CHAPTER 26 - Customization



Customizing DataCAD

DataCAD PREFERENCES

While DataCAD is running, and a drawing file is open, go to the Windows drop-down menus and select Tools/Program Preferences. A dialog box with five tabs appears. Each tab has a series of options to allow you to determine how DataCAD operates, and how it looks.

Misc

As the name suggests, this tab has a number of miscellaneous options within it. As with the paths on the previous tab, these options are automatically filled in when you first install DataCAD, but later you may want to change some of them.

Default Drawing File:

The .DC5 drawing file shown in this window will be the default drawing that DataCAD uses every time you start a new drawing file. When you click on the down-arrow to the right of the white box, the name of every .DC5 file in that default directory is shown.

Leaving the Use Default Dwg box checked will force DataCAD to default to using the drawing shown in the box below. If you un-check the box then DataCAD will use its default settings to create new drawing files, and will not use any of the default drawings in the \Default directory.

Shader Window / Background Color:

This is the color that DataCAD will use for the background behind your 3D model when the GLShader option is clicked in the 3D menu. To change the color just click on the colored horizontal bar and the standard Windows color picker dialog box will appear. Pick a new color then select OK. The horizontal bar in DataCAD will change to match that color.

PgUp/PgDn In Text Menu:

When this option is checked, PgUp and PgDn change the current plotting scale in the Text menu. When un-checked, while in the Text menu the Drawing Window will zoom in and out when PgUp or PgDn are pressed. We like to leave it UN-checked. This setting does not affect the Dmension/TxtStyle menu. In that menu, pressing PgUp and PgDn will always change the plot scale. One bonus to leaving it un-checked is that you get a new button in the Text menu (between Arrows and Justify) called “PltScale”. This is the same as the “Scale” button in the Plotter menu. It allows you to change the current plot scale, which you need to do when using the TxtScale function.

Copy to Clipboard

These settings determine how entities are copied to the Windows clipboard when you use the Cut and Copy options. Both options are selected by default. If you un-select Copy entity color, then all entities will be copied to the clipboard as black. If you un-select Copy entity line weight, then all entities will be copied to the clipboard with the same, thin line weight (thickness).

Previous View

These settings affect what happens when the Pp (Previous View) key is pressed.

Remembers FreeZooms – Up to the previous 25 views will be displayed when FreeZoom is ON; but only views which were created using WindowIn, PgUp, or PgDn. Previous pans (up, down, left and right arrows) are not displayed.

Remembers Pans/Scrolls – Up to the previous 25 views will be displayed; but only views that were created by panning (up, down, left and right arrows).

Both OFF – Will return ONE previous view to the Drawing Window (but only if FreeZoom is OFF).

Both ON – All views will be returned, regardless of how they were created, even with FreeZoom ON.

Display List:

This determines whether the Display List feature is ON or OFF, and how it will function. Turning Display List ON (by checking the box) will greatly speed up DataCAD’s operations.

On/Off – With Display List turned ON, it scans all of the layers which are currently turned ON and stores an image of them to your computer’s RAM. Accessing RAM is much, much faster than accessing the hard drive. Display list will run faster and faster the tighter you zoom into your drawing. Display list will ignore all the entities outside the drawing window since they aren’t in view, thereby reducing the number of entities which have to be recalled from D/L memory.

Max Acceleration - It causes the display list to run even faster, but with a couple of minor drawbacks:

1. The Max Acceleration option of D/L means that it will not take the extra time to ‘fix’ the following entities when you zoom and pan around the drawing:

Symbols

Arcs

Circles

Ellipsi

This means that you will get a visual pixel ‘bloom’ (larger than life screen garbage) on these entities, but they will refresh faster. Pressing the Uu key will regenerate them and get rid of the pixel bloom, but will take a little time to do it depending on the size of the drawing and the speed of your computer.

2. When Max Acceleration is turned ON curves will appear more chunky as you zoom in. Regenerating the display list (press the Uu key) will cause DataCAD to resave a smoother version of the curves to the display list. But on the up side, since the D/L contains the entire drawing saved at the moment of regeneration, if you zoom in close, regenerate the D/L, then pan out, the curve, text and marker resolutions will remain high.

Symbol Preview

This option controls the preview window when selecting symbols directly. Select Orthographic View for a 2D plan view of symbols, or Isometric View for a 3D isometric view.

Interface Settings

This dialog is actually a small graphic picture of a typical DataCAD screen. It is not and actual picture of your own screen. By clicking on the different parts of this screen you will be presented with various options for customizing how it is displayed.

Menu Buttons

Click on the part of the graphic with the menu buttons to change how the text on the DataCAD menu buttons is displayed. The fonts which are displayed are all the fonts available to your Windows system, most of which are True Type fonts. You can also choose the font style, size and script.

Icon Bar

Click on the part of the graphic with the icon toolbar across the top to turn the toolbar OFF. If there is no icon toolbar displayed, click at the top of the screen where it would be and the toolbar will be turned ON.

Drawing Window

Click on the part of the graphic that looks like the drawing window. The standard Windows color picker dialog box will appear. Pick a new color then select OK. The color of the graphic drawing window will change to match the color you selected. Be aware that if you change your Drawing Window color to white then you will have to adjust how the other colors in DataCAD are displayed, since some colors, most notably Yellow, don’t display well on a white background.

Message Window

Click on the bottom of the graphic where the message window is to change how the message window text is displayed. The fonts which are displayed are all the fonts available to your Windows system, most of which are True Type fonts. You can also choose the font style, size and script.

