Topic Title

I have just installed a new system, and find that the Alt-key Macros ( dcadwin.mcr) file operation doesn’t work properly. Certain of the functions work - for instance Alt-S ( stretch) works, but Alt-J ( 2 line trim) does not work – there are a lot of others as well!. This is with the unadulterated version of Dcad 11. ( with 11.05 upgrade)
I have a customized version of the dcadwin.mcr file that I wish to install– and I previously thought that a problem with the overwriting was causing the malfunction, – but now feel that there is another deeper reason for this within the computer system itself. However – I am pretty clueless at this level of problem solving!
Can anyone guide me on this.
The following is the system which may assist in the diagnosis

Intel P4 3.2 GHz Processor
Intel La Crosse Motherboard
1 GB PC400 MB Ram
80 GB Hard Drive
1.44 MB Stiffy Drive
8 x DVD + RW Combo Drive
52 X Cd-Rom Drive
MS Multimedia Keyboard
MS Optical Mouse
Radion 9600 256 MB Graphics Card
Internal 56 K Modem
Windows XP Home
MS Office Standard Edition

Any help most appreciated

Hello & welcome!

It would help if you could Copy and Paste the contents of your current DcadWin.MCR file here -- that way we might be better able to try and diagnose it. Also, when you use Alt-J -- what does it actually do?

Neil,
Thanks for your response - the alt-J macro is as per the Dcad 11 installation - unchanged. I am sure you realise there is no point in emailing the file ... or is there? - please confirm.
When I invoke the macro and then try to select lines to trim I end up drawing lines! - like alt J - does not seem to refer to the macro file at all!!
The file you ask for (dacdwin.mcr) is the file that comes with the Dcad11.05 update - I have not yet overwritten or edited anything in the file.
I use the alt - key macros system extensively as well as aliases. What I did was - when I first encountered this problem ( with the .mcr file that I used to overwrite the standard file) - I thought that there was an overwriting problem. So I reloaded Dcad to see if there was a problem with the instalation. I then tested the basic installation ie - without overwriting my dcadwin.mcr file - and tested it after the initial installation - and NOTHING happens with Alt-J..so alt-J does nothing.
Do you still want me to mail the dcadwin.mcr file?
Thanks for any thoughts.
At this stage I might as well revert to my old computer - which does everything correctly - but is fractionally slower!
-so much for 1gig ram and fancy graphics cards!!
Hoo...boy - not much hair left

Hello:

Does the Alt-J line look like this:

J^·^È^;^F9^F5^$

or this:

J^;^F9^F5^$

If not, then just Copy one of these into your DcadWin.MCR file. If you find that other shortcuts not working, then please do Copy and Paste the contents of the MCR file here in a post -- no need to e-mail me anything; so we can all see the contents.

IHTH, and I hope you can now enjoy your new machine!

Hi Neil,
I have pasted the unchanged Dcad Keyboard macro file
below. I tried pasting your version on the Alt-J and I have no difference in the response.
Another concerning abberation - is that the ' key ( for toggling layer search on and off - is not functioning properly. It now functions only after pressing the key twice - and only reports the current status of layersearch, ie "layer search is off" - if its off and vice-versa. Repeated pressing of the key does reverse the layer search status.
I have pasted in my version of the macro file at the end of this post ( FWIW) - but feel that its of no real consequence as the basic file just aint workin.
Please note that certain of the macros of my version work - for instance Alt-A sets the Active layer by placing the cursor next to an on-screen entity and pressing Alt-a
Alt-D sets a layer to be the only layer on by placing the cursor next to an on screen layer and pressing Alt-D
- but as I said - Alt-J ( and others ) -.. just .. dont ... work...
I hope you can help- otherwise Im just goin to have to revert to my old computer!
Thanks.
RC
By the way Alt K in my version will not work - it was an Selection set arrangement for dcad 10.

