| Tips & Techniques IntelliCAD custom. share, standard, toolbar
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IntelliCAD's toolbar creation and
editing facility is second to none cutom toobar. You can create and modify custom toolbars
and use them immediately, allowing to to constantly improve your design and drawing
productivity. However, IntelliCAD 98 does not allow you export your toolbars or otherwise
enable you to share them with others. A
standard, custom toolbar that can be shared throughout the enterprise can greatly enhance
your organization's efficiency, and enhance the quality of design and drawing
throughout the firm. The facility to export custom toolbars in not built-in to IntelliCAD
and we can only hope that this issue will be addressed sooner rather than later. However,
you can manually backdoor the cutom creation process and create a toolbar that CAN be
shared.
Creating a shareable toolbar
- Open Microsoft Notepad (or any ASCII text editor).
- Create the toolbar by manually typing in the requisite
code. (Refer to the syntax and item list description below.)
- Save the file with an MNU extension to the IntelliCAD
98 folder.
Toolbar definition syntax
***MENUGROUP=group_name
***TOOLBARS
**toolbar_name
ID_toolbar_name [_Toolbar ("toolbar_name", orient, visible,
xval, yval, rows)]
ID_button_name [_Button ("button_name", id_small, id_large)]command
***HELPSTRINGS
ID_button_name [help_string]
| Item |
Description |
| group_name |
Menu group name. |
| toolbar_name |
Toolbar name. |
| orient |
Orientation. Possible values are Floating, Top, Bottom, Left, and
Right (not case sensitive). |
| visible |
Visibility. Possible values are Show and Hide (not case sensitive). |
| xval |
X coordinate in pixels from the left edge of the screen. A value of
200 works well. |
| yval |
Y coordinate in pixels from the top edge of the screen. A value of
200 works well. |
| rows |
Number of rows. |
| button_name |
Button name (typically, the command name). The button name appears as
a tooltip when the user places the cursor over the button. |
| id_small |
Name of the small (16 x 15) icon bitmap (BMP) file. This file must be
located in the IntelliCAD 98 folder. |
| id_large |
Name of the large (24 x 22) icon bitmap (BMP) file. This file must be
located in the IntelliCAD 98 folder. |
| command |
Command string (such as ^C^C_LINE). |
| help_string |
Help string. |
An example toolbar definition
***MENUGROUP=example
***TOOLBARS
**NewDraw
ID_ NewDraw [_Toolbar("NewDraw ", _Bottom, _Show, 200, 200, 1)]
ID_Line_0 [_Button("Line", Iline.bmp, IL_line.bmp)]^C^C_line
ID_Hatch [_Button("Hatch", Ihatch.bmp, IL_hatch.bmp)]^C^C_hatch
ID_Dtext [_Button("Dtext", Idtext.bmp, IL_dtext.bmp)]^C^C_dtext
ID__0 [_Button("Circle Rad", Icirad.bmp, IL_cirad.bmp)]^C^Ccircle;
ID_Erase [_Button("Erase", Ierase.bmp, IL_erase.bmp)]^C^Cerase;
***HELPSTRINGS
ID_Line_0 [Creates straight line segments]
ID_Hatch [Fills an enclosed area with a nonassociative hatch pattern]
ID_Dtext [Displays text on screen as it is entered]
ID__0 [Allows user to draw a circle with a radius value]
ID_Errase [Removes objects from a drawing]
The MNU file you save, and the bitmaps that go with
it, constitute your custom menu collection. If you intend to customize it further or
distribute it further through your organization, stor a master copy in a designated
location with your custom source code. Don't forget to create and safely file a backup of
last resort... a hardcopy print of of the source code and all the bitmaps!
To use your custom shareable toolbar you must import
it into IntelliCAD as described below.
However if you have already created a custom toolbar
in IntelliCAD, you don't have to start your shareable toolbar again entirely from scratch.
You can use the Customize dialog box to help you recreate an existing custom toolbar.
Recreating an existing toolbar
- Open your custom shareable toolbar definintion in
NotePad.
- Open IntelliCAD 98 and make sure the toolbar is
visible.
- Do one of the following:
- Choose Tools > Customize
- Type customize and press Enter.
- Click the Toolbars tab.
- Click a button on the existing toolbar.
The button's name (tooltip), help string, and command all appear in the dialog box.
- Copy and paste this information into the appropriate
part of the toolbar file you are editing in NotePad.
- Save the file with an MNU extension to the IntelliCAD
98 folder.
Install your custom toolbar via Tools >
Customize | Toolbars -Import
Installing the
toolbar
- Copy the toolbar (MNU) file and custom bitmap (BMP)
files to the IntelliCAD 98 folder on the other computer.
- Open IntelliCAD 98.
- Do one of the following:
- Choose Tools > Customize
- Type customize and press Enter.
- Click the Toolbars tab.
- Click Import.
- Select the toolbar file.
- Check Append to Existing Toolbars and
click Open.
The new toolbar appears.
If you do not check Append to Existing Toolbars, the new
toolbar replaces all current toolbars.
If you make a mistake or change your mind, restore
the defaults by clicking Reset in the Customize dialog box.
If you prefer to locate bitmaps in a different folder
you can do so and enable IntelliCAD to find them by setting the path in the Tools
> Options dialog box.
IntelliCAD 98 reads the MNU and MNS files created by
all AutoCAD releases, even when they include AutoLISP code. With this feature, you can
continue to use the AutoCAD menus you already have by installing them as described above.
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