Profile from one user to another
Helllo;
at our company we are currently evaluating BricsCad, to see if it is a viable alternative to AutoCAD Mechanical. We originally had a dozen licenses of ACAD, but we let all of them save two expire, since most of our engineering is now done in 3D with SolidWorks. Two engineers will keep ACAD and work with it a lot, but most others only will need it occasionally. For these, ACAD, even LT, is way overpriced. Hence, BricsCad.
Have been toying with it a little, and it looks very promising!
AutoCAD has been customized considerably, and I was pleasantly surprized to see that I was able to port quite a lot of the customization to BricsCad. I keep the customization (CUI, profiles, LISP and VBA) stored in a location that cannot be compromized inadvertently by users, and I created a profile that I can use when installing BricsCad on all workstation. I do have some questions about this.
1- toolbar visibility and location, unlike menus and settings seem to be not stored in the profiles, and need to be manually made visible/positioned. Any tips on how to include this in the profile?
2- partial CUI files can be loaded, but not saved to another file after modifying them. The modifications are stored in the relevant CUI file, and ofcourse I can copy/rename this file, but then I have to open this file in an editor to modify menu group names etc. Doable, but is there a more elegant way to achieve the same?
3- If I import a user profile, made on my workstation into a BricsCad installation on another system/user, then several file/folder settings (such as C:\Documents and Settings\<USER>\Application Data\Bricsys\Bricscad\V10\en_US\support\) will not be modified automatically to suit the new user. In other words, if the profile has been created by Joe, and imported by William. then <USER> will not be changed from Joe to William. I can do this manually, but is there a more elegant way?
Enough for now. Any tips will be appreciated!
Thymen
Comments
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One answer:
1. Toolbar visibility and location are stored in the profile. I think you are trying to import a profile Default.arg while running BC with Default as the current profile.
Solution A: Make sure the profile you import doesn't have the same name as the current profile.
Solution B: Make sure that BC is not running and use the User Profile Manager from the Start Menu.0 -
2: In the Customize window, you can load any CUI file as the "main" CUI file, even if you plan to use it as a "partial." And while it's loaded you can edit it and/or use "Save main CUI file as..." Then when you're done, re-load the file that you use as your main menu.
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Roy, Anthony, thanks for the answers, it pointed me into the right direction.
1- Toolbar visibility <> user profiles: it appears that toolbars are re-located and made visible/hidden ONLY after one changes the profile. then quits and restarts BricsCAD......
2- I created a partial CUI file by copying/importing an existing ACAD CUI file as a partial CUI, editing it by removing/relocating all the commands I want to keep. Then, quit BC, and open the partial CUI file in and editor. I then changed the names like MENU GROUP NAME etc to suit my wishes. It is a preference to keep all custom CUI's in a separate file, saving all in a default CUI is a possibility ofcourse
3- have not found out how to change the <USER> yest...
Thymen
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@ Thymen: indeed: quit and restart... As described in the BC Help ;-)
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C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Bricsys\Bricscad\V10\en_US\support\
You can use environment variables in your arg file, they will be expanded automatically. Like this:
%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Bricsys\Bricscad\V10\en_US\support\
or
C:\Documents and Settings/%USERNAME%/Application Data/Bricsys/Bricscad/V10/en_US/support/
Note that I use forward slashes in the second example, because at the moment the syntax doesn't support environment variables when they are immediately preceded by backward slashes.
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quote/
C:\Documents and Settings/%USERNAME%/Application Data/Bricsys/Bricscad/V10/en_US/support/
/quote
Alexander;
in the .arg file it show like: C:\\Documents and Settings\\tdv\\Application Data\\Bricsys\\Bricscad\\V10\\en_US\\support\\
where tdv is my username. Mark the double backward slashes. If I edit the .arg file, and change tdv into %USERNAME%, it does not work....
Should i chang all \\ into a single / ?
Thymen
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Hi Thymen,
Did you get anywhere with this?
I know it was a long long time ago and i'm now facing a similar issue. You finished with a question and now one answered.
Cheers
Mark
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Hi Mark,
To create a generic .arg with BricsCAD you must first edit it and do a search on any explicit path names and swap them with the applicable windows environment variable. General process to go about this would be:- Make sure BricsCAD isn't running. From Windows Start run the BricsCAD User Profile Manager ( Start -> Programs | Bricsys | BricsCAD | User Profile Manager).
- Create a new Profile to capture your settings in, then double click on it to Launch BricsCAD.
- Configure BricsCAD to suit your requirements (set srchpath, templates, colours and the like).
- Close BricsCAD down.
- Go back to the User Profile Manager and export your new profile to disk.
The reason running the User Profile Manager when BricsCAD isn't running is to avoid confusion. BricsCAD doesn't commit any changes you make (to registry) until you close BricsCAD down, so if you use the User Profile Manager while BricsCAD is running you may not capture your most recent changes.