A^13#^
//curves menu
B^24#^
//templates menu
C^8#^
//change menu
D^28#^F1^
//dimension/linear menu
E^m^S0^F6^
//2D\3D enlarge menu
F^48#^
//cleanup\fillets
G^20#^
//geometry
H^31#^
//freehand
I^7#^
//identify
J^51#^
//cleanup\2-line trim
K^32#^
//link entities
L^15#^
//line type menu
M^m^S0^F4^
//2D\3D mirror
N^:^S6^F1
//new drawing
O^:^S3^F8^S0^
//enable or disable perpendicular object snapping
P^:^S5^
//plotter menu
Q^:^¸^É^S9
//quit
R^12#^
//polygon menu
S^m^S0^F5^
//2D\3D stretch
T^14#^
//text menu
U^107#^
//3D entity menu
V^106#^S9^
//3D views menu
W^52#^
//cleanup\weld line
X^26#^
//measures menu
Y^34#^
//directory
Z^19#^
//display scale

And now my version:-

A^·^È^;^S1^$^F2^S0
B^·^È^;^S8^S9^S7
C^·^È^:^I^N^F3^F4^F5^S0^¸^É
D^·^È^:^F3^F4^S8^$^¸^É
E^·^È^:^S2^F1
F^·^È^:^F6^F3
G^·^È^:^S1^S1^S7^N^S0^$^S0^¸^É
H^·^È^:^F3^F5^S8^n^$
I^·^È^;^I^N^F5^S0^;^S6^¸^É
J^·^È^;^F9^F5^¸^É
K^·^È^S^F0^F8^S0^F4^F1^F5^¸^É^F0^F1^S0^F2^F1^F0^F2^S9
L^·^È^:^F3^F9^F1^S0^F6^S9^layer???^$^F1
M^·^È^S1^$^S8^S0^¸^É
N:^S6^F1
O^·^È^;^F9^F4^F1^N^$^¸^É
P^·^È^;^S9^DHOFFSET$^S7^S5^15$^¸^É
Q^·^È:^¸^É^S9
R^·^È^;^S4^¸^É
S^·^È^;^F5^¸^É
T^·^È^;^S1^n^S8^;^S9^dhtext$^
U^·^È^;^S8^S9^S5^S6
V^·^È^;^S8^S9^S5^S6^F1^S0^;^¸^É
W^·^È^;^S8^S9^S5^F1^¸^É
X^·^È^;^S9^dhtext$^S2^¸^É
Y^·^È^:^F3^F1^S8^$^¸^É
Z^·^È^;^F0^S8^S2^F1^$^¸^É

Hello:

Another tact -- just to make no assumptions: have you tried typing a J and K? In other words, can you confirm that the keyboard is working? Or, do you have another keyboard to try on this machine?

Does everything look right in the Settings/Control Panels/Keyboard settings?

Oh BTW, Selection Sets have been cahnged a bit in v11: we now have both SelSets and Mask. Mask is essentially the same thing as SelSets --except that you use it to make "one time" filters and you don't have to remember to make anything active. So EGAFS is now EGAFM, and when you do have a SelSet active, it shows up in the Mask list at F5 position.

I would try taking out the ascii characters used to suppress the display of menus and messages during the execution of the keyboard macro and the ones at the end of the lines that turn them back on. These are vestigal - useful in the old slow days, not useful now.

Your Alt+K for selection sets won't work in 11 because of the way that Mask is incorporated in EGAFM. I modified mine:

K^;^S2^F4^F1^F5^F0^F8^F1^S0^F2^F1^F5^F2
//clear selset 8, make active, add to, mask, color

Hope this helps.

Hi Phillip,
Thanks for your replies.
I wonder if you could explain the ascii characters bit. Ive always done the same thing when setting up a macro - with more or less success. The details you mention are a little over my head - so please explain...
..BUT anyway,.. you see ..the problem I am having is that even the unchanged macro from V 11.05.02 update version is NOT working - even before Ive tried to install my macro file!
The advice on the Alt-K macro etc is great ( I tried to adapt mine but obviously went wrong somewhere) - I must try your version - but on my "old" machine - where I have NO problems.
My problem is with a brand new machine with the unchanged dcad macro file.
...curiouser and curiouser...
RC

