AutoCADderSaturday, August 25, 2007
CommandComplete refreshes your memory
I usually don't use AutoCAD menus for the most frequent commands. Instead I type the command names or their aliases on commandline.
The TAB autocomplete key is a great timesaver for this. But sometimes you cannot remember how the command or variable name starts - and TAB won't help you in such case.
Now Autodesk Labs has released a small new utility - CommandComplete. It displays a small popup window with commands and variables while you type on your commandline. This window lists all commands and variables containing (anywhere) the letters you have typed so far. So e.g. "PALE" lists PALETTEOPAQUE, *_TOOLPALETTEPATH, TOOLPALETTES and other related commands and variables including their values and a short description.
As with all "Labs" tools, it is an experimental utility - there are currently some small problems when deleting already written characters and a more important problem that this utility offers only the English command names - even in localized AutoCAD. But you can easily edit the XML file containing the predefined names. And you can also add your own words - they don't need to be real commands - just any words you want to lookup when typing on the commandline.
See CommandComplete for more information.
The TAB autocomplete key is a great timesaver for this. But sometimes you cannot remember how the command or variable name starts - and TAB won't help you in such case.
Now Autodesk Labs has released a small new utility - CommandComplete. It displays a small popup window with commands and variables while you type on your commandline. This window lists all commands and variables containing (anywhere) the letters you have typed so far. So e.g. "PALE" lists PALETTEOPAQUE, *_TOOLPALETTEPATH, TOOLPALETTES and other related commands and variables including their values and a short description.
As with all "Labs" tools, it is an experimental utility - there are currently some small problems when deleting already written characters and a more important problem that this utility offers only the English command names - even in localized AutoCAD. But you can easily edit the XML file containing the predefined names. And you can also add your own words - they don't need to be real commands - just any words you want to lookup when typing on the commandline.
See CommandComplete for more information.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
AutoCAD 2008 compatibility
How compatible is AutoCAD 2008 with the older versions?
OK, the DWG files are compatible - that's important. AutoCAD 2008 still uses the DWG2007 format. It looks like the DWG file format is upgraded every 3rd AutoCAD release so we are safe for one more AutoCAD release (AutoCAD 2009 ?).
As for add-on applications it is more complicated. Generally, AutoCAD 2008 should run the 2007-versions of add-on applications. The 32-bit version of AutoCAD 2008 is binary compatible with AutoCAD 2007. VisualLISP, VBA, ActiveX and most ARX add-ons will probably run unmodified, there may be some problems with their installers.
With the 64-bit version of AutoCAD 2008, it is a different story. The LISP applications should still run fine. For VBA add-ons there is some workaround developed by Autodesk. ActiveX and ObjectARX applications need to be upgraded to work with AutoCAD 2008 64-bit.
OK, the DWG files are compatible - that's important. AutoCAD 2008 still uses the DWG2007 format. It looks like the DWG file format is upgraded every 3rd AutoCAD release so we are safe for one more AutoCAD release (AutoCAD 2009 ?).
As for add-on applications it is more complicated. Generally, AutoCAD 2008 should run the 2007-versions of add-on applications. The 32-bit version of AutoCAD 2008 is binary compatible with AutoCAD 2007. VisualLISP, VBA, ActiveX and most ARX add-ons will probably run unmodified, there may be some problems with their installers.
With the 64-bit version of AutoCAD 2008, it is a different story. The LISP applications should still run fine. For VBA add-ons there is some workaround developed by Autodesk. ActiveX and ObjectARX applications need to be upgraded to work with AutoCAD 2008 64-bit.
Labels: 64-bit, ARX, AutoCAD 2008, LISP, VBA
