tool palettes

[samerchakroun]

Is there a way to create a Keybord shorcut for a spacific palette from toolpalettes? like if i can type a custom command and a spacific palette will pop up.

[golf32902]

I don't think you can make a routines that pulls up a specific tool palette, but whop knows there are some very smart people on this forum.

I know you can turn on and off the toolpallete with the text command. But to do go to a specific pallet i have no idea.

[Bob_Zurunkle]

A custom button with la; should bring up the layers toolpallette, but just typing la <enter> will do the same thing.

[nrz13 · Accepted solution]

Yes, it's possible for both toolbars (e.g. Dimension) and palettes (e.g. Properties).  You can even setup toggles where the same keyboard command shows and hides it.  Which ones are you wanting to do?

Here's an example of one I use to toggle the Properties palette on and off by entering EE (space bar/enter) on the keyboard:
(DEFUN C:EE () (if (zerop (getvar "opmstate"))(command "Properties")(command "PropertiesClose"))(PRINC))

I have it loading with a bunch of other LISP routines in a custom.lsp file that loads on startup (APPLOAD → Startup Suite: Contents...).

[hgasty1001]

Hi,

Try this:

(command "TPNAVIGATE" "SomeToolPaletteGroup")

Gaston Nunez

[samerchakroun]

i work in MEP, so in my toolpalette i have different palettes such as Blocks for Electrical equipment, Block for mechanical equipment, i just want to be able to type in a custom command and only one of the palettes will appear, like if i typed EE and the elctrical equipment palette should appear.

[nrz13 · Accepted solution]

Ah, I was on a different track thinking toolbars and palettes.

gasty1001 has your solution above for tool palettes.  You'd put that into a .lsp file that would be loaded at startup and assign whatever keyboard shortcut you wanted for it.  For instance, if you have a tool palette called "Electrical", you might try something like:

(DEFUN C:TE () (command "TPNAVIGATE" "Electrical")(PRINC))

You would type TE [enter] and that would open the Tool Palettes window to your Electrical panel.

FYI, below is a toggle for toggling the Tool Palettes window on/off, using TT [enter]:
(DEFUN C:TT () (if (zerop (getvar "tpstate"))(command "ToolPalettes")(command "ToolPalettesClose"))(PRINC))

[kadmonkee8]

actually you can record action macros to initialize individual block insertion from a tool palette

[sbrusco]

Hi nrz13 and all,

I like your use of the "TPNAVIGATE" command but to toggle the properties and tool palettes, i simply use the Ctrl+1 and Ctrl+3 hot keys respectively. Unless you've redefined these, they're standard OOTB in AutoCAD.

Sal

[nrz13]

Sal:

I have most of my commands set up so that I can leave my left hand at home row on the keyboard while my right hand is on the mouse.  It's most efficient for me.  Using Ctrl+# keys takes my hand away and I have to realign it.  That's also why I have F3 and F8 programmed into the forward and back buttons on my mouse for AutoCAD.

[sbrusco]

Hi nrz13,

I actually thought this might be the case. If you know enough about AutoCAD to write lisp like you've provided, you probably know about the OOTB hot keys. But for the benefit of non-programmers, i listed what is basic to AutoCAD.

Sal

[nrz13]

Sure, that's what's great about these forums – people usually end up listing several ways to do something and the forum users can pick what works best for them.