customizing
Bricscad

the best customizing and programming
reference ebook for Bricscad V8 - V9 -V10 - V11 - V12
by ralph grabowski

 

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Table of Contents
Customizing
Bricscad V8

About the Author
Ralph Grabowski


Sample Pages from V8 edition

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 Chapter 1

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 Chapter 2

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Chapter 3

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Chapter 4

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 Chapter 5

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 Chapter 6

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 Chapter 7

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 Chapter 8

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Chapter 9


 

 

Customizing Bricscad is the reference book for customizing and programming Bricscad. We have separate editions for each of Bricscad V8, V9, V10, V11, and V12. Each contains roughly the same contents, but has text and images specific to each version.

The ebook contians the following useful information, some of which is not available through Bricscad's online documentation.

  • Introduction to customizing.
  • Changing the Bricscad environment.
  • Using the Settings dialog box.
  • Using the Customize dialog box.
  • Aliases and keyboard shortcuts.
  • Toolbar modification and macros.
  • Menu customization and macros.
  • Custom linetypes.
  • Custom hatch patterns.
  • Custom shapes/fonts.
  • Creating complex linetypes.
  • Writing script files.
  • Introduction to LISP programming.
  • LISP function summary.
  • Understanding DXF.
  • Dabbling in Visual Basic for Applications -- code and forms.
  • Creating dialog boxes with DCL.
  • Complete DCL reference.
  • Writing DIESEL code.

The book features

  • Comments on AutoCAD compatibility.
  • Dozens and dozens of tips.
  • Illustrations in full color.
  • Windows Vista/7 screen grabs.
  • Formatted for printing on standard 8.5x11 paper.
  • Margins designed for three-hole punching. 

New! The V12 edition of the book features dual-OS support:

  • New chapter on Fields
  • New chapter on customizing mouse buttons
  • Updated text and figures for V12
  • Now 426 pages long
  • Covers Linux and Windows

ordering the book

To order the Customizing Bricscad e-book:

  • Sent to you by email in Acrobat PDF format: $40.00 (5.8MB download) .
  • Choose the editon suited to your version of Bricscad: V8, V9, V10, or V11. (Same price applies to each edition.)
  • Includes complimentary subscription to the upFront.eZine e-newsletter.

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Click the button below to purchase Customizing Bricscad V8:

 

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Click the button below to purchase Customizing Bricscad V10:

 

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Click the button below to purchase Customizing Bricscad V12:

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  • Canadian funds drawn on a bank in Canada (incl. GST).
  • Euro funds drawn on a bank in ECC.
  • British funds drawn on a bank in Great Britain.

By Mail
Make cheque, money order, or purchase order payable to "upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd." Include your email address, and specify which eidtion you prefer: V8, V9 , V10 , V11or V12

      "Customizing Bricscad"
      upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd.
      34486 Donlyn Avenue
      Abbotsford BC
      V2S 4W7     Canada


feedback

I welcome your feedback for correcting and improving the text. Send your email to grabowski@telus.net  

table of contents for V11 edition

 1 — introduction  to customizing bricscad

The Many Ways to Customizing, Which Customization?, The History of IntelliCAD, The IntelliCAD Technology Consortium, History of Bricscad,  What’s New in Bricscad V8, Drawing Explorer, Properties Bar, Settings Dialog Box, Tips for Bricscad Users.

2 — changing bricscad’s settings

Touring the Settings Dialog Box, Toolbar,  Categorized/Alphabetic,  Export,  Drawing/Dimensions/Program Options,  Find/Find Options, Accessing and Changing Values, Settings in Categorized Order, Drawing Section, Dimensions Section, Program Options Section, System Variables in Alphabetical Order.

3 — customizing bricscad’s environment

Starting Bricscad, Command Line Options, Command Line Switches, /b Switch, /l Switch, /s Switch, /p Switch, Regserver and Unregserver Switches, Changing User Interface Colors, Background Color, Cursor Color and Size, UI Parameters Controlled by Windows, Snap Cursor Options, Hyperlink Cursor Options, Support File Paths, Location of Preferences Files, Some Files Settings, Projects, Printer Support, Templates, Dictionaries, Log Files, File Dialogs Section.

4 — introducing the customize dialog

Touring the Customize Dialog Box, File Menu, Default Cui Content, CUI Customization File, Tabs, Shortcut Menus, Revert & Other Buttons, Tools Available in Bricscad — Menu Order, Tools Available in Bricscad — Alphabetical Order.