Having generated a profile argument file you need to edit it with a text editor and do a search and replace with a suitable windows environment variable. Examples are:
[code]
FIND REPLACE
--------------------------------------------
C:\\Users\\jason %USERPROFILE%
jason %USERNAME%
C:\\Program Files (x86) %ProgramFiles%
C:\\Program Files %ProgramFiles%
C: %SystemDrive%
[/code]
As this may require some trial an error I strongly recommend that you carry out a back up of related files before you start playing, and keep a copy of your original .arg file so you can use it for reference. All going well you should end up with something a little like this:
[code]Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\V12\en_US\Profiles\CCL-TRIAL]
@=""
"Description"="CAD Concepts Bricscad V12 Trialing Profile"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\V12\en_US\Profiles\CCL-TRIAL\Config]
"CuiFile"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\support\\V12\\default.cui"
"ATTDIA"=dword:00000001
"ATTREQ"=dword:00000001
"BASEFILE"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Templates\\CCL-A1-PS.dwt"
"BKGCOLOR"=dword:00000100
"BKGCOLORPS"=dword:00000100
"INETLOCATION"="http://www.cadconcepts.co.nz"
"SRCHPATH"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\support\\V12\\;%ProgramFiles%\\Bricsys\\Bricscad V12\\support\\;%ProgramFiles%\\Bricsys\\Bricscad V12\\fonts\\;%ProgramFiles%\\Bricsys\\Bricscad V12\\help\\en_US\\;%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Scripts;%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Menus;%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Templates;%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Blocks\\CCL-G;%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Blocks\\CCL-M;%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Blocks\\CCL-E;%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Blocks\\TitleBlocks;%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Blocks\\Logo;%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Xrefs;%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Images;"
"STARTUP"=dword:00000000
"XLOADPATH"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Xrefs\\"
"BlocksPath"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Blocks\\"
"PlotCfgPath"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\plotconfig\\"
"PlotStylePath"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\plotstyles\\"
"TemplatePath"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Templates\\"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\V12\en_US\Profiles\CCL-TRIAL\Dialogs\Drawing Explorer\Folder List]
"FoldersCount"=dword:00000002
"Folder0"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Blocks\\"
"Folder1"="%USERPROFILE%\\Documents\\"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\V12\en_US\Profiles\CCL-TRIAL\Menus]
"Menu-01"="BRICSCAD.POP1"
"Menu-02"="BRICSCAD.POP2"
"Menu-03"="BRICSCAD.POP3"
"Menu-04"="BRICSCAD.POP27"
"Menu-05"="BRICSCAD.POP5"
"Menu-06"="BRICSCAD.POP6"
"Menu-07"="BRICSCAD.POP4"
"Menu-08"="BRICSCAD.POP16"
"Menu-09"="BRICSCAD.POP13"
"Menu-10"="BRICSCAD.POP17"
"Menu-11"="BRICSCAD.POP24"
"Menu-12"="BRICSCAD.POP7"
"Menu-13"="BRICSCAD.POP8"
"Menu-14"="CCL-TRIAL.POP1"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\V12\en_US\Profiles\CCL-TRIAL\Recent Paths]
"Font"="%ProgramFiles%\\Bricsys\\Bricscad V12\\Fonts\\"
"Default"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Templates\\"
"Dwg"="%USERPROFILE%\\Documents\\"
"Insert"="%SystemDrive%\\CCL-Trial\\Blocks\\"
"Dxf"="%USERPROFILE%\\Documents\\"
[/code]
As per the example above, you don't need to set every single argument. You only need to declare the ones that you want to control, BricsCAD will simply take on the default settings for the rest.
Also the example above shows the correct syntax "\\" is always used as the separator for folder names. Thymen's example has used a mix of "\" & "/" , which won't work.
Regards,Jason Bourhill
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When the firm that I worked for purchased a couple licences of BricsCAD, I needed an easy solution to load up everything with as few operations as possible and allow me to make company wide changes by changing an absolute minimum number of files, this is what I did. A few evenings spent writing code and playing with my personal installation at home led me to the following:- Create a directory on the server which houses all of the common settings, profiles, lisp routines, menus and so on. Most notably, I created a directory \\server\BricsCAD\Profiles\ and in there each user has a subfolder (named as per their loginname) - this folder is where they can add lisp files, menus, and anything else that they need, including their PGP file. In this director I added a file called "usercustom.lsp" which the user is free to customize and do what they need. The remainder of the directories are locked out to prevent accidental changes.- I created an on_doc_load.lsp file in \\server\Bricscad\Lisp\ and added to it a few functions which will check for, and add, support file search paths (including their customizable profile directory, noted above) it then loads all default lisp files for the company and lastly the users customizable lisp, usercustom.lsp.- I then install BricsCAD, and edit the support file search paths and make one entry at the very beginning of the list for \\server\Bricscad\Lisp\ (or the location of my company wide on_doc_load.lsp file).- Start a new drawing, and the program automatically finds my company wide lisp file (\\server\Bricscad\Lisp\on_doc_load.lsp) which then adds the rest of my support paths as required - including one that points to the user's profile directory on the server, loads menus, changes any other settings that are deemed company standard and lastly loads standard lisp routines followed by the user's custom lisp file, usercustom.lsp.- I shut down BrisCAD to write the new settings to the profile, then export the profile to the server for safe keeping.It sounds kind of complicated, but the beauty is that I can edit one file, and all my users need to do is start a new drawing to see the changes or new tools, I can be lazy and don't have to get up from my desk.0
