Acad.mns Customization

[Mark Douglas]

Hi there Everyone, I have created a custom pull down menu here in my office, and want to be able to update the menu with the New Codes that we come up with. The problem is, all I can think of to update the menu is to menu unload ...then menu load it back in to recognize the new updates to our custom Pull Down. If would be nice so i dont have to do all this on every computer in the office that whould be awsome!!............Thanks.Mark Douglas

 

[Kevin Nehls]

Create your own partial menu and load that. Do not edit the acad.mns/mnu files as you'll lose your changes when you upgrade.

If you create your own partial menu and load that then when you make changes to the mnu file on your system, then unload/reload on your system you just need to distribute those files and the ppl will have the updates without having to do that.

You could also put that menu on the network and have it loaded from there so you don't even have to copy it to each workstation, your user's just get the updates the next time they open autocad.

You could also create a lisp routine to reload the menu so they don't even need to restart autocad, you just tell them to issue the command to reload the menu and it's done.

 

[Tom Smith]

Kevin's right, it's cleaner and better to keep your customizations separately in a partial menu. All the same things apply as far as distributing the revised partial menu. If the menu is shared, they'll see the new one next time they open Acad. If it's local, same thing ... if you replace an MNS and it has a later date than the corresponding MNC, it will recompile next time they open Acad.

I just don't bother with forcing menus to unload and reload on the spot. For one thing, pulldowns get lost when the menu is unloaded, so there's the extra step of getting them back in place when you reload it. That doesn't happen when you leave the menu alone and let it recompile. I take the lazy way out and don't bother with the unload/reload.

Outside of a testing/debugging situation, it doesn't matter to me whether a new menu get loaded instantly. It's going to recompile automatically the next time Acad is opened anyway. Send around your update at the end of the day, and everybody will have a new menu first thing in the morning.

Tom

 

[ghaddad]

create first younameit.mnu file, autocad will create younameit.mns just edit your partial menu younameit.mns load it w/ menuload command don't even touch the younameit.mnu file until you are sure that it is the final one save it just for backup. let the profile you are sharing and using look for acad.mns for the main menu so each user can customize their own separately without you loading the menu and force them to lose whatever work they did on their menus. make sure you put the younameit.mns file in a shared directory and path it in the shared profile.
does it make sense?

 

[Kevin Nehls]

I'm lazy and I don't like waiting for acad to startup or hearing "my menu isn't there". The code below is in my MNL file. Not only does it "autoload" the pulldowns, but it also creates a command that will unload and reload the menu. If you menuload just the mns/mnu file, it loads the MNL file which executes the code below upon loading thus loading the popup menus.

I actually created this for testing purposes as it's faster than menuunload/menuload, but it's turned out to be a nice tool to have.

I also have code in out global acaddoc.lsp that checks to see if the MNL file was loaded (via a flag set in the MNL file), if not it loads the MNL file, thus loading the menu. I have the same sore of code in the MNL file for the acaddoc.lsp file. This completely bypasses the MRU bug as well as ensuring that our standard menu and lsp routines are always loaded. The only way for this to not work is if the user removed the support paths pointing to the network.

;;; Load SafeWorks Menu if not loaded
(_swsm:LoadSWMenu)

(defun _swsm:LoadSWMenu (/ mnuloc)
(if (and (not (menugroup "SAFEWORKS"))
(or (setq mnuloc (findfile "SAFEWORKS.MNS"))
(alert "Cannot find the SafeWorks menu file.\nCheck your support paths.") ) ) (command "_.MENULOAD" MNULOC) ) (princ)
)

(defun _swsm:LoadPullDowns
(menucmd "GAMPP.WINDOW=+SAFEWORKS.POP1")
(menucmd "GAMPP.WINDOW=+SAFEWORKS.POP2")
(menucmd "GAMPP.WINDOW=+SAFEWORKS.POP3")
(menucmd "GAMPP.WINDOW=+SAFEWORKS.POP4")
(menucmd "GAMPP.WINDOW=+SAFEWORKS.POP5")
(princ)
)

;;; Load Pull downs if not loaded
(_swsm:LoadPullDowns)

;;FUNCTION TO RELOAD SAFEWORKS MENU
(defun C:SAFEMENU
(if (menugroup "safeworks")
(command "menuunload" "safeworks")
)
(_swsm:LoadSWMenu)
(princ)
)

 

[John Crocco]

The way I have done it it to put the autocad files on a network shared file server and have those paths on each workstation, along with all lisp, blocks, plotter info, etc. Then, when I add or change a plotter, or the mnu file, it changes on ALL machines when they reopen autocad.

 

[Tom Smith]

Thanks Kevin. That does look like a nice tool to have around.

 

[Kevin Nehls]

Now that IS lazy...
The "proper" (according to Autodesk) method is to add yours at the tail end.
(but you knew that)

1) I agree as it makes it easier on the user.

2) Where is this written. I've read through most of the help file on menus and don't remember reading this anywhere. As I stated. I do that for testing so that I know I'm not using a production menu.

And when you use a part of your menu to handle settings, there's no need for it after they're done... so the POP## should be removed and/or replaced with a POP you're using...

Yes, but I'm just testing. See I'm the CAD Admin here and I edit/create/fix/etc everything related (remotely or directly) to CAD here.

That's just so your menu bar won't get too "full", since ther's a limit on POP columns.

Really, since when? I've had over 30 up there (for testing purposes) becuase someone said there was a limit. I even closed acad and re-opened and all were still there. People have mentioned this several times and I've tested it a couple of times. It makes a mess, but I've never had a problem with putting a ton of pull-down menus up there.

Kevin

 

[PF]

snip-->>
I've had over 30 up there (for testing purposes)
becuase someone said there was a limit. I even closed acad and re-opened and all were still there. People have mentioned this several times and I've tested it a couple of times. It makes a mess, but I've never had a problem with putting a ton of pull-down menus up there.

Oh, yeah, you Are right - as I discovered once upon a tinme, too. It is a mess when the POPs go to 2 (or 3) lines - and they get hard to pick.

As for "who said" ... [I've read through most of the help file on menus and don't remember reading this anywhere] Some stuff isn't In the Help files... but in tutorials. I seem to have seen it somewhere, but can't recall whose say-so I've been loyal to. Also, the ORDER that Autodesk uses in its POP menus is identical (guess why) to the order of pop menus in Microsoft products. So it's also for user familiarity.

Nonetheless... a "custom" menu is Yours to customize... just know the root of other user's confusion when (if) it comes up <G>.