What is difference between QCUI & CUI?

[Anonymous]

There is no help ANYWHERE on the Quick CUI (QCUI) command. What is the difference between it and the "standard" CUI command?

I have a computer that runs the QCUI command, but locks up when the CUI command is run (have to use Task Manager to kill the process).

Anyone able to help?

Windows 10 Pro x64 / AMD Radeon R9 200 Vid Card / 24GB RAM / AutoCAD 2017

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

QCUI or QuickCUI just opens the CUI in a collapsed state. See this AKN article for more detail.

It is disturbing that the CUI hangs though.  Did you perhaps migrate some custom content from a prior release?

I suggest you try a Reset Settings to Default to see if that remedies the issue.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

John,

That was the reason for my question. I knew that QCUI opened the CUI dialog in a collapsed state, but it seemed really strange to me that the dialog could be manually expanded from that state, but not opened fully by use of the CUI command itself.

That's also why I was looking for further info on the QCUI and CUI commands (internal workings of each). There must be something that gets called when the CUI command runs that isn't called when QCUI runs (or vice-versa).

Are there any specific file(s) I should look for that may not have migrated? I'm a little nervous about resetting everything at this point. I don't know where the migration came from & what exactly was migrated. Possibly some custom menus could be affected. Don't know. It's a customer's machine, not mine.

Thanks in advance.

Marshall

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I am not sure there is any easy way to determine exactly what got migrated or not. However, in the Reset Settings command you have the option to back up all the customizations and therefore should be able to restore them as well.

It just appears to me that even with the risk of losing a custom element, having a properly and stable application should come first.

My guess on the expanded CUI is that the properties window shows file paths and such. Perhaps they don't get evaluated in the QCUI until an item is selected.

I suggest the reset and back up the customization to the zip when prompted.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.

[JamesMaeding]

Don't assume the menus are messed up, the normal problem is the CUI engine has bugs.

This is the beauty of undocumented xml format and a feature that is so complicated not even Autodesk can navigate it anymore.

Just the workspaces feature alone is enough to thrash a profile, should you decide to use it with more than just acad menu loaded.

The only way to troubleshoot menus is unload them one by one, and see when things behave.

Then you have things like BIM360 loading their menus automatically. You have to be a career autocad troubleshooter to figure things out.

Good luck.

[john.vellek]

Hi marshallw,

I am checking back to see if my post helped you with your problem. Please add a post with your results so other Forum users can benefit.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

John,

I have not been able to get back up with customer yet. As soon as I can, I will attempt the reset & let you know results.

Thanks for staying on top of this.

Marshall

[JamesMaeding]

John,

Resetting and so on is not real troubleshooting, and you don't learn much from doing it.

I deal with menu issues all the time and much of the CUI mechanism is black box "shaking" to see effects.

If you have people that need their menus to work reliably, you break things down by unloading, and then reloading one by one.

But this is super basic to any kind of acad troubleshooting, why does it even need to be said?

[john.vellek]

Hi marshallw,

Were you able to try the Reset?  That is usually the fastest and easiest way to get back up and running.

Please update your post so others might benefit.

[JamesMaeding]

John,

Hopefully the reset will help Marshall in some way, but what are those "recommended menu settings"?

Ever since Autodesk introduced the CUI system, they never made up their mind on how it should be used.

So here is my question:

What should the main and enterprise menu be for Vanilla AutoCAD, and Civil3D?

The OOTB install sets acad and civil as main or enterprise, but that makes no sense as the CUI system modifies the main menu if you add a workspace or something.

Since it has bugs, that thrashes the main menu often.

So now you messed up a menu provided by the install, and setting it back will wipe your customization.

This thing is set up to fail!

So help us by answering that question above, as normally the acad people say they don't know Civil3d. Its time for someone at Autodesk to do their homework and stand by some sensible answer so we can start talking about what is not recommended when a users profile gets thrashed.

thanks

[john.vellek]

HI @JamesMaeding,

You are correct that if a user profile becomes damaged then the workspaces can get lost.

As is true with ANY customization I suggest that a backup copy is mandatory.  I do this for block libraries, lisp routines, page setups, templates, tool palettes, custom menus and if I created custom workspaces it would only make sense to back those up too.

Here is an AKN Article that describes the way a user can transfer their workspaces to another computer or version.  This might provide an excellent way to back them up as well.

Thanks for your contribution.

[Discussion_Admin]

James,

You know this is not the venue for this.

John has no control of over any of that stuff and you are just hindering his attempt to help users and being in general disruptive to the thread.

Thanks in advance for you cooperation.

Discussion_Admin

[JamesMaeding]

To the admin,

So far John has recommended the reset button, and also the idea of backing up your ootb stuff.

Only problem is you don't know you need to back things up until they go bad.

