2013

Table Of Contents

 Create custom linetypes, hatch patterns, shapes, and text fonts.

You can create linetypes, hatch patterns, shapes, and text fonts that

conform to your company standards and working methods.

 Customize the user interface. You can control many aspects of the

user interface, including the functionality and appearance of the Tool Sets

palette and menu bar. You use the CUI command to create and edit

commands, and assign them to a menu on the menu bar or a tab on the

Tool Sets palette.

 Customize the status line. You can toggle the display of the controls

on the status bar. Right-click an empty area of the status bar and choose

which controls to turn on or off.

 Automate repetitive tasks by writing scripts. A script is an ASCII

text file containing commands that are processed like a batch file when

you run the script. For example, if a set of drawings needs to be plotted a

certain way, you can write a script that opens each drawing, hides and

displays various layers, and issues PLOT commands.

 Redefine or disable selected AutoCAD commands, either at the

command prompt or as part of an AutoLISP or ObjectARX

program. You can redefine certain AutoCAD commands to issue

supplementary messages and instructions or, for example, to create a

drawing management system in which the QUIT command is redefined

to write billing information to a log file before ending the editing session.

In addition to the methods described in the Customization Guide, there are

application programming interfaces (APIs) available for customizing AutoCAD.

Introduction to Programming Interfaces (page 79) briefly describes these APIs

and provides cross-references to more information.