Did any of you think the Insert Component and Insert Footprint dialog boxes seemed a bit nostalgic? (I like that term better than "old-fashioned" or "obsolete"; hmm... maybe that's why my wife refers to me as nostalgic.) Before AutoCAD® Electrical 2008, the interface was the pretty much the old style icon menu interface, a tool that had been replaced by toolbars, palettes, and other innovations. But in the 2008 release, the interface has been modernized and updated to provide a much easier way to select components and customize the menu system (see figure below).
The first thing you'll notice are the new images for the menu categories. One of the coolest changes is the ability to use PNG files for images; no longer are you restricted to using just SLD files. This means that the images you use for the menu commands can come from anywhere and can be created and edited using your favorite image capturing software. The world is your oyster, at least as far as images go.
For example, below is an image I use for my personal submenu of my racecar. (Before the season started.).
After the eye-catching images, the next thing you might notice is the tree structure on the left side of the dialog box. This tool allows you to navigate to the submenus and preview windows. You can toggle this off using the Menu button near the top of the dialog box.
And not to worry, all you DAT file editors, this new modernized interface still references the menu DAT file for the required menu information.
The Recently Used area is also improved over the old system. The former system, nicknamed "Dyna-stack," stored only the six most recently inserted components. The new system allows you to set the number of components you want listed, as shown below.
And in case you don't like the cool new images, you can also change the view of the menu system. You can change to icons only or to a list view that displays miniature icons and text, as shown below.
Tooltips are also available for each of the icons, displaying information such as the icon name and block/circuit/command names. See example below.
Icon Menu Wizard Enhancements
Probably the biggest changes are in the Icon Menu Wizard. The process of creating a new icon command is simplified and uses a very similar interface for inserting blocks, circuits, and commands. Most Windows-type functions and editing tools are now available, so you can now copy and paste and drag and drop icons to rearrange and customize the menu.
For example, using the drag and drop function, you can place commonly used icons together at the top of a menu page, as shown below.
Right-clicking now displays context menus from which you can modify existing commands and icons and create new ones as shown below.
Adding New Icons
Adding new icons to the menu is an easy and straightforward task. Icons can represent four different menu tasks:
- Insert a component
- Insert a circuit
- Execute a command sequence
- Display a submenu
The interface and the process involved to create a new icon are now very similar for all four types. The upper area of the Add Icon dialog box where you enter the name of the new icon and the image file to be used is the same for all types of icons. The only change in the interface is the bottom area of the dialog box where you enter the reference information for the icon
Add Icon has been simplified.
You use the following steps to create any new icon:
- Start the Icon Menu Wizard.
- Select the icon type to be created.
- Enter the name for the icon. This text appears under the icon image. If a submenu icon is being created, the name data is automatically copied to the Menu Title.
- Enter the image file to be used.
- You can browse to select and external file, such as a picture
- Pick an existing block in the current drawing to be used as the image,
- Use the entire active drawing as the image, or
- Create a new image file from the current screen image.
- Enter the reference information for the icon you are creating, such as command string, circuit file, or block name.
Really, that's all there is to it. Quick, simple, and easy menu editing. Now that you can customize the menu to match your company standards, you will be able to speed up otherwise mundane tasks and improve your design efficiency. And since you are now a custom programming guru, all that's left for you to do is ask for that raise. Good Luck!
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Submitted by Randy J. Brunette, owner of Brunette Technologies, LLC (www.brutec.us). Randy specializes in providing training, consulting, customization, and implementation services for AutoCAD Electrical software. He has been using Autodesk products since 1984 and AutoCAD Electrical since 1996.
