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Menu Loader

Loading partial men files can be a real pain. Having to first add all the menu directories to the AutoCAD Support Path and then installing the menu files becomes a real hassle, especially if you've got a number of workstations to take care of.

Here's a little application that takes a lot of the pain out of multiple standard menu installation.
I have used a small partial menu "Vbamenu.mnu" that contains one pulldown menu and one toolbar as an example.

First, you need to have your support file directory structure set up and ready :

c:/vbamenu
c:/vbamen/lisp
c:/vbamenu/vba

In this example you can see that I've set up my main directory, "c:/vbamenu" with two sub-directories, "lisp" and "vba."
My menu and lisp files, "vbamenu," "vba.dll," and "vbamenu.lsp" are stored in "vbamenu," whilst I would store any additional support files in the other two sub-directories.


In essence, these are the directories that I would need to add to my AutoCAD support path.

Next, fire up AutoCAD and open a blank drawing.

Now type this at the command line :

(load "c:\\vbamenu\\vbamenu)

Then press "Enter"

A message should appear on the command line asking you to type "vbamenu" to run.

Do just that and stand back.

Voila, you should have a new pull down menu and a new toolbar.

Check out your support path. Three new directories should have been added :

Heres the coding :

;inform the user how to run the application
(prompt "\nVBA Menu Installer Loaded...Type VBAMENU to run......")

;define the function
(defun C:VBAMENU ( / flag1 loaded temp)

	;add the first support path
	(addSupportPath "C:\\VBAMENU" 6)

	;add the second
	(addSupportPath "C:\\VBAMENU\\LISP" 7)

	;add the third
	(addSupportPath "C:\\VBAMENU\\VBA" 8)

;set the flag
(setq flag1 T)

;check if the menu is not already loaded
(setq loaded (menugroup "VBAMENU"))

;if it is not loaded
(if (= loaded nil)

   ;do the following
   (progn
	
	;find the menu file
        (setq temp (findfile "VBAMENU.MNU"))

	   ;if you find the menu
           (if temp

		;do the following
   		(progn

			;switch off dialogues
			(setvar "FILEDIA" 0)

			;load the menu
		    	(command "menuload" "VBAMENU")

			;switch on dialogues
			(setvar "FILEDIA" 1)

			;install the pulldown
		    	(menucmd "P11=+VBAMENU.POP1")

			;inform the user
       			(prompt "\nLoading VBA Menu....\n")

		);progn

		;menu not find, so do the following
		(progn

			;inform the user
                        (alert "Cannot Locate VBA Menu.
			 \nCall System Administrator.")

			;clear the flag	
			(setq flag1 nil)

		);progn

	   );if

    );progn

);if

		;if the flag is set
		(if flag1

			;inform the user
       			(prompt "\nVBA Menu Loaded....\n")

		);if

    (princ)

);defun



;subroutine to add support path
(defun addSupportPath (dir pos / tmp c lst)

	(setq tmp ""
	      c -1
	)
	(if
		(not
		  (member (strcase dir)
			(setq lst 
			  (mapcar 'strcase 
				(parse (getenv "ACAD") ";")
			  )
			);setq
		  );member
		);not	
	(progn
		(if (not pos)
			(setq tmp (strcat (getenv "ACAD") ";" dir))
			(mapcar '(lambda (x)
			(setq tmp (if (= (setq c (1+ c)) pos)
					(strcat tmp ";" dir ";" x)
					(strcat tmp ";" x)
				  )
			)
			)
		lst
		)
	)
	(setenv "ACAD" tmp)
	)
	)
(princ)
)

;parsing routine
(defun parse (str delim / lst pos)
	(setq pos (vl-string-search delim str))
	(while pos
		(setq lst (cons (substr str 1 pos) lst)
			str (substr str (+ pos 2))
			pos (vl-string-search delim str)
		)
	)
	(if (> (strlen str) 0)
		(setq lst (cons str lst))
	)
		(reverse lst)
)

(princ);clean load

A big thank you to ActiveX.com for allowing me to borrow a wee bit of their coding.

To make sure that your menu is loaded every time AutoCAD starts, place this coding in your Acad.Lsp file :

(defun-q VBAMENUSTARTUP ()

(setq flag1 T)

(setq loaded (menugroup "VBAMENU"))

(if (= loaded nil)

   (progn

        (setq temp (findfile "VBAMENU.MNU"))

           (if temp

   		(progn

			(setvar "FILEDIA" 0)

		    	(command "menuload" "VBAMENU")

			(setvar "FILEDIA" 1)

		    	(menucmd "P11=+VBAMENU.POP1")

       			(prompt "\nLoading VBA Menu....\n")

		);progn

		(progn   

                        (alert "Cannot Locate VBA Menu.
			 \nCall System Administrator.")
	
			(setq flag1 nil)

		);progn

	   );if

    );progn

);if

		(if flag1

       			(prompt "\nVBA Menu Loaded....\n")

		);if

    (princ)



);defun-q

(setq S::STARTUP (append S::STARTUP VBAMENUSTARTUP))

To download source coding - VbaMenu1.Zip (6kB) - click here
 
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