AUTOCAD TUTORIAL AND TIPS

From the Trenches: Looking for an easier way to access your custom LISP routines? This user-written tutorial will walk you through the toolbar creation process.

Have you ever needed to create your own toolbar or command in AutoCAD? Maybe you have some custom LISP routines you been using for years, and you need to add them to your current version of AutoCAD. Sometimes a toolbar may be an easier way to get to those custom routines — and creating one is a simple process. (Note: This tutorial was created with AutoCAD 2009, but the process is virtually identical through more recent releases.)

Almost all commands will now allow linking an icon. So to start, we need the icons, and a folder to store them in. The icons must be in BMP format, and 64 x 64 pixels will work fine. You can use Microsoft Paint to create them. As for the folder, check out Tools > Options > Files to see where AutoCAD looks for the icons.



Next is the folder where your LISP files or scripts are located. These need to be in the support path, and can be on a local drive or network location if you want to share them (the same goes for the icons). Keeping them separate from the program files/AutoCAD directory makes it easier to upgrade or do a repair, because you don't have to worry about them being deleted during an uninstall.


Once your icons and folders are ready, start in the Customize User Interface (CUI): Type CUI in the Command line to open it. First create a new CUIX file (again, this is one of the safe ways to keep your custom toolbars/ribbons/etc. from being deleted and to allow sharing). Expand the CUI and click on the Transfer tab. On the right side, click on the icon to create a new Customization file, choose Save As, provide a name for the CUIX, and set the location in the folder you have listed in your Options Support files.