I have a problem...

Discussion in 'AutoCAD' started by Jamie Duncan, Apr 28, 2004.

  1. Jamie Duncan

    Jason Wilder Guest

    The down and dirty way to completely clean up the setup for A2K4 involves pulling the registry.

    In part, it may depend no the OS you're using, but I'm going to assume you're using XP Pro or 2000. As I'm sure you're aware, A2K4 stores the base system under a user's profile now.

    When I did my updates from 2000/2002, I got some odd problems. I first tried what you did, but didn't quite work, so I did the following and just let it rebuild, without reinstalling:

    1. go into - 'C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\' remove (move to another location) the entire Autodesk subfolder (note: this is a hidden location, so you'll need to make sure you can see hidden files/folders.

    2. go into the the registry - Start / Run / regedit - go to the following key 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R16.0\ACAD-201:409\Profiles'and remove any profiles shown under this location (note: export your registry to a file FIRST if you're uncomfortable doing this, you can re-import the file to put your registry back)

    3. reopen AutoCAD - it will reconstruct the base menu system and registry settings for each user that you perform this for - this is specific to each user's profile if you're on a network

    AutoCAD has gone the way of those systems that carry setting in a user's roaming profile. Which is a nice thing in some respects, but can be a pain in others.

    So anyway, the vanilla stuff is now located in the user's profile and the custom stuff is still resides on the network.

    HTH


    Well several actually. I have been trying to convert an a2k menu/start up suite to 2004, and I'm beginning to realise that I'm failing miserably.

    So I asked a very good friend to send me a clean acad.mnu file in case I had done something.

    And I unloaded all partial menus. And I deleted all of the acad.mns, acad.mnr,acad,mnc files everywhere (on c: and d:). And I deleted the support file folder I had set up. And when I boot a2k4 I don't have a screen menu. I mean I turn the screen menu on, but it remains blank. I've tried this several times. I'm assuming that a reinstall is in order? Which seems mighty intolerant - seeing as I've only played with loading a partial menu - which unfortunately is not up to acad 2004 standards.

    Now I'd love to lose my screen menu for the real estate, but the pop menus won't work, nor will the image menus. Strangely many of the custom commands work, but that is secondary. I need those pop menu's to work, as well as the image menus - or I may as well put a2k4 on the shelf forever.

    Now I didn't write the original menu files, and my knowledge is more lisp oriented - so I may need some ideas as to what to do, where to go. I have read the help files several times, and I have tried to structure the new partial menu to match the current format. Any ideas from people who have rewritten menu files are very welcome. As well as whether I should reinstall acad 2k4.

    Thanks for the patience.

    Jamie Duncan
     
    Jason Wilder, Apr 29, 2004
    #21
  2. Jamie Duncan

    Jamie Duncan Guest

    Thanks so much for your help Bob.

    If you need any otyher info, just email me directly at

     
    Jamie Duncan, Apr 29, 2004
    #22
  3. Jamie Duncan

    Jamie Duncan Guest

    ahh, it's a just in case someone played with my paths.

    I assume that the menuload will also inoke the .mnl file automatically as
    well?

    Jamie Duncan

    you check for menugroup nil - it's not there, so load it..
     
    Jamie Duncan, Apr 29, 2004
    #23
  4. Jamie Duncan

    Jamie Duncan Guest

    Thanks for the info. I have found out that the screen menu is okay - it was just in a weird collapsed state as per the porting by Kent. It's now migrating my custom partial menu that has me discombobulated.


    Jamie Duncan
    The down and dirty way to completely clean up the setup for A2K4 involves pulling the registry.

    In part, it may depend no the OS you're using, but I'm going to assume you're using XP Pro or 2000. As I'm sure you're aware, A2K4 stores the base system under a user's profile now.

    When I did my updates from 2000/2002, I got some odd problems. I first tried what you did, but didn't quite work, so I did the following and just let it rebuild, without reinstalling:

    1. go into - 'C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\' remove (move to another location) the entire Autodesk subfolder (note: this is a hidden location, so you'll need to make sure you can see hidden files/folders.

