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AutoCAD

Bug Watch: Issues With Xrefs and More Menu Maladies

14 Sep, 2005 By: Steve Johnson Cadalyst

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Following AutoCAD's xref suggestions could slow you down and might even mess up your drawing

Maligned MLines Revisited (2006 Installation, affecting 2004 to 2005)
In June, I described how installing AutoCAD 2006 on a system that already has 2004 and/or 2005 installed will break the MLEdit command in the earlier releases. Here is a slightly less onerous workaround than uninstalling everything, reinstalling the earlier releases and leaving AutoCAD 2006 off the system.
Workaround: The problem is caused by three files. AutoCAD 2006 copies new and incompatible versions of these files over the old ones during the install. If you can make safe and separate copies of the AutoCAD 2005 and 2006 versions of these files, you can copy the appropriate files into place before starting AutoCAD. You could even write a batch file to do the copying for you and then start AutoCAD. The files are located in C:\Program files\Common files\Autodesk shared, and are:

ACDB16.DLL
ACSMCOMPONENTS16.DLL
ACSMCOMPONENTS16.TLB

Reload of Rubbish (2006)
The xref notification bubble tells you when AutoCAD thinks an xref should be reloaded. But if you click on it, instead of reloading the xref in question, it reloads all xrefs. That's an annoyance, because AutoCAD is wasting its time and yours. What makes it a bug is that it also reloads any unloaded xrefs. This means it is modifying your drawing in a potentially undesirable way by displaying stuff that you previously chose to leave out of your drawing.
Workaround: You can turn off the notification using the XREFNOTIFY system variable. However, the problem can still occur if you use the right-click menu on the xref tray button.

Attack of the Clones (2006)
If you have a pre-2006 menu file containing several toolbar buttons with the same macro but different button images, AutoCAD 2006 will give them all the same image when converting the menu to CUI format. This occurs even if the original macros have different ID tags. The macros are all converted down to a single command with associated image, then that command is referenced by each of the buttons. You can't change them individually after that. Changing one will affect all of them.
Workaround: Before letting AutoCAD 2006 get its hands on your menu, make sure that every menu item you want to keep separate has a different macro. You can do things like substituting semicolons for spaces to make your macros slightly different from one another.

A Cloudy Day (2006)
Occasionally, the new CUI menu system will lose its bitmaps in one of your partial menus, leaving you with some little cloud buttons. For example, you may find one day that your Express toolbars become rather overcast.
Workaround: Rename or move the menu's MNR file so AutoCAD can't find it. When the menu is reloaded, AutoCAD will automatically recreate that file. When you're happy that it's working properly, you can erase the old MNR file.

You Have No Right (2006)
People who arrange their menus to take advantage of the new menu system's features are finding that bugs prevent things from working properly. One example is with mouse button modifications. If the mouse button macros are defined in the Enterprise menu or a partial menu, the Shift + right-click macro will not work.
Workaround: None known, other than defining your buttons in the Main menu.