Autocad Taskbar Command
Arnaude Kubiak
I have Windows 10, and my setting are such that a opened window, the button shows only on the task bar on that monitor. all my programs follow this, except AutoCAD, it always show the button on the main monitor, regardless of what monitor the autoCAD session is opened on. Any fixes?
Running 2 monitors. I like my taskbar tabs with labels and individual open files with a new tab, so I can see all I'm working on. I typically keep everything else on the left side (primary), and my Autocad on the right side (secondary). So I have space to for my multiple drawings to fill up.
I notice the splash screen still opens on the left, so I think the core of Autocad is still programmed to be on the left. Same with new toolbars, they end up on the left monitor, often beneath other apps.
AutoCAD has the TASKBAR command (or rather sysvar). If its value is 0, then there's only one AutoCAD icon in the taskbar of the monitor the application lives in. If its value is 1, then there are as many AutoCAD icons as the number of currently open drawings, BUT always in the MAIN taskbar. AFAIK, there's not way to change this behavior other than the TASKBAR sysvar.
To prevent this in the first place, you can set the system variable PLINEGEN to a value of 1, and the broken linetype of your polyline will appear properly as you create it without the need to fix it afterwards.
Expanding on the theme of your drawing with an identity crisis, was there ever a time when you tried to INSERT, XREF, or PASTE something into your current drawing file, but the item you were importing was scaled either too big or too small? Even if the UNITS (et. al.) between both the source file and destination file were the same (i.e., millimeters to millimeters, inches to inches, etc.) nothing comes in to the correct scale. Chances are either the source file or the destination file may be having an identity crisis.
In the old days, if you wanted to duplicate an existing block definition that required subtle differences, the method was to INSERT the block, EXPLODE it, make the unique changes to its geometry, and then define a new block. This method worked well, but in the advent of Dynamic Blocks, this method became a problem because once you exploded the block, it would lose its Dynamic Properties.
So, to duplicate a block definition without destroying its Dynamic Properties, first use the BEDIT command to open the desired block in the Block Editor to duplicate in your current drawing. Then before making any modifications, use the BSAVEAS command and save it as a new block name when prompted.
Take note that once you define the new block name, you will still be in the block editor environment and editing the new block you just created. The block definition you originally opened is still safe and sound. Now simply make the desired changes and exit the block editor accordingly.
CLASSICLAYER (command): As with the previous two commands listed above, you will get a dialog box to manipulate layers. Another option is to set the system variable LAYERDLGMODE to a value of 1, and the LAYER command goes from using a palette interface to that of an old fashioned dialog box.
First option: Look at the UNDO icon on the Quick Access toolbar. You should see a small pull-down menu arrow, and if you click on it, a pull-down window will appear listing all the commands you recently used up to that point. Simply select the particular command that you want to UNDO to, and your editing session will undo everything back to that point.
Second option: An UNDO trick that goes way back is you can enter the specific number of steps to UNDO. Simply enter the UNDO command, and then enter a desired number (e.g., 20) and the UNDO command will then undo the last 20 commands.
Over the years, Autodesk has created several ways to open your drawings quickly (e.g., double-clicking a drawing file, drag-n-drop a drawing file, pinning drawing files to the taskbar, etc.), but many users are still content with just using the old fashioned OPEN command. However, these users will attest that it can take time to navigate through your company servers to find the right project folder on the right designated drive. For example, a company may arrange its servers with several drives and folders in order to arrange them for specific tasks (e.g., active projects, archived projects, branch office servers, etc).
So I like how windows will now group like programs/folders together in one icon in the taskbar. ie you have multiple firefox windows open, they all get grouped together. Once you hover over them though the group expands showing small previews of the different windows so you can choose which one you want to bring to the front.
For some reason my capslock script breaks this intermittently. I will hover like usual and the preview will show up but then it will disappear a split second later. I will then have to hover again and it will work normally... So not a huge issue but again its grating when trying to work and you have to perform an action twice everytime you want to navigate to another window.
