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Message 1 of 11
crawforddsn
411 Views, 10 Replies

User Defined Message

I am currently working with Civil 3D 2007 and was wondering if the program had a way of allowing you to create a unique message that could be save with a drawing file so that when you open it the message would display to the user prior to them proceeding with work. I am looking to use something like this if possible with my drawing templates for new or unfamiliar users to see when first using the template.

If anyone can help or lead me in the right direction I would be most appreciative.
10 REPLIES 10
Message 2 of 11
bcsurvey
in reply to: crawforddsn

I know this message is older than dirt, but I'm looking to do the same thing and don't know how to go about it.  You ever find anything?

Thanks!

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 3 of 11
Joe-Bouza
in reply to: bcsurvey

you can add (command "DWGPROPS")  to your acaddoc.lsp file and this dialog box would open upon entry to the drawing

dwgprops.png

 

 

Or use The caveman method; has worked well for me: leroy5000 mtext block on a no plot layer

Thank you

Joseph D. Bouza, P.E. (one of 'THOSE' People)

HP Z210 Workstation
Intel Xeon CPU E31240 @ 3.30 Hz
12 GB Ram


Note: Its all Resistentialism, so keep calm and carry on

64 Bit Win10 OS
Message 4 of 11
bcsurvey
in reply to: Joe-Bouza

I spent about an hour at work and another hour at home searching through this putrid new website to find a thread I'd touched on after lunch time today.  It was this one:

 

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-Civil-3D-General/Attach-message-to-a-dwg-file/td-p/3200556/hig...

 

I'd only found it by searching tcorey's posts and seeing where you were the most recent poster (I'd remembered that much).

 

I was seriously about to rip my monitor out of the cpu and hurl it across the room I was so perturbed at what Autodesk seems to do about every 3 years, specifically taking a "new and improved" website (being actually less user-friendly) before changing it yet again to something worse after everybody has learned to deal with the POS that it already was . . .  anyhows . . .

 

I had just copied the code that tcorey posted (revised one) in this link and it seems to work fine.  Question though:  Can a template file use its own acad201#doc.lsp file?  This would be great so that all my .dwgs don't have the popup message come up.

 

 

 

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 5 of 11
Joe-Bouza
in reply to: bcsurvey

you would have to have seperate search paths for the givin projects and have startup up lisp to id what project is runing
Thank you

Joseph D. Bouza, P.E. (one of 'THOSE' People)

HP Z210 Workstation
Intel Xeon CPU E31240 @ 3.30 Hz
12 GB Ram


Note: Its all Resistentialism, so keep calm and carry on

64 Bit Win10 OS
Message 6 of 11
bcsurvey
in reply to: Joe-Bouza

When the .dwt is saved from Drawing1.dwg (upon C3D opening) to <project#>.dwg, it (link to acad2012doc.lsp) would retain the same path as the .dwt anyway I presume?  In this case I'd still be dealing with the pop-up.  I guess as long as all parties involved know where the window is coming from and how to alter/delete it, it can actually be a beneficial part of the process.  It just seems that if the delete option is chosen with respect to the .dwt, it will be removed from all subsequent .dwg projects.  Removing it from project .dwgs only as part of the process might be a bit laborious.

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 7 of 11
Joe-Bouza
in reply to: bcsurvey

I was not clear enough: when acad starts up it goes through the search path list when it finds acad.lsp & acaddoc.lsp it loads it. So if you have a particlar project and message to display you would have to create different profiles with different search paths to find you project specific acaddoc.lsp. In conjunction you would need special desktop icons with the appropriate profile switch.

 

Or you can get fancy and have conditional statements in your acad.lisp that ask for the project and execute accordingly. I'm no lisp guru, but I know you can create a startup as customized as you like/ able to put the resorces into.

Thank you

Joseph D. Bouza, P.E. (one of 'THOSE' People)

HP Z210 Workstation
Intel Xeon CPU E31240 @ 3.30 Hz
12 GB Ram


Note: Its all Resistentialism, so keep calm and carry on

64 Bit Win10 OS
Message 8 of 11
bcsurvey
in reply to: Joe-Bouza

Thanks for the info.  What makes my situation a bit harrier is that our template is network-based and accessed by other drafters.  My goal was essentially to have them get the message upon opening, and then after saving to their local machine as .dwg, not get it anymore.

 

I've decided (for now) to just do the text file pop up mentioned in that other post.  This way, I can put a dummy text file in the project folder template with instructions to the others about what it's for, that they need to name it the same as the .dwg, etc.  The beauty here is that if they don't rename the text file, they won't get a blank box or any error message ("can't find file . . .") when opening the .dwg.

 

I've been seeing SSM mentioned alot, but don't know what it is.  My first guess is Sinc Survey Module.  Am I close?

 

Thanks

 

 

Civil 3D 2019 (6.1)
Windows 10 Pro (21H2)
(i7-11850H @ 2.50 GHz)
32GB RAM
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Message 9 of 11
Joe-Bouza
in reply to: bcsurvey

Thats where a conditional type lisp file would come in handy.
Pseudo code example:

 

opening dialog

<ENTER PROJECT NUMBER>

 

IF pNUMBER =XXXXX THEN SUBROURINE a

IF pNUMBER = YYYY THEN SUBROUTINE b

.

.

.

.

You would have a database of project numbers and associated messages to display

 

it does overcomplicate opening a dawing from a user perspective, so email bulletins may be a less elaborate approach to notifying users of project info.

after saying that, it sounds even better than my caveman approach 🙂

 

Good luck

Thank you

Joseph D. Bouza, P.E. (one of 'THOSE' People)

HP Z210 Workstation
Intel Xeon CPU E31240 @ 3.30 Hz
12 GB Ram


Note: Its all Resistentialism, so keep calm and carry on

64 Bit Win10 OS
Message 10 of 11
AllenJessup
in reply to: bcsurvey

About the only think I can think of is to create an Icon [shortcut] specifically for creating new drawing. Then you can use the /t switch to specify the template and the /s switch to load a script that either displays the message or loads a lisp that will display it. The link to tcorey's solution doesn't work for me. So I'm not sure what the code you're using is.

 

I tool the lazy way out and just have Mtext in the template that everyone's knows to erase after they start a new drawing. It basically shows which template was used in case someone chooses the wrong one by mistake.

 

Allen Jessup



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 11 of 11
dgorsman
in reply to: Joe-Bouza

A little customization can do wonders.  For example, we do one of my primary tasks when creating customization: separate data (the message) from code (user interface).  The same UI (user interface) code is used everywhere, the only thing that changes is the data.  The template stores the appropriate message, through a block attribute, text object, or a more exotic option such as XDATA or Xrecords.  When a drawing is opened, it is tested as being unnamed (new drawings, template or not, are considered unnamed until saved).  If so, and if the message data is present, the message data is retrieved and pushed into the standard UI.

 

The other side to this is designing the UI to handle managing the data (create, modify, remove).

----------------------------------
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


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