The ascii characters are (in DataCAD official language) Extended Character Codes. They can be used in Keyboard Macros, Aliases, and Toolbars. When editing your Keyboard Macros in Notepad, for instance, you enter an Extended Keyboard Code by holding down the ALT key and typing in the code number on the numeric keypad. If I'm remembering correctly the number must be four digits long, so the code 67 would be entered as 0067. When you release the ALT key, the ascii character appears. It looks strange as in your line:

M^·^È^S1^$^S8^S0^¸^É

Extended Character Codes act as commands. In the sequence above, the period turns off the display of menus and the uppercase E with the backslash accent turns off the display of messages. At the end of the sequence, the comma and the uppercase E with the forward slash accent turn them back on.

This is the stuff that I am suggesting is no longer necessary. I would change this line to be:

M^S1^$^S8^S0

but it is strange because I don't know what it is intended to do. Usually, you would use a keyboard interrupt as the first call in a sequence. In most of your other keyboard macros, the first "significant" call is either a colon or semi-colon, which take you to either the Utility or Edit menu. You could also use a keyboard interrupt to start a sequence. Action codes are also ok to use in Keyboard Macros, Aliases and Toolbars.

Here's my keyboard macro file (for v11.05.02):

A^;^13#^
//curves
B^;^10#^F7
//cleanup/weldline
C^;^8#^
//change
D^;^55#^
//doors
E^m^S0^F6^
//enlarge
F^;^Ä^20#^F3^F2^F2^
//offset
G^;^20#^
//geometry
H^v^S6^F1^S9^F1^HereIwas^$^S0^
//save current view as Here I Was
I^;^7#^$^F1^F2^F3^F4^F5^F6^F7^F0^F1^F2^F3^F4^F5^S0^
//identify/set most
J^;^10#^F5^
//2-line trim
K^;^S2^F4^F1^F5^F0^F8^F1^S0^F2^F1^F5^F2
//clear selset 8, make active, add to, mask, color
L^L^F1^S8^
//Layer, on-off, match
M^m^S0^F4^Ì^
//mirror
N^:^S6^F1
//new drawing
O^;^10#^F4^
//one-line trim
P^;^9#^F9^
//partial erase
Q^;^116#^
//moolbox
R^;^S4^
//rectangle
S^m^S0^F5^
//stretch
T^;^F0^S6^S7^
//Change, match, all
U^;^26#^
//measures
V^;^13#^S6
//polylines
W^;^56#^
//windows
X^;^10#^S2^
//x-intersection
Y^;^14#^
//text menu
Z^;^8#^S8^S2^
//change/text/contents

Some things to note:

I use lots of Action Codes (number followed by the # sign)

My Alt+F (Offset) uses the Extended Character Code 196 to force Offset Dynamic Off

Alt+E (Enlarge), +M (Mirror), and +S (Stretch) start with the keyboard interrupt m so that the first operation is to go to the Move menu. The F key location of Enlarge, Mirror, and Stretch is the same in the 2D menus and the 3D menus; so those three keyboard macros work in both 2D and 3D.

My Alt+I (Identify, set most) excludes Z-base and Z-height information as I was finding that users here were generating drawing files with insane Z values after importing AutoCAD details from less-than-careful sources.

I can't quickly lay my hands on the location of the lists of Extended Character Codes and Action Codes - I'm going from a printout. Can anyone help with that?

Hope this helps.

To go back to the original problem:

I think that the Keyboard Macros that are not working might be ones that start with an Action Code. I would try inserting a colon or semi-colon (with carat separators) before the Action Code. This should get you out of the menu you're in before going to your destination.

Hope this helps

Have you modified your dcadwin.msg file? If so did you re-edit it or copy in an old one. If you copied in an old one you might have problems with your keyboard macros.

Does any of this help?

In answer to my own question above

Action codes
http://www.datacad.com/ddn/built-in_fun ... umbers.htm

Extended Character Codes:
http://www.datacad.com/ddn/extended_character_codes.htm

Just one question, do you have a keyboard that has built-in functions for web or media? I have had these functions mess up commands in other programs.