Can "Arg" files be used like "Reg" files?

When I export a profile from profiles tab of the options dialog, it creates
an ".arg" file that I can then import later. Now, this arg file is
basically a registry addition. Therefore, I was wondering if I could rename
it to a ".reg" extension and use it just like any other reg file. If that
were possible, I could just add a profile to Autocad by just double-clicking
the reg file. Is this possible, or is there something more to these arg
files that would prohibit this?

Thx,
LT

 

Larry,

You can start AutoCAD with a specific profile so you can make different
shortcuts to start AutoCAD with different profiles. You can also create a
toolbar with different profile buttons and simply change profiles by picking
a button.

Dave Alexander
Keen Engineering Co. Ltd.
www.keen.ca

 

..arg files are essentially the same as registry files. Upon importing
to AutoCAD as a new profile, AutoCAD substitutes the current version and
ident number in all the path values with your current AutoCAD version
and ident.

A little trick I devised while working with a large engineering firm you
might find usefull, this seems more involved that it really is ...

First, create a new profile then set all the AutoCAD configurations you
would like to have for a given working environment, then export to an
..arg file

Next, open the .arg file and strip out any sections that contain
settings you do not need or want to force. In other words we are
effectively creating a partial profile. Ill explain this a little
further on. Once you have stripped the file content down to only those
sections of configuration data you want, save as a .reg file, now add
one more section to the beginning of the file, note R15.0 and ACAD-2:409
may appear differently in your exported .arg file ...


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R15.0\ACAD-2:409\Profiles]
@="YourProfileName"


The rest of the file will look something as follows ...


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R15.0\ACAD-2:409\Profiles\YourProfileName\Dialogs]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R15.0\ACAD-2:409\Profiles\YourProfileName\Dialogs\Plot
Stamp]
"PSPFilename"="C:\\AcadMap5\\support\\Inches.pss"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R15.0\ACAD-2:409\Profiles\YourProfileName\Dialogs\AcDimimstyleFormat]
"ActiveTab"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R15.0\ACAD-2:409\Profiles\YourProfileName\Dialogs\ACAD-200]
"X"=dword:00000000
"Y"=dword:00000030
"Width"=dword:00000320
"Height"=dword:000001dd

----------<snip>-----------

Now you have what I call a partial profile. At this point you can
create a simple DOS batch script to import it ...


regedit /s [drive]\[path]\YourProfileName.reg
start [drive]\[path]\acad.exe
exit


Now create a shortcut to this batch file and set it to run minimized

What happens when this shortcut is launched is the batch file runs
minimized, calls regedit in silent mode to import the supplied .reg file
Since its a partial profile, only the values it contains are imported
and overwritten in the registry, all other AutoCAD values will remain
untouched. The advantage here is it allows you to make adjustments to
the AutoCAD working environment such as support path, etc. without
interfering with any other settings such as user color preferences,
fonts, toolbar positioning etc. The additional line we added to the top
is needed to set the profile current prior to starting AutoCAD which
also eliminates the need for the acad.exe command switch /p which will
error if the profile does not exist. In this case we know it exists
because we just imported it via regedit.exe

Anyway this is the quick and simple illustration. I did some other
adjustments including updating the version and ident in the regfile
prior to importing, etc.

Its takes a little tweaking and testing at first but in large
multi-client multi-project multi-discipline offices, its been an
invaluable simple ready-made solution to dynamically building the
AutoCAD working environment.


Regards,

Jesse Danes

 

Up until 2004, you could change an .arg to a .reg without any major issues.
Starting with 2004 there has been additional info included with the exported
profile .arg that deals with Palettes XML files. Also Autodesk started
using %VAR% variables to deal with roaming profiles and they only seem to be
resolved with AutoCAD.

John
When I export a profile from profiles tab of the options dialog, it creates
an ".arg" file that I can then import later. Now, this arg file is
basically a registry addition. Therefore, I was wondering if I could
rename
it to a ".reg" extension and use it just like any other reg file. If that
were possible, I could just add a profile to Autocad by just
double-clicking
the reg file. Is this possible, or is there something more to these arg
files that would prohibit this?

Thx,
LT

 

Jesse,

Thank you very much. You provided exactly the answer I was looking for. I
will use this information, as well as John's later post comments regarding
2004 changes, to help automate some things at my site. Thanks again.

LT

 

an other solution : you don't realy need to use arg.
it's possible to save AutoCAD partial reg with regedit (or a profile or what
you want)

you will get something like that :

Bruno Toniutti

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R16.0\ACAD-202:40C\Profiles\BTO
]
"UserName"="Bruno TONIUTTI, BERIM"
@=""

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R16.0\ACAD-202:40C\Profiles\BTO
\acadvba]
"Incorporation automatique"=dword:00000000
"Autoriser arrêts sur erreurs"=dword:00000001
"Afficher boîte de dialogue Sécurité"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R16.0\ACAD-202:40C\Profiles\BTO
\Command Line Windows]
"CmdLine.ForeColor"=dword:00000000
"CmdLine.BackColor"=dword:00ffffff
"TextWindow.ForeColor"=dword:00000000
"TextWindow.BackColor"=dword:00ffffff
"CmdLine.FontFace"="Courier"
"CmdLine.FontHeight"=dword:0000000a
"CmdLine.FontWeight"=dword:00000190
"CmdLine.FontItalic"=dword:00000000
"CmdLine.FontPitchAndFamily"=dword:000000eb
"TextWindow.FontFace"="Courier"
"TextWindow.FontHeight"=dword:0000000a
"TextWindow.FontWeight"=dword:00000190
"TextWindow.FontItalic"=dword:00000000
"TextWindow.FontPitchAndFamily"=dword:ffffffeb

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R16.0\ACAD-202:40C\Profiles\BTO
\Dialogs]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R16.0\ACAD-202:40C\Profiles\BTO
\Dialogs\acad-101]
"X"=dword:0000029f
"Y"=dword:000001a0
"Width"=dword:00000102
"Height"=dword:00000151
...........
......
....
..

 

I was used to using this approach with R2002. In R2004, environment variables introduced by Autodesk, I believe, prevent this from working as it did. Numerous path statements are rewritten by AutoCAD upon merging the .reg file into the registry. Has anyone found a solution to this, apart from maintaining and editing .arg files separately on each work station?

 

John, have you found a solution to the way AutoCAD 2004 is handling the variables in the path statements? Merging partial .reg files for specific items, while maintaining a more or less standardized .arg file was working well for me, but no longer.