LOST MENU AND ALL CUSTOMIZATION AT UPGRADE
Last year I switched three stations from AutoCad after 15 years of using basically the same custom menus and .lisp routines and limped my way through converting/combining those into BC. As soon as I upgraded to V18, and loaded onto a new station (same day, so not sure what the culprit is) the "new" station ran the custom menu/lisps for a while but now automatically defaults back to factory settings each time I restart! IS there something basic that I am doing wrong??? What is the basic order of operations I should load lisps and menus with so that they load every time at startup of BC?
Comments
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Hi Leo,
Based on your description I would suspect that you've switched profiles. I would try shutting BricsCAD down, then running the User Profile Manager from the Windows start menu. The User profile manager will display all the currently defined profiles, double clicking on one will make it current and launch BricsCAD with it.
Regards,
Jason Bourhill
CAD Concepts0 -
Thanks for the reply! So, the weird thing is that when I go into the User Profile Manager, there is only one Profile - 2D Drafting and I'm not even sure how that was created? I guess I better get more acquainted with how those work, or why I would even need "User Profiles". To this point with new stations, we have been "Starting with" the default.cui, then adding our old acad.cui as a partial, Autoloading a few master lisps that load all of our other subordinate lisps, making sure the support file paths are all correct, etc. I felt OK with that process until my station lost all of the above - seemingly for no reason. My main goal is to set up a simple set of instructions for setting up each new station that won't get forgotten since we don't need to do it much more than yearly.
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I am not having your problem, but my profile is also named 2D Drafting, and I don't know how it was created. I did have similar problems with v17, but they went away with v18.
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@Jason Bourhill:
If I load a partial CUI in one profile, it is also available in the other profiles. This makes sense as all profiles use the same CUI. So I do not understand your comment.0 -
@Roy Klein Gebbinck said:
If I load a partial CUI in one profile, it is also available in the other profiles. This makes sense as all profiles use the same CUI. So I do not understand your comment.It depends on your profile. you could point to a different root cui in different profiles, meaning you could have different partials loaded in each. You can also set DEMANDLOAD = 0, to stop 3rd party tools loading by default (you can then load them manually as required), many 3rd party apps are set to self heal, reloading partial cui, updating search paths etc.
The BricsCAD sample setup on my website is an example. The installer copies the UserDataCache folder as part of the install process to make the setup completely self contained. The original intent for this setup was for delivering training material onto users machines, I wanted to do this in a way that kept it completely separate to the users existing setup.
That said, you are most likely right, the OP doesn't mention going to such lengths. It's unusual to lose all your setup (LISP + CUI), as you say partial CUI would normally stick. Perhaps could be loading LISP via a .MNL related to a partial? In this case if you detached the partial, or selected the 'revert to defaults' you would lose everything.
Regards,
Jason Bourhill
CAD Concepts0 -
@Jason Bourhill:
Thank you for your explanation. I was not aware that each profile can have its own main CUI.0 -
Roy,
Also look into On_start.lsp or alternatively make a profile with a workspace (even if it's the default workspace) with the lisp routines that you want the users to have available pre-loaded.
2D drafting profile is the default profile. I recommend to leave it be, having it as something to fall back on if something gets really screwed up with the 'custom' profile.
So make a copy of the profile, name it to whatever you like. Change the settings to what you want standard to be available, not forgetting about re-directing the file paths to where you want. Exporting the profile (whenever you think of it after making changes/tweaks) so that you have a backup copy available.It also helps if you make it so that the location of the 'support' folder and such is an general path. With this I mean something that isn't bound to a user. E;g.: I have it set up that everytime Bricscad needs to access the Bricsys folder (plotstyles - support - toolpalletes-etc...) it does so on C:\users\public\ instead of the default C:\'user name'\Appdata\roaming.
A thing to keep in mind. With each yearly release the path for certain things changes a bit if you let it.
E;.g:
2017 -> C:\users\'user name'\Bricsys\Bricscad V17 en_US....
2018 -> C:\users\'user name'\Bricsys\Bricscad V18 en_US....So far my system is working for more then a dozen users accross several departments.
PS: It took me awhile to figuring it out but LocalRootPrefix and RoambleRootPrefix can be set by using LocalRootPath and RoambleRootPath commands in the commandline.
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@Peter_DV:
I know there are several ways to load Lisp programs. But what do you mean by 'workspace with the lisp routines preloaded'?0 -
Roy,
If you don't know what workspaces are then don't worry about it. Acad has them as well so if you didn't bother with them there why start now.