I have several other scripts going and thru process of elimination found it to be this one. Fixed when not running. Problem still occurs when it is the ONLY one running. So I know its not a conflict between scripts.
DEBUG* To consistently get the problem to show itself I found that I must switch between programs that are on the list and those that are not; by clicking thru the task bar icons at which point if I hover it will do its disappearing act. For debug purposes add < Untitled - Notepad, > to the list (without the < >) so you get one that activates the capslock switch.
Script was created to control my capslock state when going between different programs. My job has me typing a lot in CAPS and its usually within the same programs over and over. SWITCHING TO AN EMAIL AND GETTING HALFWAY THRU only to realize I still had capslock on was annoying to say the least. So my first attempt at a serious AHK script began. Thanks for looking!
I let the first SetCapsLockState, On destroy the preview. Then I moused over the group again. Interestingly, the preview was not destroyed on the second SetCapsLockState, On. But change that second SCLS to Off, and it does get destroyed.
The way I would treat this is figure out some way to know if you're currently mousing over windows or not. MouseGetPos should let you know what control you're mousing over and of course the X and Y coordinates. You can probably create some check to make sure that the Control it's moused over is *not* the preview or the program icons in the taskbar, and then allow the SetCapsLockState command to be executed.
So if I were to set a dead zone that was the height and width of the task bar that would kind of solve my problem. Its kind of a tricky solution because I don't want to include the zone where the preview is(as I may mouse over that in a window to type). Or I may accidentally leave my mouse in that zone. Also tricky because I use a dual monitor setup with different resolutions... So that doesn't seem like a good solution.
Do you have any suggestions on how my script operates? Is there another way to detect that I have changed windows? I wrote it this way because there were times that it 'misses' me switching from one window to another, so I'd start typing and thEN IT WOULD SWITCH. This iteration solves that problem(mostly, occasionally when low on system resources it will miss the first letter or two).
Now my last problem lies in the physical clicking of the icons to bring up the previews. The 1/2 of a second(when just hovering) wait for the preview is too long for me sometimes when I'm working on drawings and parts lists. I don't have time to work on it today until I get a few things done. But I have an idea for a solution. Tell me what you think.
The problem lies in the clicking of a different program group, it brings the window to the front but not really... Because if you move the mouse away it will go back to the previously active window. So windows tricks AHK into thinking it has changed the active window when it really hasn't because I haven't selected one of the preview windows. With me so far?
My idea for a solution is to create a dead zone(like I mused before) that any clicks that happen within the area of the taskbar will skip around the part of my code that stores the window title/class information. So until later shoot me your ideas, and thinks again!
If you have allowed AutoCAD to migrate your settings (I never do), some of the above will already be done for you, but by no means all of it. If past experience is anything to go by, the job done by Migration will probably be imperfect.
Let me just end by saying that Autodesk generally does an excellent job of keeping long-term AutoCAD users happy by allowing them to keep working in the way that they prefer. There are exceptions, and this record has been damaged slightly by 2012, but conservative users are still better off with new releases of AutoCAD than they are with, say, Microsoft Word.
Hi Steve
Just a quick question , I have been trying to solve.
my layout number has stopped auto updating in 2012.
I have checked fieldeval is 31
and demandload is set to 3
I remember fixing this before but i forgot and am getting impatient with this .
Please any help would be highly appreciated
When I purge a drawing, the history window expands and stays expanded until I use another command but will not go away when using the plot command. Is there a way to stop the history window from expanding?
I have been using AutoCAD for years but the last version I used was CAD 2004 and unfortunately I havent had access to CAD for two years since then. I got my hands on a 2012 trial version so that I could catch up and I find the whole thing extremely frustrating!
When selecting an object before clicking/typing the command the object stays selected when the command is finished. When clicking the command before selecting the object, it gets deselected when the command is finished.
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