Do you back up your acad.exe? I don't.

Anyway, I have dealt with menus for years now, and have noticed that Autodesk never replies "do you have your main menu set to such and such, per our recommendations? what is the enterprise menu?..."

Why don't they do that? If you can't compare to some baseline, you don't even know if the reset button is resetting correctly.

This is not easy troubleshooting, and my hope is John has some insight into what the recommended settings are.

You have seen me dislike how Dean says "do a repair, reinstall...", I'm sorry, that is just not real troubleshooting so sorry to make an attempt at that.

[Discussion_Admin]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

To the admin,

So far John has recommended the reset button, and also the idea of backing up your ootb stuff.

Only problem is you don't know you need to back things up until they go bad.

Do you back up your acad.exe? I don't.

Anyway, I have dealt with menus for years now, and have noticed that Autodesk never replies "do you have your main menu set to such and such, per our recommendations? what is the enterprise menu?..."

Why don't they do that? If you can't compare to some baseline, you don't even know if the reset button is resetting correctly.

This is not easy troubleshooting, and my hope is John has some insight into what the recommended settings are.

You have seen me dislike how Dean says "do a repair, reinstall...", I'm sorry, that is just not real troubleshooting so sorry to make an attempt at that.

---

John has made a recommendation to get the user up and running. Which we have not actually heard back from yet.

In the mean time you have hijacked this thread with information you want.

James you now where to go with these type of questions.

Also note John nor I are Autodesk as with any employee posting in the community we have a jobs to do.

Again this is not the correct venue, James I know you have other contacts for this debate if not PM me and I'll find you one

Thanks
Discussion_Admin

[JamesMaeding]

Dear Admin,

I though John was with Autodesk?

If you call my comments a hijack, that's your call and a new thread is needed if so.

This is the place for my comments though, its the general acad DG, and I was specific on my concerns, and remain convinced that when someone wants to trouble shoot menus, they should be talking about what the main and enterprise menus are, and how that compares to some default setup.

Thought maybe John would have info on that. I would call that going deeper than the OP requested, not sideways though.

[pendean]

The OP is a third party support for the PC with the real problem without having direct access to that PC.

"john" is also remote support and has no access to the user's PC to properly diagnose the actual problem.

"john" is choosing to get the actual person with the problem back up and running quickly, through the third party person asking the original question that also does not have access to the actual PC in question.

What you want to know is very valid James but these all are the oh-so-wrong people to get you the answer to the actual problem you seek since none of them have access to the PC with the actual problem.

You seek an impossible answer to an unknown actual cause to the problem.

Good to see you back here and engaged.

[JamesMaeding]

maybe kicking a dead horse, but that is not my mistake.

I re-read the thread and think I am on completely on-subject.

the OP said "I have a computer that runs the QCUI command, but locks up when the CUI command is run (have to use Task Manager to kill the process)."

He mentioned it was not his PC, but it definitely sounds like he has direct access to it.

Also, he explained things clearly which tells me her has a clue about what he is doing, and his question is non-trivial.

If menus seem to load when acad starts, why does the CUI hang on them?

The actual fix to the problem is actually getting off topic more than what I am pursuing which is how to troubleshoot the CUI.

I'm sorry that process is not easy, but don't say I'm getting off topic because I am addressing it.

True, the people watching may have no interest in that real issue, except the OP, who probably would love the real answer.

I do agree this is not likely solved without an online meeting on the machine in question, and that could still happen.

If people are happy with "reset", then whatever.

[pendean]

OP wrote in post #7:
"...I have not been able to get back up with customer yet..."

He's remote help as well. All the remote guys just want to get the actual customer (who's not here) back up as fast as possible. That's all.

You picked the wrong thread to dig deeper into an existing problem that no one can access remotely through all the remote helpers. Find another thread where the OP is the actual user with actual access to their PC that can or is willing to grant Autodesk paid support full PC access to diagnose the problem.

Keep up the good work of digging deeper into causes of problems.

[JamesMaeding]

yah, looks like he's remote more than present.

This is a public DG though, and while the OP and John may only go so deep, others could chime in.

Hasn't happened though so this indeed has turned out to be semi-useful.

I don't just post with the intent of immediate usefulness though. Others will read this in the future, and pick up on my tone of "the CUI system is a bear to deal with".

Keep up on your posts too Dean. Autodesk should have rewards points or something for your participation.

[Anonymous]

Yup -- I'm remote when I can't get back up with the guy having the problem. He's not my only problem child.

Just in case we can shotgun this thing, I have sent the customer the reset instructions. My concern is what happens when he tries to restore the migration information from the zip file - will we be back to square 1? Don't know.

Wasn't intentionally trying to be absent the discussion here, but nothing to add up to this point.

Thanks to all for your input on this topic -- still don't know what's going to happen.