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Tailoring IntelliCAD 5 is the e-book by Ralph Grabowski for customizing IntelliCAD
5. The 200-page e-book is available in Adobe
Acrobat
(PDF) format only, via email or on CD.
This e-book is based on the popular Tailoring
AutoCAD series, and is revised
for IntelliCAD with this material:
- Introduction to customizing.
- Changing the IntelliCAD environment.
- Aliases
and keyboard shortcuts.
- Toolbar modification and macros.
- Menu customization and macros.
- Custom linetypes.
- Custom hatch patterns.
- Custom shapes/fonts.
- Creating complex linetypes.
- Layer status.
- Documentation of .txt
layer status file format.
- Writing script files.
- Introduction to LISP programming.
- Understanding DXF.
The book features
- Exclusive! Export file
formats (.ica, .ick, .icm., mnu) documented.
- Comments on AutoCAD compatibility.
- Dozens and dozens of tips.
- Illustrations in
full color.
- Formatted for printing on standard 8.5x11 paper.
- Margins designed for three-hole punching.
ordering the book
To order
the Tailoring
IntelliCAD e-book:
-
Web Download
Price: Sent
to you by
email in Acrobat PDF format: US$20.00 (5.1MB download)
- On CD in
Acrobat PDF format: US$25.00 (incl. shipping).
- Add US$25 for CD delivery by FedEx.
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Make
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By Mail
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feedback
I welcome
your feedback for correcting and improving the text. Send your
email to grabowski@telus.net
table of contents
introduction
The Many Ways to Customizing.
Which Customization?
The History of IntelliCAD. Visio
Acquires IntelliCAD. IntelliCAD Goes Free, Sort Of. The IntelliCAD
Technology Consortium.
Tips for IntelliCAD Users. User
Interface. Command Bar. Changing the Prompt Text. Prompt Box. Realtime
Pan and Zoom. User Interface Elements. Skill Level. Backgound Color.
Drawing and Editing. Quick Changes to Properties. Copying Entities
Between Drawings. Drag and Drop Launching. Drawing from the Last
Entity. Previewing Blocks. On-the-fly Ortho Drawing. Special Polyline
Operations. Bisecting. Exploding Objects. Arcs to Circles. Lines
and Arcs. Hatch Style. Sketch Editing. Set Layer Current. Miscellaneous.
Automatic Script Recording. Sources of Help.
1: customizing the environment
Starting IntelliCAD. Command
Line Options. /b Switch.
Changing Colors. Background Color.
Cursor Color.
Support File Paths. Search Path Options.
Drawings. Fonts. Help. Xrefs. Menus. Hatch Patterns. Blocks. Default
System File Names. Log File. Template. Alternate Font. Font Mapping.
Fly-over Snapping.
2: command aliases
Shortcut Keys. Defining
Shortcut Keys. Editing & Deleting Keyboard Shortcuts. Assigning
Multiple Commands.
Command Aliases. Creating a New Alias.
Editing & Deleting Aliases. Alias Rules.
Sharing Shortcuts.
Exporting Shortcuts. Importing Shortcuts.
File Formats.
Keystroke Shortcuts - .ick. nAccelKeys. Command. Accel. Aliases
- .ica. nAliases. Alias. LocalCommand and GlobalCommand
3: toolbar macros
Customizing the Toolbar Look.
Rearranging Toolbars. Dragging & Moving Toolbars. Toggling the
Display of Toolbars.
Creating a New Toolbar. Renaming
Toolbars. Changing Button Size, Color, and Tooltips.
Writing
Toolbar Macros. Simple Macros. Intermediate Macros. Toolbar
Macros Are No Panacea.
Sharing Toolbars. Saving Toolbars.
Importing Toolbars.
.ict File Format. General Format.
Toolbar Format. ***TOOLBARS. **name. TBAR_name. _Toolbar. "titleBar".
defaultPosition. defaultVisibility. xCoord and yCoord. rows. Button
Format. ID_cmdName. _Button. cmdName. smallIcon. largeIcon. macro.
Flyout Button Format. _Flyout. _otherIcon. TBAR_name. Help String
Format. ***HELPSTRINGS. TBAR_name [name]. ID_cmdName. [helpString]
4: customizing menus
Modifying the Menu Bar.
