Spline Edit item instead. Because the appropriate shortcut menu appears depending on the context, that is, the object that is selected, shortcut menus are context-sensitive. For this reason, they are sometimes called context menus. You can create your own context menus.

To create a shortcut menu, you specify the following:

• Name. Although no name appears at the top of a shortcut menu (unlike a drop-down list), a name is required.

• Description. The description is optional. The description would only appear if you turned the shortcut menu into a sub-menu, which you can do by dragging a shortcut menu in the Customize User Interface Editor to a menu.

• Aliases. Aliases are used to reference the shortcut menu from elsewhere in the menu. Aliases are assigned automatically, but you need to add an alias in a special format if you create your own shortcut menu. To specify the alias, click in the Alias text box, and then click the Ellipsis button to open the Aliases dialog box. Click at the end of the current line and press Enter to start a new line. Enter the new alias in the format appropriate for that type of shortcut menu, and then click OK to close the dialog box. See the next two sections for a description of these formats.

• Element_ID. An ID is required, but is assigned automatically. Change this if you want to refer to the shortcut menu in program code that you write.

You can create two kinds of context-sensitive menus: object menus and command menus. The context-sensitive menus work only for the main customization file.

Note

If you've turned on time-sensitive right-clicking, remember to hold down the right mouse button long enough to open the shortcut menu. See Chapter 3 for details.

Object menus

The Edit mode shortcut menu appears when you right-click in the drawing area while one or more objects are selected but no command is active, as shown in Figure 33.7. Note that this menu includes the most common editing commands.

You can create object menus that are specific to a type of object. You might want to add certain commands that you use often with that type of object. The commands that you add to an object menu are appended to the Edit mode shortcut menu so that the result is a menu that contains the Edit mode shortcut menu, plus any additional commands that you've added for that type of object.

To create an object menu, you must assign the menu an alias of either OBJECT_objectname (used when one object of a type is selected) or OBJECTS_objectname (used when more than one object of a type is selected). The object name is the DXF name of the object, with the following five exceptions:

• BLOCKREF for a block insertion with no attributes

• ATTBLOCKREF for a block insertion with attributes

• DYNBLOCKREF for a dynamic block insertion with no attributes

• ATTDYNBLOCKREF for a dynamic block insertion with attributes

• XREF for an xref

Tip

To find out the object name of an object in AutoCAD, type the following on the command line: (cdr (assoc 0 (entget (car (entsel)))))

That's five closing parentheses at the end. AutoCAD then prompts you to select an object. As soon as you do, you see the object's name on the command line. See Chapters 34 and 35, which cover AutoLISP and Visual LISP, for an explanation of the parts of this AutoLISP expression. AutoLISP is not available for AutoCAD LT. In AutoCAD LT, you can create a drawing with only the one object whose name you want to know, and save it as a DXF file. Scroll down to the ENTITIES section in the DXF file to find the object's name. See Chapter 27 for more information about DXF files.

Figure 33.7. The Edit mode shortcut menu.

For example, to create an object menu that appears when one or more circles are selected, create an object shortcut menu with an alias of OBJECTS_CIRCLE. Open the Customize User Interface Editor and look at the shortcut menus in acad.cuix or acadlt.cuix for examples to help you create your own menus.

Command menus

The Command mode shortcut menu appears when you right-click in the drawing area while a command is active. You can create command menus that are specific to a command. The contents of the menu are appended to the Command mode shortcut menu; the result is a menu that contains the Command mode shortcut menu, plus any additional commands that you've added for that command. The default main customization file doesn't include any specific command menus. To create a command menu, you must assign the menu an alias COMMAND_commandname, where commandname is any valid command, including any custom or third-party command. After you name the menu, you can add commands to it that you would like to have available in the middle of the command just by right-clicking. Here are a couple of possibilities:

• For the LINE command, you might want to add the PLINE command to the shortcut menu so that you can change your mind mid-command and create a polyline rather than a line. Of course, you can execute the PLINE command with one pick from the Draw toolbar, but the shortcut menu is closer.

• For the ROTATE command, you might want to add the ALIGN command, in case you realize that you need to align an object instead of just rotating it.

You can add as many commands as your input device has buttons. To add a button, in the Customize User Interface Editor, right-click one of the items under the Mouse Buttons section, such as Click or Shift+Click, and choose New Button.

To add a command to a button, drag the command from the Command List pane to the mouse button section.

Click the Mouse Buttons Click section to see the default settings for up to 10 buttons. Button 1 is not listed, because it's always the pick button. If you have a number of buttons on your pointing device, you can leave these macros as they are or change them to suit your needs.

The following exercise shows you how you can customize even a two-button device. Because you may be working on someone else's computer, the exercise undoes the customization at the end.

STEPS: Customizing the Buttons Menu

Don't save your drawing.

