Help is a mess

[AllenJessup]

The help page has become very unhelpful. When I hit F1 I only get three listing in contents. "AutoCAD Help Use Search", "AutoCAD Utility Design Help" and "AutoCAD Map 3D Help".

So I want a list of System Variables. I search for system variables list and get a hit.

But as you can see from the first screen-shot. The Home Page doesn't have anything like this. What happened to being able to open AutoCAD and AutoCAD Civil 3D contents? Seems silly to have to search for everything. Especially if your not sure what command you want of when the results send you to somewhere that doesn't exist.

Allen

[Jay_B]

Allen,

Here's what I get with F1.

No Utility Design installed here.

[AllenJessup]

I unchecked "Access online content when available" and now I get Civil 3D instead of Utility Design. WEIRD!

Still can't get a list of system variables.

Allen

[Jay_B]

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@AllenJessup wrote:

I unchecked "Access online content when available" and now I get Civil 3D instead of Utility Design. WEIRD!

Still can't get a list of system variables.

Allen

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You're probably aware of this but the C3D is being pulled accessed from this location when unchecked.

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014\Help\

[AllenJessup]

Yes. Why do I need to pull Civil 3D help from the local drive when is should be available Online? I did manage to get a Google hit on AutoCAD 2014 help that will get a list of Sysvars.

Allen

[ToddRogers-WPM]

You can go to Express Tools and click on System Variable to get a list, or type in SYSVDLG.  There is a Help button once there.

[AllenJessup]

Yes and it has a nice filter too if you have an idea what might be contained in the variable name. But for just looking through a list of variables for one you don't have any idea what it might be. The standard Help list with brief description below is better. At least in my opinion.

Allen

[ToddRogers-WPM]

Agreed. 

[HansSMS]

I catch myself googling an issue more and more rather than trying to find it in the help file, its just faster.

[Jay_B]

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@HansSMS wrote:

I catch myself googling an issue more and more rather than trying to find it in the help file, its just faster.

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That's what I thought too until yesterday when trying to search for specific releases of Civil 3D help via Google.

Conclusion was it's actually much faster to find a PC with Civil 3D installed, launch C3D & press F1.

The one exception was if I searched the right text string I would get lucky & find the 2014 C3d help sporadically.

Try a google search for the string  "2012 Civil 3D help" as an example or any version other than 2014 for that matter.

[AllenJessup]

Once I find them. I add the link to favorites. That way I don't have to search again untill next time they change the web site.

Allen

[SurveyorLee]

For system variables, I use the command line "Setvar"

Then the "?" to get all of the variables

From that you can get a specific variable name for the search engine.

Surveyor Lee

[AllenJessup]

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@SurveyorLee wrote:

For system variables, I use the command line "Setvar"

Then the "?" to get all of the variables

Surveyor Lee

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Yes. That works too. I tend to use the Express Tools - SYSVDLG most often. But for that or a raw list of variables you need some idea of that the variable would be. When I think there might be a variable but have no idea what it's name is, after guessing a couple of times on searches. I find that the list in Help with a quick one line explanation is the best way to see if there is anything that might be the supposed SYSVAR.

BTW. If you have Autocomplete on. You can start typing what you think a variable name would containing and get a list of possibilities. This doesn't work with undocumented system variables though.

 This started while I was trying to answer this post; http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-Civil-3D-General/Civil-3D-no-longer-goes-to-layer-name-I-type-...

Allen

[Jay_B]

Within the the Express Tools - SYSVDLG dialog Wildcards work well.

If looking for plot in the sys variable name but as an example I can't remember the full name entering *PLOT* returns this list:

BACKGROUNDPLOT 0
CPLOTSTYLE "ByColor"  (read only)
FULLPLOTPATH  1
PLOTOFFSET 0
PLOTROTMODE  2
EXPORTEPLOTFORMAT 2
PLOTTRANSPARENCYOVERRIDE 1

[AllenJessup]

Yes. That's what makes it so useful. At least when you have an idea of what the variable contains. AutoCAD is good in that there is almost always multiple methods of doing what you need to do.

Allen