START PART BUTTON, ------------ MACRO

[gumbay50]

AutoCad Lt2000, I would like to make a 'START PART' Button or change the "open new" button in the system menu to open our company "Start Part". I have tried this but it doesn't work: ^C^C_OPEN;"J:/ACAD/ACAD_START.DWG";
Thanks. :(

[Dommy2Hotty]

Turn off FILEDIA (file dialog box) before the open command. Problem with that is when a drawing is opened, the macro stops, so you can't set FILEDIA back on with that same button macro. But you could make a button to turn it on.

Open button:

^C^Cfiledia;0;_OPEN;"J:/ACAD/ACAD_START.DWG";

FILEDIA button:

^C^Cfiledia;1;

[gumbay50]

If I use the 'NEW' button, is there a reason I need to reset the FILEDIA back on?

[gumbay50]

I found the problem, the OPEN button also doesn't work. The file name has to be entered at the command line.
Also, even with the filedia off, this didn't work. It still wants you to enter the file name in the command line or hit enter to open the last file opened.

[Dommy2Hotty]

I found the problem, the OPEN button also doesn't work. The file name has to be entered at the command line.
Also, even with the filedia off, this didn't work. It still wants you to enter the file name in the command line or hit enter to open the last file opened.

The FILEDIA variable affects all dialog boxes within AutoCAD that you would select a file with. That is why you would need to reset it after using that button macro. What you're trying to achieve can be done with LISP, but LT doesn't have LISP support.

I'll retry the code I posted to be sure, but it worked for me.

[gumbay50]

I think I have what I want. When I open a new file I want it to have the company layer, textstyles etc. in the new start up file.
What I have done is: turn off the startup dialog in the Options\System tab.
Then I opened my start file that I want, currently a .dwg. I did a Save As a template called aclt.dwt which replaces the current aclt.dwt.
Do you see a problem with this?

Thanks for your help. :D

[Dommy2Hotty]

Nope, no problem with using a template...I thought you wanted a fast way to open a particular drawing...I have about 10 different AutoCAD shortcuts on my desktop, all for different clients. Each shortcut starts AutoCAD with the template for that client. Example:

New client using our standards (ASE, Inc. standards, company I work for)

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2005\acad.exe" /nologo /c "\\d22\Dominic\AutoCAD_Custom\config" /p "\\d22\Dominic\AutoCAD_Custom\config\ACAD2005-ASE-DominicCesare.arg" /t "\\d22\ASECad\TEMPLATES-2004\ASE-TEMPLATE.dwt"

Explanation:


Program shortcut:
"C:\Program Files\Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2005\acad.exe"

No splash screen:
/nologo

Config file location switch ( /c ):
/c "\\d22\Dominic\AutoCAD_Custom\config"

Profile switch ( /p ):
p "\\d22\Dominic\AutoCAD_Custom\config\ACAD2005-ASE-DominicCesare.arg"

Template switch ( /t ):
/t "\\d22\ASECad\TEMPLATES-2004\ASE-TEMPLATE.dwt"

So when I click that shortcut, it starts AutoCAD with no splash screen, sets the config path to my server folder using my profile for ASE with ASE's standard template.

[gumbay50]

One more question on this issue. When I open AutoCad Lt, it automaticly loads from my templete. However if I have another file open and then hit Open, it waits for an 'Enter' to open from the templete.
Is there something I can do to have it always open the templete when I hit 'Open'? I've tried to change the macro on the button by adding ; and \ and still doesn't work. Current macro is: ^C^C_NEW

I want to make this as easy for other operators as possible.
Thanks.

[Kate M]

Under Options, Support Folders, there is a place to set the default template.