AUGIWorld Magazine - March/April 2008 - (Page 11) tabs are visible on the ribbon is controlled through the current workspace, but ribbon panels can also come and go based on what you are doing in AutoCAD as well. If you used AutoCAD 2007 or 2008, you are most likely familiar with the Dashboard palette. The Dashboard palette has been reborn as the ribbon in AutoCAD 2009, so the ribbon, like its predecessor, can also be docked vertically along the edge of AutoCAD in addition to its default location along the top. they did in previous releases with some additional enhancements, such as the Object Snap button, which now allows you to select different object snaps from a menu. There are also a number of new buttons, which allow you to navigate named views and layouts in a drawing, switch to a different open drawing, and access some of the available navigation tools. If you feel the need to reminisce and wish to revisit the way a previous release of AutoCAD looked, you can click the Workspace Switching icon on the right side of the status bar and then choose AutoCAD Classic. The AutoCAD Classic feature will restore the menu bar and the use of toolbars, and suppress the display of the ribbon. One of the key features of AutoCAD has been its ability to be customized and to use a variety of programming languages to automate repetitive tasks. With AutoCAD 2006 came the Customize User Interface Editor which, as the name imFigure 2: Menu browser allows you to access menus, open drawings, plies, enabled AutoCAD and view recent documents and actions. users to customize the user interface. The red letter “A” is not just part of AutoCAD 2009 takes this same approach AutoCAD’s new décor. It is the Menu by allowing users who do not know how to Browser button and it allows you to access create scripts, write AutoLISP programs, the menu browser, which provides access to or program with C++ and ObjectARX to some new features and the menus that were create custom programs that can be used once displayed along the top of AutoCAD. to automate repetitive tasks. From the menu browser (Figure 2), you AutoCAD 2009 introduces a feature can access the menus that once appeared called the Action Recorder (Figure 3), on AutoCAD’s menu bar and you can also access the currently open drawings, the drawings that were recently opened, and the recent commands that you have used. To the right of the menu browser is a small toolbar known as the Quick Access toolbar. This toolbar allows you to access a set of tools regardless of whether you are using the new or “classic” interface that AutoCAD has to offer. In addition to the introduction of the menu browser, Quick Access toolbar, and the rebirth of the Dashboard palette as the ribbon, the status bar has gone fully graphical with AutoCAD 2009. Gone are the days of the text SNAP, GRID, and OSNAP, among others, that we have grown to love. In their place are some new shiny buttons. The buttons on the status bar work just like Figure 3: Action Recorder panel. M a r/A p r 2 0 0 8 Let your actions do your work which allows you to record the commands and input that you want to be able to play back at a later time. There is no special programming language that you need to learn or additional software to purchase. The Action Recorder works much like a digital video recorder that you use for recording your favorite TV programs. In AutoCAD, you click the Record button and then use the commands just as you normally would to create and modify objects. Once you are done recording the series of commands and input, you stop recording and save the recorded actions to an action macro file. After an action macro file is created, you can then play back the recorded commands and input in the current drawing or a different drawing. Recorded input values can be edited to request user input during playback and you can insert user messages that can be used to display information about the action macro during playback. After you set up the action macro file so it behaves the way you want it to, it can be placed in a shared location so all the drafters in your company can use it. Object information, just a mouse away Being able to uncover information about an object in a design is invaluable. AutoCAD 2009 makes it easier than ever to see the current properties of an object through the use of rollover tooltips and the Quick Properties panel. Rollover tooltips appear when the cursor is positioned over an object in the drawing. With the rollover tooltips, you can see some of the current properties of the object below the crosshairs. Out-of-the-box, rollover tooltips display the type of object highlighted, its color, layer, and linetype. Figure 4 shows the default rollover tooltip for a 3D solid object. Figure 4: Which layer is that object on? Rollover tooltips can tell you. The Quick Properties panel is another new interface element. It is context-sensitive and will remind you of the Properties palette, but it is smaller and customizable. When Quick Properties is enabled and an 11
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