In the profile you want to distribute just use appload function. "This allows you to create a list of routines that you want to load, storing the list in a file called appload.dfs." Now if that file is part of your 'distribution' because you copy and paste the Bricsys folder with all its contents, then as soon as they load the profile (and default workspace) they'll have all the wanted lisp routines loaded.
E.g.:
I have a folder called LISP that I put on the users C: drive which not only contains the lisp routines but also the custom partial CUI and the ARG (profile information with the settings). I also place a copy of the Bricsys folder on there system (but you could of course also do that on a server location) which contains all other needed files as well as the appload.dfs. The result is that once those two folders are copied I add the profile with the profile manager, make the custom profile the standard one to load, fire up Bricscad and it's fully set up with standard lisp routines, settings, etc.
The only thing that needed a whole deal of time was figuring out what settings needed to be set and how to set them so that it would work as wanted.0 -
@Peter_DV:
After more than a decade of using BricsCAD I am hardly a novice, and I do know about workspaces. But in your previous post you seem to suggest that there is mechanism related to workspaces to pre-load Lisp files. Strictly speaking this does not exist. Thanks for confirming this.BTW:
IMO the LocalRootPrefix and RoambleRootPrefix should also be editable via the _Settings dialog. I can't think of a good reason for the current 'Read only' limitation.0 -
@Roy Klein Gebbinck said:
BTW:
IMO the LocalRootPrefix and RoambleRootPrefix should also be editable via the _Settings dialog. I can't think of a good reason for the current 'Read only' limitation.I think it might actually be a bug. I'm not sure that it is intended that you can change environment variables like RoambleRootPrefix from the command line. In AutoCAD these are all read-only. This makes sense two me for two reasons:
1. Microsoft demands it that way. Perhaps demand is too strong, but the notion of Roamable & Local comes from Microsoft not BricsCAD. IMHO this doesn't work that well in a CAD environment where you tend to have quite specific hardware setups, that don't transfer well to the accountants PC down the hall.
2. BricsCAD expects these folders to exist. Changing the location could lead to unexpected results, certainly wouldn't change during a drawing session. A simple example is the Form Feature palette in the default tool palettes. This uses relative pathing to the related block files. This means it won't work if you copy this to a different folder location.Regards,
Jason Bourhill
CAD Concepts0 -
Not pre-loading, but the "On Switch" mechanism is still there from earlier releases of BricsCAD. You could use this mechanism to load LISP routines related to a workspace.
I think Peter was mixing Workspaces with Profiles, which is a common mistake. I've certainly done this before I got my head around workspaces. I think even Bricsys was confused on their purpose for a while.
I'm not that keen on workspaces myself. For example why would you use a 3D Modelling workspace in Paperspace layout? This is a 2D only environment. You might think an automatic switch from 3D Modelling to 2D Drafting when switching spaces would be the answer, but what if the user enters modelspace through a viewport?
Regards,
Jason Bourhill
CAD Concepts0 -
The Developer Reference has a section "Automatic LISP + VBA Loading" This is well worth reading for those coming from AutoCAD, and those who have been using BricsCAD for a while. V17 brought some new options for automated loading that are most welcome to LISP users.
Regards,
Jason Bourhill
CAD Concepts0 -
@Roy Klein Gebbinck said:
@Peter_DV:
After more than a decade of using BricsCAD I am hardly a novice, and I do know about workspaces. But in your previous post you seem to suggest that there is mechanism related to workspaces to pre-load Lisp files. Strictly speaking this does not exist. Thanks for confirming this.BTW:
IMO the LocalRootPrefix and RoambleRootPrefix should also be editable via the _Settings dialog. I can't think of a good reason for the current 'Read only' limitation.Roy,
Ah I see, sorry for the confusion. I was meaning having a profile with the lisp routines preloaded no matter what workspace your wishing to use, even if it's the default one.No matter how many years one has been using any kind of program it's wise not to take things as self evident nor is wise in thinking that someone will know the same things as others. I've been using Acad for the last 20 years and had a very decent schooling in the basics of it way back when. I'm the first to admit that there's a lot that i'm not savvy about because although I do try to stay informed there's just some thinsg that the company doesn't have a use for. In any case, no offense was meant.
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@Jason Bourhill said:
I think Peter was mixing Workspaces with Profiles, which is a common mistake. I've certainly done this before I got my head around workspaces. I think even Bricsys was confused on their purpose for a while.
I'm not that keen on workspaces myself.
I used to use workspaces on Acad 2008LT mainly because it let me set up any new system quickly by using an imported workspace. Personally I have no use for them on Bricscad mainly because we only use Bricscad for pure 2d drawing and P&ID's and creating a system to do a set up with a profile in Bricscad works very smoothly.
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