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The first step in setting up a block library is to decide what you want in
it.
The block library is a system that allows you quick access to a collection of
blocks and commands that you set up. It offers a high level of flexibility and
customization so that you may tailor the library to suit your needs. Each menu
consists of 40 cells that can each be configured to do one of the following
actions:
Each of these actions (except "do nothing") can be customized to
fit your needs. Select an action above to see more on set-up and
configuration.
When planning out the structure of your libraries it is sometimes helpful to
think of it graphically.
Both the PLANBLKS and
ELEVBLKS block libraries have a main menu
that is comprised of 40 cells. Each of these cells can be configured to go to a
submenu (the standard list of plan submenus is shown here - middle column).
PLANBLKS Main menu
Submenu1
Submenu2
Submenu3...
All
submenus each have 40 cells in them. Each of these 40 cells can also be
configured to go to submenus and so on. Of course not all of the
cells have to be configured to go to submenus. (Typically not more than a few,
if any, usually end up going to a submenu)
The standard block library tree is only one level deep but there is no reason
yours can't go deeper. You may create as many levels as you need but keep in
mind that the idea is to get to the blocks or commands as quickly as possible.
We have found that one or two levels is usually enough, but do whatever works
for you.
Many find that the easiest way to plan and layout your menus is to create the
background drawings first so you can visually place your blocks and commands
where they would go and configure their actions later.
To do this open the drawing that corresponds to the menu that you want to
change and insert either copies of your blocks or create some sort of graphic to
represent what you want each cell to do. For more on editing background images
see "Changing the background image for a menu" from
Customizing the Block Library
System.
Sometimes going through the PLANBLKS' or
ELEVBLKS' menu system takes too long, has
too many
steps, or one of the menus gets used so often that you feel you want a quicker
more direct way to get there. To allow you to take a shortcut we have set up the
block library system to give direct access to each of the menus created.
Examples of referencing block library menus directly are: the toolbar button
for the architectural symbols (
) and all of the references to block library menus in the "PLAN-Blks" and "ELEV-blks"
pull-downs. Every menu created can be referenced directly without having to go
through the PLANBLKS or
ELEVBLKS main menus.
There are two ways to do this...
1. Set block library variables
and then run the PLANBLKS or ELEVBLKS command.
This is the preferred method of calling a sub-menu directly. This requires
you to type in more code than the second method but it has none of its
drawbacks.
To use this method in a screen menu, pull-down, or for a toolbar you will need to enter
the following:
For plan block menus:
(SETQ BLNDX_KLH# "APS-PB10"
PBMAIN_KLH# "OFF" CELLID_KLH# "00");APS-PLANBLKS
For elevation block menus:
(SETQ BLNDX_KLH# "APS-EB10"
EBMAIN_KLH# "OFF" CELLID_KLH# "00");APS-ELEVBLKS
If referenced in a LISP routine you would call it like:
(SETQ BLNDX_KLH# "APS-EB10"
EBMAIN_KLH# "OFF" CELLID_KLH# "00")(C:APS-ELEVBLKS)
The only portion that you will change is the
APS-EB10
portion. This is a code for which menu you would like to open and is described
here:
APS- This specifies that it is an
APS-2008 menu that we wish to
open.
EB
Whether the menu is set up in the Plan Blocks "PB"
portion or the Elevation Blocks "EB" portion
of the block library.
10 The
number portion of the command name determined by the path to get to the menu.
See below. It
is a number (always two characters so the first cell would be
01) that represents the
menu location, one set of numbers for each level down in the library.
Examples:
APS-PB would
take you to the main plan block library.
APS-EB10
would take you to the first level sub-menu that is accessed from space 10 of the
main elevation block's menu. APS-EB1032
would take you to the second level sub-menu that is accessed from pressing space
10 of the main menu and then space 32 of the second menu. The only limit to how
deep you can go is your operating system and AutoCAD's restrictions on your
filenames.
2. Reference the menu name
This way has less to type in but has two drawbacks:
- If you go to a sub-menu under the one referenced and then press <Space>
or <Enter> to repeat what you just did, the first menu appears again and you
have to select the space that goes to the sub-menu again to get to your item.
- If you would like to reference a sub-menu that is more than one level
down in the library tree you will have to make sure the file is loaded prior
to referencing it. The first level menu files are loaded automatically but
any below are not - so APS-PB01 through APS-PB40 and APS-EB01 through APS-EB40
will load automatically if called but APS-PB0301 will not.
If you would like to use this method simply call the command name for the
menu desired. This
command name may be called from the command prompt,
toolbars, or other commands as needed. The format for the command name is
as follows:
APS-PB10_
APS- This specifies that it is an
APS-2008 menu that we wish to
open.
EB
Whether the menu is set up in the Plan Blocks "PB"
portion or the Elevation Blocks "EB" portion
of the block library.
10 The
number portion of the command name determined by the path to get to the menu.
See below. It
is a number (always two characters so the first cell would be
01) that represents the
menu location, one set of numbers for each level down in the library.
_
Finally there is an underscore.
Examples:
APS-PB_
would take you to the main plan block library.
APS-EB10_
would take you to the first level sub-menu that is accessed from space 10 of the
main menu. APS-EB1032_
would take you to the second level sub-menu that is accessed from pressing space
10 of the main menu and then space 32 of the second menu. The only limit to how
deep you can go is your operating system and AutoCAD's restrictions on your
filenames.
These command names can be entered at the command line just as shown above "APS-PB10_"
or if referenced from a LISP routine you would call it like (C:APS-PB10_).
Each of the cells in a menu is numbered from 1 to 40. The example above has
the number "10" and will bring up the menu that is located in the #10 cell of
the main menu. This naming scheme goes as
deep as your menus go. If you have created submenus below the second level the
command naming is done by combining the numbers in the "path" to get to the
menu.
Example: Let's take the command name "APS-PB401203_".
PLANBLKS Main menu
Submenu1
Submenu2
The "APS-PB401203_" menu
This would be the same as selecting cell #40 from the main plan blocks menu,
when this submenu comes up then selecting cell #12, when this submenu comes up
selecting cell #3 and the submenu that would then come up is the one that this
command will bring up.
So running "APS-PB401203_" will
get you to the same place as
running PLANBLKS and then selecting cell
#40, then cell #12, then cell #3.
Note: The command name must reference a
submenu and not a command or block. If the numbers for the path don't go to a
submenu it will not work.
These command names are created automatically when you create submenus while
customizing block libraries.
Note: If you call a second level (or deeper)
menu by using it's command name you will need to load the file before running
it. All first level menu commands
("APS-PB01_" "APS-PB02_"... & "APS-EB01_" "APS-EB02_"...etc.) are set to "autoload"
and do not have to be loaded prior to running them. Second level or deeper menu
commands must first be loaded "(LOAD "APS-0232.LSP")"
prior to running them. The filename of the menu file is the same as the command
name but without the underscore at the end. If you don't want to worry about
this you may also load the menu by setting block library variables and running
either the PLANBLKS or
ELEVBLKS commands see
above.
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