Adding custom items to annotation panel

[MuirEng]

ok, I'm a bit stuck, could use a hint

I work in the electrical workspace. In the annotate menu there are a bunch of ribbon panels including "scheduling"

That panel includes "tag", "schedules", and "panel schedules". Each of those contains drop downs that access stock MEP items in those categories. 

(see screen shot)

This is not at all useful to me, because like most of you I've tossed out all the out of the box elements and replaced them with ones that are functional and look decent when plotted.

Can anyone tell me how to make this panel point to my stuff, instead of out of the box stuff. Or, if necessary, how to replace this panel with my own that in turn points to my stuff?

I've read up on partial customizaton files and it sounds like that is the best place to set this up but I don't understand how to attack the problem. I think maybe I need to create custom toobars, with one tool per item of interest, and then convert that toolbar to a ribbon panel? But if correct, I don't know how to create a tool that points to a tag or schedule.

I do know how to put all these items on a tool pallete, can I move them from there somehow to the ribbon?

thanks!

[Victoria.Studley]

Hi @MuirEng,

Thank you for posting your question here. I haven't found a way to do this by editing your CUI. However, I can recommend a couple of alternatives to allow you to quickly access your own custom styles:

• Customize the equivalent tools on the Electrical > Tags and Schedules tool palette.
• You can do this by right-clicking any tool you'd like to adjust. Then select your custom style and save the tool.
• Once you have a set of tools that suit your needs, use the Content Browser to save them to a catalog so that you can easily access and share them.

     

[Victoria.Studley]

Hi @MuirEng,

I'm checking in to find out: Did the suggestion I provided yesterday help you access your custom styles a bit easier?

[MuirEng]

Hi, yes, thank you. Your answer is helpful, but I think you'll agree it is a workaroud, and not a solution to the problem I raised.

I think it is quite annoying that the scheduling tool on the ribbon is hard coded and essentially use useless. I'll add this to long list of things I would like to see changed but that probably won't be.

But thank you for your time in responding!

I'll follow your advice here

[Keith.Brown]

Hi, The answer is in the ribbon tool itself.

If you look at the macro assigned to the ribbon button you will see that it is using the AECRIBBONTOOL.  All it does is call the name of a tool on a palette.  So just put your schedule on a palette and then use the ribbon tool to call its name.  You can even use the ribbon tool on the command line. One thing to note is that I used to have to close out of autocad and then reopen it once i created the new ribbon button in order to get it to work.  This might be fixed in later releases as I am still working in 2015.  Or it might have just been user error on my part.  One last thing.  I would follow what autodesk did and put all of your tools that you plan to use on the ribbon on a single palette and hide it.  Also call out the name with the ribbon keyword similar to how autodesk did it.

I have used this method to put all of my schedules, mvparts, etc on a ribbon for easy retrieval.

Hopefully this helps.

[MuirEng]

Hi Keith,

I've been away, back now, and would like to say thanks for your reply. I'll give this a go.

[MuirEng]

So I'm having loads of fun with this. I have a couple of toolpalletes loaded with the items I want to access easily, but my next problem is that AECRIBBONTOOL immediately crashes AutoCAD as soon as  toolpallete is specified. Behavour is repeatible across versions 2015 and 2016 and it doesn't seem to care what pallete I select.

I logged a case for the issue, but if anyone has any ideas please let me know. 

[MuirEng]

Hi Keith,

I'm forging ahead and trying to figure out the syntax of using the ribbon to call the schedule out of the pallete. So far all I get is "the tool cannot be found in the current workspace" when I click the ribbon tool.

referring to your screenshot....

command display name isn't important, right? (when I click on this a note appears at the bottom of the screen indicating that this field "specifies how the command will be displayed in the command line section of the tool tip"). So I don't think my problem is related to this field.

This leaves only the macro field.

There is no help anywhere for the AECRIBBON tool so I am guessing a bit here on the syntax.

My pallete is called ME_Tags and the schedule is called "Three Phase Panel"

I've tried:

^C^C_AecRibbonTool ME_Tags - ribbon; 

^C^C_AecRibbonTool Three Phase Panel - ribbon;

and even

^C^C_AecRibbonTool ME_Tags Three Phase Panel - ribbon;

but all result in the same "not found message"

It seems to me that the proper syntax should call both the name of the pallete and then the name of the item on the pallete should it not?

hints?

[Keith.Brown]

You don't need the name of the palette.  Just the name of the tool should suffice.  If you look at the picture below you should understand it.  The name has to be exact.  I would suggest right clicking on the tool and going to properties and copy/pasting.

Also after you make the tool, shut down autocad and restart and then try it.

[Keith.Brown]

FYI..  I just created one in 2016 with no issues.  I had to restart AutoCAD MEP in order for it to work correctly however.  Once i rebooted the software and selected the tool it worked just as expected.

[MuirEng]

Thanks Keith,

I tried copy/paste from the tool into the CUI and still get the same tool not found in current workspace error. AutoCAD shut down/restarted prior to test.

Here are some screen shots... do you see anything obvious I might be missing?

perhaps I need to solve the AECRIBBONTOOL crash problem first?

[Keith.Brown]

According to your picture the name of your tool is "Three Phase Panel" but yet in the CUI you are using the ribbon tool to call "Three Phase Panel - ribbon".  Your tool name does not have the " - ribbon" after it so there is no need to add it to the command

You should be able to test it before you add it to the cui by typing AECRIBBONTOOL at the command line and entering the name of your tool.  Once you have that working just copy it to the ribbon.

That being said the name of your tool in the cui does not match the name of the tool on the ribbon which is your problem.

Dont forget to restart AutoCAD once you make the change.

[MuirEng]

Hi Keith,

I think I am getting a bit closer but still having some issues.

I have the command line working now, so when I type in AECRIBBONTOOL and respond to the prompt"AECRIBBONTOOL named:" with "ME_TAG_CIRCUIT" then I get my circuit tag, and and I can click the device and all is well. The behaviour is the same as if I selected this tag it from the pallette, which is of course the idea.

So all that is left to do is use CUI and set it up so the ribbon calls the AECRIBBONTOOL command as we have been discussing.

But, it doesn't seem to work and I can't figure out why not!

If you don't mind I'd like to walk you through exactly what is going on

When I click the tag out of the ribbon...

The command window displays this:

But nothing is happening, so I need to hit return.

Then I get a "Tool cannot be found in the current workspace" error. Doh!

Here is the matching CUI entry:

Do you have any ideas?

Thanks for all the hand holding!

[MuirEng · Accepted solution]

Ok, I got a bit of help from Dave Pothier at Autodesk.

To make this work the ribbon macro needs a semicolon and then a space after the name of the tool,

i.e. ^C^C AECRIBBONTOOL TOOLNAME;<space>

where <space> is a single blank character

Full story, if you want to make your tools avaiable from the ribbon:

1) load them on to a tool pallete

2) check from command line by typing AECCRIBBONTOOL and then the name of the tool

3) if that works, then open CUI, navigate to the panel of interest (in my case annotate - scheduling - MEP - electric)

4) find the GUI element you want to change. Enter description and then the macro ^C^C AECRIBBONTOOL, the name of your tool, and then add "; "

5) exit CUI, give it a try

I found I did not need to restart AutoCAD but if it doesn't work try that first.

Big thanks to Keith for all his help on this one.