Status Area

Click on the bottom of the graphic where the status area is to change which side the menu buttons are displayed on. Each time you click on the graphic of the status area it will switch sides.

Toolbox

Use this dialog area to add and remove macros to the drop-down Macros list. Select the macros you want from the list on the left, then click on Add to add them to the Macros in Menu area on the right. To remove macros from the area on the right, just highlight them and click on Remove. If you have more than one Toolbox directory, or you need to navigate to the correct directory somewhere else, click on the button with the yellow folder in the upper left corner to browse for the correct directory. You can add macros from more than one directory to the Macros in Menu area to the right. The macros will be displayed in the order you add them, so be mindful of the order in which you add them.

Customizing DataCAD With the DCADWIN.INI File

An .INI file, such as the DCADWIN.INI file, is and "initialization" file, which means that it is only read by DataCAD at initial startup of the program. DataCAD does not read this file again until the program is restarted. However, DataCAD does write information to this file while it is running. If you are running Windows 95 or 98 you will find the DCADWIN.INI file in your C:\WINDOWS folder. If you are running Windows NT you will find it in your C:\WINNT folder. It is a simple text file that DataCAD looks at every time you start the program, telling it about your current settings and paths. Most of the settings within the DCADWIN.INI can be changed within DataCAD. The DCADWIN.INI file is not really meant to be edited by the average user, but there are some options and features that can only be activated or customized by doing so. The order of the items does not matter, and the options are not case-sensitive.

[General]

FONTNAME=ROMANS

This is the default DataCAD font (.CHR) file used in the Text menu. This option is also available within DataCAD via Tools/Program Preferences/Misc/Default Font Name. If DataCAD ever won’t start because it says it can’t find a particular font, open the DCADWIN.INI file and change the font shown to ROMANS. Save the file and restart DataCAD and it should work.

CAVWALL=false

When this option is changed to TRUE, insertion of doors and windows into cavity (4-line) walls trims the outer jamb lines to the cavity lines.

CHECK_SYM=false

This addresses a bug in the Symbol/Purge function of previous versions. If TRUE, it tells DataCAD to scan all symbol instances (upon loading a drawing) to check if there are valid symbol definitions in the drawing file headers. This will 'clean' files previously corrupted by the PurgeSym command. The downside is that it slows drawing file loading somewhat.

[MenuTextColor]

These settings determine how the DataCAD menu buttons look. There are three sets of numbers after each = sign. This is known as a “color triplet,” and describes the Red Green and Blue color mixtures that make up all the available colors on your computer. Each number can range from 0 to 255. By changing the values of each triplet you can change the colors that DataCAD displays. Use the Windows Color Picker to find the values.

HighLight=0 255 0

This is the color of the highlight around a menu button when the cursor is passed over it.

FunctionKey=255 255 138

This is the color of the F# and S# text next to each menu button.

NormalButton=0 0 0

This is the color of the standard text on all the menu buttons. 0 0 0 is black.

ToggleButtonOn=0 128 0

This is the color of the text on a menu button when the button is toggled ON. 0 128 0 is green.

ToggleButtonOff=255 0 0

This is the color of the text on a menu button when the button is toggled OFF. 255 0 0 is red.

LayerButtonActive=0 0 183

This is the color of the text on a layer name button when it is the currently active layer.

NavPadButton=0 0 0

This is the color of the text on the Navigation Pad buttons. 0 0 0 is black.

StatusArea=0 0 0

This is the color of the text on the Status Area buttons. 0 0 0 is black.

MessageArea=0 0 0

This is the color of the text in the Message Area. 0 0 0 is black.

MultiViewButton=0 0 0

This is the color of the text on the Multi-View Window buttons. 0 0 0 is black.

[DropMesh]

MaxDivisions=100

This number sets the maximum number of X and Y divisions in the 3D Drop Mesh function (DCAD_3D/3DEntity/Polygon/DropMesh). The default value of 100 is a number meant to keep new users from inadvertently setting the X or Y values too high, thereby slowing down the program considerably. With the value set to 100, even if you enter an X or Y value higher than 100, DataCAD will not accept the number. You will have to enter a number at or below 100. But before you go changing this value, keep this in mind: One X/Y unit yields a square, which is further divided into two triangles, or polygons. That makes a mesh of 200 by 200 polygons, which would yield a total polygon count of 40,000! That should be far more than any model would require. And such a large polygon count in your drawing file would really s-l-o-w t-h-i-n-g-s d-o-w-n. This is a setting which can only be changed here in the INI file.

[TemplateWindow]

Width=

You can control the width of the template window by adding the pixel width here. 200 is the default. You can try a number like 150 if you want a little more screen real estate in DataCAD with the templates turned ON.

[ToolBox]

These are the macros under the Toolbox option in the drop-down menu. To re-order the macros, just re-order them here in the .INI file, then restart DataCAD.

Macro_1=G:\DCADWIN\DCX\DCAD_AEC.dcx

Macro_2=G:\DCADWIN\DCX\LIN2WALL.dcx

Macro_3=G:\DCADWIN\DCX\ROOFIT.dcx

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DrwMarks (Draw Marks)

It is very handy to have DataCAD draw temporary marks when using the Reference Point (`) option.

So here’s a great trick for those of you, like myself, who prefer to leave Draw Marks turned OFF for all operations except Reference Point.

1. First, go to Utility/Measures/RefPt and turn DrwMarks ON.

2. Now go to Utility/Settings and turn DrwMarks OFF.

3. Now DrwMarks will only display when using Reference Point.

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