Editing the Name. Underline - &. Dialog Box - . . .. Tab Separator
- \t. New... and Ctrl+N. Editing the Macro. Cancel - ^C. Transparent
- '. Internationalize - _. Enter - ;. Pause - \. Editing the Help
String. Changing Options. Experience Level. MDI Window. ActiveX
In-Place Activation. Checked-State and Grayed-Stated Variables.
Value - &. Not - !. Context Menu Entity Availability. Miscellaneous.
Adding New Menu Items. Deleting a Menu Item.
Sharing
Menus. Importing AutoCAD Menus.
Menu File Format. nMenuItems.
Name. &. . . .. \t. TearOffName. Command. Cancel - ^C. Internationalize
- _. Enter - ;. Pause - \. Visibility. Experience Level. MDI Window.
ActiveX In-Place Activation. Other. HelpString. SubLevel. AddSpacerBefore.
EntityVisibility. ChekVar. GrayVar. Value - &. Not - !
5: linetypes
Commands Affecting Linetypes.
System Variables that Affect Linetypes. The Special Case of Polylines.
Compatibility with AutoCAD.
Customizing Linetypes. IntelliCAD
Explorer. Editing the Linetype Definition. Deleting Linetype Definitions.
At the Command Prompt. Testing the New Linetype.
Creating
Linetypes with Text Editors. The Linetype Format. Line1: Header.
Line 2: Data.
Complex (2D) Linetypes. Embedding a Shape.
3D Linetypes.
6: hatch patterns
Where Do Hatch Patterns Come
From?
Creating Custom Hatch Patterns. Hatch Command. BHatch
Command.
Understanding the icad.pat File. Comment and
Header Lines. The Hatch Data. Tips on Creating Pattern Codes
Adding
Custom Patterns to the Palette. Creating a Sample Hatch Pattern.
Creating the Slide.
Hatch Pattern Samples. Standard Hatch
Patterns. ISO Hatch Patterns.
7: shapes & fonts
About Shape Files. Font
Compatibility with AutoCAD.
The Shape File Format. Header
Fields. Definition Lines. Vector Codes. Instruction Codes. 0/000:
End of Shape. 1/001: Draw Mode. 2/002: Move Mode. 3/003: Reduced
Scale. 4/004: Enlarged Scale. 5/005: Save (Push). 6/006: Recall
(Pop). 7/007: Subshape. 8/008: X,y Distance. 9/009: X,y Distances.
10/00A: Octant Arc. 11/ 00B: Fractional Arc. 12/00C: Bulge Arc.
13/00D: Polyarc. 14/00E: Flag Vertical Text Flag.
8: script files
What are Scripts? Drawbacks
to Scripts. Strictly Command-Line Oriented.
Script Commands and
Modifiers. Script. RScript. Resume. Delay. Special Characters. (space).
; (semi-colon), ' (apostrophe). Backspace. Esc.
Recording
Scripts.
9: lisp programming
The History of LISP in IntelliCAD.
Compatibility between LISP and LISP. Additional LISP Functions.
Different LISP Functions. Missing LISP 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.
Wishlist Item #2: Saving
the Program. Wishlist Item #3: Automatically Loading the Program.
Wishlist #4: Using Car and Cdr.
Saving Data to a File.
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
IntelliCAD. Tip #3: Toggling System Variables. Tip #4: Be Neat and
Tidy. Tip #5: Read-Write-Append File. Tip # 6: Quotation Marks as
Quotation Marks. Tip #7: Tabs and Quotation Marks.
10: Understanding DXF
References; Introduction,
DWG and DXF File Formats, Miscellaneous Comments.
DXF Format,
Header Section of DXF Files, Object Properties,
Group Codes,
HEADER Section, Version Numbers, CLASSES Section, TABLES Section,
BLOCKS Section, ENTITIES Section, OBJECTS Section, THUMBNAILIMAGE
Section, EOF.
about the author
Ralph Grabowski
has authored and co-authored 70+ books on CAD management, ArchiCAD, AutoCAD,
Generic CADD, IntelliCAD, MicroStation, TurboCAD,
VDraft, Visio, HTML, and VRML. He is the editor of two e-newsletters,
upFront.eZine
and IMAGINiT.eZine.
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.
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