    2. go into the the registry - Start / Run / regedit - go to the following key 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R16.0\ACAD-201:409\Profiles'and remove any profiles shown under this location (note: export your registry to a file FIRST if you're uncomfortable doing this, you can re-import the file to put your registry back)

    3. reopen AutoCAD - it will reconstruct the base menu system and registry settings for each user that you perform this for - this is specific to each user's profile if you're on a network

    AutoCAD has gone the way of those systems that carry setting in a user's roaming profile. Which is a nice thing in some respects, but can be a pain in others.

    So anyway, the vanilla stuff is now located in the user's profile and the custom stuff is still resides on the network.

    HTH


    Well several actually. I have been trying to convert an a2k menu/start up suite to 2004, and I'm beginning to realise that I'm failing miserably.

    So I asked a very good friend to send me a clean acad.mnu file in case I had done something.

    And I unloaded all partial menus. And I deleted all of the acad.mns, acad.mnr,acad,mnc files everywhere (on c: and d:). And I deleted the support file folder I had set up. And when I boot a2k4 I don't have a screen menu. I mean I turn the screen menu on, but it remains blank. I've tried this several times. I'm assuming that a reinstall is in order? Which seems mighty intolerant - seeing as I've only played with loading a partial menu - which unfortunately is not up to acad 2004 standards.

    Now I'd love to lose my screen menu for the real estate, but the pop menus won't work, nor will the image menus. Strangely many of the custom commands work, but that is secondary. I need those pop menu's to work, as well as the image menus - or I may as well put a2k4 on the shelf forever.

    Now I didn't write the original menu files, and my knowledge is more lisp oriented - so I may need some ideas as to what to do, where to go. I have read the help files several times, and I have tried to structure the new partial menu to match the current format. Any ideas from people who have rewritten menu files are very welcome. As well as whether I should reinstall acad 2k4.

    Thanks for the patience.

    Jamie Duncan
     
    Jamie Duncan, Apr 29, 2004
    #24
  5. Jamie Duncan

    ECCAD Guest

    Yes,
    as long as the 'name' of the .mns is the same as the .mnc, and is on a 'support' file somewhere.
    Bob
     
    ECCAD, Apr 29, 2004
    #25
  6. Jamie Duncan

    Jamie Duncan Guest

    Thanks so much for your help Bob. I'm glad to here that it was mostly
    search and reoplace stuff.


    Jamie Duncan


    Normally you use [blah-blah]^c^c$I=section $I=* to get them in place. This
    assumes 'ACAD' is the menugroup.
     
    Jamie Duncan, Apr 29, 2004
    #26
  7. Jamie Duncan

    ECCAD Guest

    Jamie,
    You are welcome.

    Bob
     
    ECCAD, Apr 29, 2004
    #27
  8. Jamie Duncan

    Walt Engle Guest

    I do all of that on my acad.mnu. To each his own. I also have other menus that I can call up, but prefer to edit the acad.mnu to add items (and subtract the Help pop).
     
    Walt Engle, Apr 29, 2004
    #28
  9. Jamie Duncan

    Jamie Duncan Guest

    I have 250 kb of custom menu. I don't really care to have to integrate such
    into the acad.mnu as oppose to tweaking it (which Bob has done for me!
    <grin>) and partial loading it after the acad.mnu file.

    Jamie Duncan


    that I can call up, but prefer to edit the acad.mnu to add items (and
    subtract the Help pop).
     
    Jamie Duncan, Apr 29, 2004
    #29
  10. Jamie Duncan

    Doug Broad Guest

    Jamie,
    I wrote a solution using VBA to the shrinking screen
    menu problem. Generally it occurs if you close Autocad
    with no documents open. I can't remember what the
    threads were but I think I posted it in the Autocad2004
    group. Its also on the CADalyst website somewhere.

