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How to change properties of a new layout when the "+" button is pressed


oftenly

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Hey guys, this is a continuation of my first thread on this forum, which I still haven't resolved.

 

I have my QNEW template set to my own .dwt file, and that .dwt file contains one layout at 24" x 36".

 

Which apparently doesn't matter. When you click that "+" button, this is what shows on the command line:

 

Command: _layout
Enter layout option [Copy/Delete/New/Template/Rename/SAveas/Set/?] <set>: _new

 

So, it's the _new command that's being called here, and so far I haven't found any way to either A) change the behavior of that button to use _qnew instead, or B) point _new towards a specific template, or something along those lines.

 

It seems impossible to me that AUTOCad simply does not allow you to have any other kind of layout created through that button. Every other method of creating a layout requires more mouse clicks. Is this just some cruel reality I must blindly accept?

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Thanks for the responses, guys!

 

How many layouts did you create with your new template?

 

Not sure what you mean... there's only one layout in my template file. I want to be able to quickly create, say, five new layouts with only five clicks, and being able to set beforehand the properties of those layouts.

 

You could add macros to add your layouts - http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showth...ayout-via-Lisp

 

This actually looks promising, I'll give it a try. I was hoping there wouldn't be any additional logic or scripting required to accomplish something so friggin' basic. Even if I succeed, it still doesn't explain why AUTOCad chooses to work this way.

 

Right click on the + and see your available options.

 

They're "New Layout" (same as actually clicking the button), "From Template..." (which is the clicky-clicky I'm trying to avoid), "Select All Layouts" (not helpful), and "Drafting Standard Setup" (not what I need). I don't think those are going to help.

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The point that I believe Ski_Me is trying to make, is that a single .dwt file can include multiple layouts.

Perhaps a set of layouts, which you frequently use together.

 

Doing it this way, each time you use the NEW command, you will be creating however many layouts you have included in your default .DWT. Of course the problem with that, is that any which you don't want to use, will need to be deleted. Still, each of the layouts would have predefined properties, as you specified. As click-averse as you may be, this might be a good option for you. :|

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Like Dadgad make as many as you need just click on tab and delete, put least used at end and you click + SHIFT Highlite multiple layouts and delete.

 

That is a nice tip BIGAL.

I rarely have to delete layouts, wasn't aware that multiples could be selected with the + SHIFT option.

That would certainly make deleting them easier, and appreciably less click intensive. :beer:

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Thanks for the responses, guys!

This actually looks promising, I'll give it a try. I was hoping there wouldn't be any additional logic or scripting required to accomplish something so friggin' basic. Even if I succeed, it still doesn't explain why AUTOCad chooses to work this way.

 

 

Actually Lee Mac's Steal from Drawing http://www.lee-mac.com/steal.html is what I've been using for the macros I use to import layouts from a template drawing for many years now.

I posted an example at http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?164804-Create-layout-and-change-its-page-setup&p=1305963&viewfull=1#post1305963

The macros call for an older version of his lisp, but it still works better than Design Center and brings in the desired layout with a single click.

^C^C^P(or C:Steal (load "StealV1-6.lsp"))(Steal (strcat (vl-filename-directory (getenv "QnewTemplate")) (chr 92) "Templates.dwt") '(("Layouts" "11×17"))) .regen

 

Lee Mac's Steal from Drawing is one of my favorite free lisp routines of all time.

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I never really understood how saving a few clicks has any real value.

It's primary purpose is to allow the user more time to play on his/her cellphone. It rarely has anything to do with efficiency.:shock::lol:

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Well, shucks!

 

The point that I believe Ski_Me is trying to make, is that a single .dwt file can include multiple layouts.

Perhaps a set of layouts, which you frequently use together.

 

Can't believe I didn't discover this before. I set up my template with 20 (correctly-sized!) layouts, and like you and BIGAL were saying, any I don't use I can shift-click and delete very quickly.

 

Lee Mac's Steal from Drawing is one of my favorite free lisp routines of all time.

 

This is actually very interesting, and something I might implement here in the near future, particularly for layouts, blocks and views. I've got this bookmarked, thanks for the tip!

 

I never really understood how saving a few clicks has any real value.

 

I originally started this job working with some CAD-based casework software, which is nice in how it ties things into an SQL database, but it's sorely lacking in basic AUTOCad functionality. The best example is plotting: in that program, I cannot plot more than one layout at a time. There is no PUBLISH command. So, I would put together a 20-page drawing, and someone would want a small change on page 12, and to deliver that revision I would have to plot every page by hand and "bind" them with some free pdf-creating website, which would take like half an hour. It sucked. Long story short, after doing this for several months, I broke down and bought a sub to vanilla AUTOCad 2017, and now re-publishing a drawing takes seconds and only a few mouse clicks.

 

That's just one small example. I quickly learned there's a direct (if loose) relationship between # of mouseclicks per day, and how competent I appear in my job (how quickly I can produce results, etc). There's also the issue of my hand. When almost all the money in your business has to go through your right index finger at some point, you quickly understand the value of saving each and every mouse click, whenever possible. I still have a long way to go with that :P

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That is well put. I have had the experience with some other 'ribbon based software' that many mouse handling and clicking resulted in a bad shoulder and visiting hospital. For your health, better take 'less clicking' some serious thoughts imo

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I still don't get it. Being smart about automating tasks is one thing. Saving a few clicks here or there, meaningless. The ribbon does not create more clicks. The user not knowing it and the other ways to execute commands does.

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It's arithmetic. If it takes me four clicks to create a new layout, times twenty layouts, that's 80 clicks when it really should be just 20. This is the same reason I have lots of pre-made blocks of dimension lines, so I don't have to click on every damn vertex every single time. Whether that's being smart about automating or saving a few clicks here or there, that's just semantics. Every saved click, as a part of your professional process, is non-negligible.

 

IMO, of course. I like to play computer games when I get home from work, so that's just one more reason to keep the load off my hand :P

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