5 — customizing toolbars & buttons

Anatomy of a Toolbar, Customizing the Toolbars’ Looks, Rearranging Toolbars, Dragging & Moving Toolbars, Toggling the Display of Toolbars, Modifying Toolbars, Creating New Toolbars, Adding Controls, Flyouts, and Separators, Adding Controls (Droplists), Adding Flyouts, Adding Separators, Removing Buttons, Renaming, and Deleting Toolbars, Removing Buttons and Toolbars, Renaming Toolbars and Buttons, Customizing Buttons, Modifying Button Parameters, Title and Help, Command, Anatomy of a Toolbar Button, Image.

6 — customizing menus

Modifying the Menu Bar, Understanding Menu Title Conventions, Shortcut - &, Dialog Box - ..., Editing Macros, Cancel - ^c, Transparent - ', Internationalize - _, Enter - ;, Pause - \, Editing the Help String, Adding Menu Items, Deleting Menu Items, Adding New Tools, Append vs Insert, Creating Context Menus, Sharing Menus, Importing AutoCAD Menus.

7 — writing macros & diesel code

Single Command Macros, Accessing Macros in Bricscad, Transparent Macros, Dashed Commands, Command Options & User Input, Command Options, Pausing for User Input, Combining Options and Pauses, Other Control Keys, Menu-Specific Macros, Diesel Code, About Diesel, Toggling Checkmarks, Toggling Grayouts, Reporting Values of System Variables, Applying Sysvars Everywhere, Formatting Diesel, Formatting Numbers and Angles, Formatting Text, Variables in Diesel, Catalog of Diesel Functions, Math Functions, Logic Functions, Summary of Diesel Functions in Bricscad, Conversion Functions, String Functions, System Functions, Diesel Programming Tips, Debugging Diesel, ModeMacro: Displaying Text on the Status Bar.

8 — creating keystroke shortcuts, aliases, & shell commands

New in Bricscad V8, Summary of Shortcut Keys, Defining Shortcut Keys, Editing & Deleting Keyboard Shortcuts, Assigning Multiple Commands, Command Aliases, Creating New Aliases, Editing & Deleting Aliases, Bricscad Aliases: Sorted by Alias Name, Bricscad Aliases: Sorted by Command Name, Alias Rules, Shell Commands, Editing Shell Commands.

9 — simple & complex linetypes

Simple and Complex Linetypes, Commands Affecting Linetypes, System Variables Affecting Linetypes, The Special Case of Polylines, Compatibility with AutoCAD, Customizing Linetypes, At the Command Prompt, Testing the New Linetype, Creating Linetypes with Text Editors, Linetype Format (.lin), Line 1: Header, Line 2: Data, Complex (2D) Linetypes, Embedding Text in Linetypes, Text, Text Style, Text Scale, Text Rotation, Absolute, X and Y Offset, Linetypes Included with Bricscad V8, Contents of the default.lin File, Contents of the iso.lin File.

10 — patterning hatches

Where Do Hatch Patterns Come From?, How Hatch Patterns Work, System Variables that Control Hatches, Compatibility with AutoCAD, Creating Custom Hatch Patterns, -Hatch Command, Hatch Command, Understanding the .pat Format, Comment and Header Lines, Comment, Start of Definition, Pattern Name, Description, The Hatch Data, Angle, xOrigin and yOrigin, xOffset and yOffset, Dash1,..., Adding Samples to the Hatch Palette, Tips on Creating Pattern Codes, Contents of the default.pat File.

11 — decoding shapes & fonts

Fonts, Complex Linetypes, and Shapes, Fonts, About Fonts in Bricscad, Complex Linetypes, Shapes, GD&T, Shape Compatibility with AutoCAD, About Shape Files, The Shape File Format, Header Fields, Definition Start, shapeNumber, totalBytes, shapeName, Definition Lines, bytes, Vector Codes, Instruction Codes, End of Shape - 0/000, Draw Mode - 1/001, 2/002: Move Mode -, Reduced Scale - 3/003, Enlarged Scale - 4/004, Save (Push) - 5/005, Recall (Pop) - 6/006, Subshape - 7/007, X,y Distance - 8/008, X,y Distances - 9/009, Octant Arc - 10/00A, Fractional Arc - 11/ 00B, Bulge Arc - 12/00C, Polyarc - 13/00D, Flag Vertical Text Flag - 14/00E.

12 — writing scripts

What are Scripts?, Drawbacks to Scripts, Strictly Command-Line Oriented, Script Commands and Modifiers, Script, RScript, Resume, Delay, Special Characters, Enter - (space), Comment - ;, Transparent - ', Pause - Backspace, Stop - esc, Recording Scripts.