    Regards,
    Doug

    Thanks for the info. I have found out that the screen menu is okay - it was just in a
    weird collapsed state as per the porting by Kent. It's now migrating my custom partial
    menu that has me discombobulated.
     
    Doug Broad, Apr 29, 2004
    #30
  11. Jamie Duncan

    Doug Broad Guest

    It doesn't have to be VBA. Its just I was feeling a little
    dark that day. ;-) Seriously, VBA for that application
    was the natural choice, since it needed to run regardless
    of which drawing was closed.

    I'm sure you could google it.

    Regards,
    Doug


    non-existance), and the poor user doesn't know that to restore it, they have to 'undock',
    stretch, and 'redock' the blame thing. What a neat thing ! (ya right).
    by moving it to an unused POP and be done with the trouble. Same thing for
    'digitizer'..TABLET section..
     
    Doug Broad, Apr 29, 2004
    #31
  12. [Changing the thread, but this springs from the "I have a problem..."
    thread, having to do with Menus. I foresee another long discussion, like
    the one about layouts/paper space vs. model space, on this one....]

    If you don't want to use Screen or Tablet menus, there's certainly no need
    go to the trouble of "recoding" them away -- you can just not use them, and
    turn off the Screen Menu display in Options, and you'd never know they were
    there.

    There are big advantages for some things in Tablet and Screen Menus, over
    many of the other options. I think the biggest one for a Tablet is not
    needing to navigate to get to anything on it. It can have a whole lot more
    stuff instantly available than you would ever want to use screen real estate
    for with things like Toolbar buttons. Looking away from the screen long
    enough to pick something on the Tablet is hugely faster than navigating
    through several levels of nested pull-down menus (and that gets even more
    important when you want to do something repeatedly, if it's not the kind of
    thing you can recall by hitting Enter), or calling up a Toolbar that isn't
    currently showing to get to a button on it.

    I could go on....

    But as with many other things, it's largely a matter of personal preference,
    what you're used to, what you learned with, etc. I can demonstrate to new
    employees here how much faster I can do certain things with a Tablet than
    they can with Toolbars and Pull-downs, but none of them has "taken me up on
    it" yet, and actually used one. Maybe that's a CAD Management issue....

    Kent Cooper, AIA

    in message
    .....> For my 2cents, users might want to 'recode' the .mnu/mns and get rid
    of the 'screen' - by moving it to an unused POP and be done with the
    trouble. Same thing for 'digitizer'..TABLET section..
     
    Kent Cooper, AIA, Apr 29, 2004
    #32
  13. Jamie Duncan

    Jamie Duncan Guest

    We have a lsp/dcl combo that allows access to 80% of our commands. On the
    left is a list (16) groups, on the right the commands for that froup. Click
    on the left list and the right list updates and shows the commands for the
    group selected. Very neat way to insure that the user is two clicks away
    from almost every command.

    I can modify this to have all custom commands, and adding commands would be
    a snap. The problem is that icons are accessed in the menu file, and some
    commands use the screen menus - so that by clicking on a command, the
    relevant screen menu shows up. I think with a bit of work I can remove the
    screen menu and offer the user access to variables through dialog boxes
    instead of screen menu picks. The icon menus are another thing, and will
    have to be retained.

    Jamie Duncan

    Thanks for the ideas and recommendations.
     
    Jamie Duncan, Apr 29, 2004
    #33
  14. Jamie Duncan

    Wafegine Guest

    Just loading XXX.mnc may be good than loading mnu file.

    Try

    Dimension Tolerance Menu Tool

    may be helpful.

    - Automatically loading and easy release menu system.
    - Efficiency tool to setting Plus/Minus Tolerance value.
    - Moniting & easy to setting dimension variables.


    Could Download from:
    http://www.geocities.com/athens/forum/9193/DimTmu_022.ZIP

    WEB
    http://www.geocities.com/athens/forum/9193/solid.html


    wafegine
     
    Wafegine, May 1, 2004
    #34
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