Image-tile menus are menus that contain slides. The image tile displays the contents of the slides. The main use of image-tile menus is to insert blocks. You could use tool palettes in the same way, and tool palettes are easier to create. I cover slides in Chapter 30 and tool palettes in Chapter 29. AutoCAD LT doesn't include any image-tile menus, but you can create them. Image-tile menus are not easy to create, and you can probably use a tool palette instead. They're an old menu technology. Before you create your own image-tile menus, you need to create the slides. In order that they fit into the image tiles properly, you should create a floating viewport that is 3 units wide by 2 units high (or any multiple thereof, to maintain the proportion), center the drawing so that it takes up most of the viewport, and create the slide. Then create the slide library, as explained in Chapter 30.

To create a new image-tile menu, follow these steps:

You display an image-tile menu from another menu. To display the 3D Objects menu (which is no longer available on the menu), AutoCAD used the following code:

$I=ACAD.image_3dobjects $I=ACAD.*

This special format swaps to the 3D Objects image-tile menu and displays it. The customization name (ACAD in the previous example) is not necessary if both the menu that you're referring to and the menu that you're placing the item on are the same. You can create a partial menu that displays an image-tile menu. Therefore, you need to add a menu item somewhere that displays your image-tile menu. For example, if your image-tile menu's alias is MyBlocks, you could use the following macro:

$I=MyBlocks $I=*

When you're done, click OK to close the Customize User Interface Editor. Choose the new menu item that references the image-tile menu, and the image-tile dialog box appears. AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT automatically creates the dialog box. If it has more than 20 items, AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT creates Previous and Next boxes as well. To use one of the images, choose it either from the listing or from the image tiles and click OK.

Tablet menus are straightforward. Figure 33.8 shows the default tablet arrangement. You can print out this tablet drawing; download tablet.dwg from www.autodesk.com/autocad-samples if you are using AutoCAD, or tablet_overlay.dwg from www.autodesk.com/autocadlt-samples if you are using AutoCAD LT, and compare it to the Tablet Menus item in the Legacy section. The entire first section, Tablet Menu 1, is left blank for you to configure. Although this menu section lists 25 rows and 25 columns, to match Tablet.dwg, use 9 rows and 25 columns. If you configure this menu area (using the TABLET command) to contain 9 rows and 25 columns, you can place your own macro in each of these boxes.

Figure 33.8. The standard digitizer Tablet menu and its four parts.

The syntax of the Tablet menu is very simple; you just need a name and the menu macro itself, although you can add a description.

I don't cover the Screen menu because it's rarely used. If you're interested in customizing it, click the Screen Menu item under the Legacy item and click the Learn More about Screen Menus link. AutoCAD LT doesn't contain a Screen menu.

The Keyboard Shortcuts section has two subsections. Shortcut keys are a way to speed up your work. You can add keyboard shortcuts for commands that you use often. Temporary override keys are keyboard combinations that temporarily affect commonly used drafting settings, such as Object Snap and Ortho Mode. Note that keyboard shortcuts are different from aliases, which I explain in Chapter 29.

When you double-click an object, you usually see either the Properties palette or a specific dialog box that helps you edit that object. In Chapter 10, I explain this process. You can now customize what happens when you double-click an object.

To see the current double-click settings, open the Customize User Interface Editor and expand (or, appropriately, double-click) the Double Click Actions item. You see a list of objects. Expand any object and select the item beneath it. In the Properties pane, you see the current action, usually a command, in the Macro field.

For example, if you choose the Hatch object, the item beneath is labeled Hatch Edit, and you can see that it executes the HATCHEDIT command, which opens the Hatch Edit dialog box.

To change the double-click behavior for an object, follow these steps:

Note

You can disable all double-click actions for editing by unchecking the Double Click Editing check box on the User Preferences tab of the Options dialog box (Application Button

The Quick Properties palette appears when you select an object. Rollover tooltips appear when you hover the cursor over an object without selecting it. You can customize which types of objects display the Quick Properties palette and rollover tooltips, and which properties appear, so that you see the information you need right away.

To specify which objects display the Quick Properties palette, open the Customize User Interface Editor and click the Quick Properties item in the Customizations in All Files pane. The right side of the dialog box changes to display a list of object types and properties. When no object is selected, you see only general properties that apply to all objects, such as color, layer, and linetype. Choose any object type, shown in Figure 33.10, to see additional properties that are specific to that object.

Figure 33.10. The Quick Properties item with the Line object selected shows a list of the properties that will display when you select a line.

The general properties listed when no object is selected in the object list apply to all objects, even objects not on the object list. For example, a spline is not on the list by default. Therefore, if you select a spline, you'll see only Color and Layer properties, which are the default general properties for all objects. By adding an object to the list, you can specify which additional properties you want to see for that object type.

To edit the object types, click the Edit Object Type List button at the top of the list of objects to open the Edit Object Type List dialog box. There you can check or uncheck objects. Click OK to close the dialog box. Then select the object from the object list and check the properties you want to see from the properties list on the right.

For any object, you can add or remove properties that will appear by selecting the object from the object list and checking or unchecking objects.

You can customize rollover tooltips in exactly the same way. Click the Rollover Tooltips item in the Customizations In pane and make the changes as just described for the Quick Properties palette.

In addition, you can synchronize the rollover tooltips with your Quick Properties settings, or vice versa. To do so, right-click the Quick Properties item, and choose Synchronize with Rollover Tooltips. You then have one of two choices:

Choose one of the options and click Apply.