13 — lisp programming

The History of LISP in Bricscad, Compatibility between LISP and AutoLISP, Additional LISP Functions, Different LISP Functions, Missing AutoLISP Functions, The LISP Programming Language, Simple LISP: Adding Two Numbers, LISP in Commands, Remembering the Result: setq, LISP Function Overview, Math Functions, Geometric Functions, Distance Between Two Points, The Angle from 0 Degrees, The Intersection of Two Lines, Entity Snaps, Conditional Functions, Other Conditionals, String and Conversion Functions, Joining Strings of Text, Converting Between Text and Numbers, Other Conversion Functions, External Command Functions, Command Function Limitation, Accessing System Variables, GetXXX Functions, Selection Set Functions, Entity Manipulation Functions, Advanced LISP Functions, Writing a Simple LISP Program, Why Write a Program?, The Id Command, The Plan of Attack, Obtaining the Coordinates, Placing the Text, Putting It Together, Adding to the Simple LISP Program, Conquering Feature Bloat, Wishlist Item #1: Naming the Program, Defining the Function - defun, Naming the Function - C:, Local and Global Variables - /, Wishlist Item #2: Saving the Program, Wishlist Item #3: Automatically Loading the Program, Wishlist #4: Using Car and Cdr, Saving Data to Files, The Three Steps, Step 1: Open the File, Step 2: Write Data to the File, Step 3: Close the File, Putting It Together, Wishlist #5: Layers, Wishlist #6: Text Style, Tips in Using LISP, Tip #1. Use an ASCII Text Editor., Tip #2: Loading LSP Code into Bricscad, Tip #3: Toggling System Variables, Tip #4: Be Neat and Tidy., Tip #5: UPPER vs. lowercase, Tip # 6: Quotation Marks as Quotation Marks, Tip #7: Tabs and Quotation Marks.

14 — dialog boxes with dcl

History of DCL, What Dialog Boxes Are Made Of, How DCL Operates, Your First DCL File, DCL Programming Structure, Start Dialog Box Definition, Dialog Box Title, OK Button, The Default Tile, Summary of DCL Metacharacters, LISP Code to Load and Run Dialog Boxes, Testing the DCL Code, Displaying System Variable Data, Adding the Complimentary LISP Code, Clustering Text, Supplying the Variable Text, Leaving Room for Variable Text, Fixing the Button Width, Centering the Button, Testing the Dialog Box, Defining the Command, Examples of DCL Coding, Buttons, Making Buttons Work, Check Boxes, Radio Buttons, Clusters, Columns and Rows, Boxed Row, Boxed Row with Label, Special Tiles for Radio Buttons, Debugging DCL, Dcl_Settings, DCL Error Messages, Semantic error(s) is DCL file, Dialog has neither an OK nor a CANCEL button, Error in dialog file "filename.dcl", line n, Dialog too large to fit on screen, Additional Resources.

14 — dabbling in vba

Introduction to VBA, Format of VBA Programs, Accessing VBA Programs, Embedded or External, Sending Commands, Writing and Running VBA Routines, Displaying Messages, Constructing Dialog Boxes, Object Orientation, Object Browser, Bricscad V8 Object Model (Preliminary), Line Entity, Properties, Methods, Events, Dialog Box with Code, Designing the Dialog Box, Adding the Code, Clicking Cancel, LastInput.Dvb, Conversion Routines, PointToString Conversion Function, VBA Data Types, VBA Variable Declarations, VBA Predefined Constants, sPt = StringFromValueFixedDecimal(vIn(0), iPrecision) & “, “, VBA Shortcut References, VBA Data Type Return Values, PointToString = sPt, StringToPoint Conversion Function, VBA String Manipulation, tmpPt(0) = Val(sCoords(0)), Loading and Running LastInput.Dvb.

 

appendices

a — concise system variable reference  

b — concise dcl reference

Alphabetical Summary of DCL Tiles, Alphabetical Summary of DCL Attributes, Tile Reference, Base.Dcl, LISP Functions for Dialog Boxes.

c — concise lisp reference

LISP Function Summary, VLisp (VL) Function Summary, VLISP-ActiveX (VLAX) Function Summary, VLISP (VLR) Reactor Function Summary.

 


about the author

Ralph Grabowski has authored and co-authored 140+ books and ebooks on CAD management, ArchiCAD, AutoCAD, Generic CADD, IntelliCAD, MicroStation, TurboCAD, VDraft, Visio, HTML, and VRML.

Mr Grabowski received his B.A.Sc ('80) degree in civil engineering from the University of British Columbia. He currently works and lives in the beautiful Central Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, Canada.

You can visit his Web site at www.upfrontezine.com.


opyright 2010 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide.