Avatech Tricks: Fillet and Chamfer: Multiple Choice -- Part 3 of 3
14 Aug, 2005 By: Jerry Berns CadalystSave time and space by making a flyout toolbar for fillet and chamfers.
In the last part of this three-part series, I demonstrate how to create a Fillet and Chamfer flyout toolbar. I base this flyout toolbar on the Fillet and Chamfer toolbars I made in part 2. A flyout toolbar allows the functionality without the dedicated screen space. You can see examples in the AutoCAD Insert and Zoom flyouts.
Creating the Custom Modify Menu
Continuing with the custom menus made in the previous article, I created a Modify toolbar to duplicate the AutoCAD version so I can use this custom menu in future versions of AutoCAD. I created the Modify toolbar of the Avetech_Custom menu group without the Fillet and Chamfer buttons first (figure 1).
 Figure 1. Custom Modify toolbar without Fillet and Chamfer commands. |
Add the Flyout buttons
Locate the User Defined Flyout button under the Commands tab (figure 2).
 Figure 2. The User Defined Flyout button. |
Drag two flyout buttons to the custom Modify toolbar. Select the first flyout button that you want added. Select the Button Properties tab in the Customize dialog box. A warning appears as shown in Figure 3. Accept this warning to display the Flyout Properties tab.
 Figure 3. Warning prior to selecting flyout toolbar property. |
Select the Chamfer toolbar from the custom menu group. Select the Apply button to complete this association. Repeat this action to associate the second flyout button to the Fillet toolbar. Figure 4 shows the completed button assignments. Select the Close button to save the customization.
 Figure 4. The completed flyout toolbar associations. |
Swap the Toolbars
Now hide the AutoCAD Modify toolbar and dock your new custom Modify toolbar in its place. Press and hold the left mouse button to flyout your Fillet and Chamfer size options. Once selected, that button remains in the foreground. When you restart AutoCAD, the first button in the toolbar displays.
Be sure to backup your customization. This includes MNU, MNS and any BMP files created. It is a good practice to copy the customization changes from the MNS file to the MNU file. Refer to the AutoCAD Customization Guide for more information.
Decisions, Decisions
From here the possibilities are many. You can create other toolbars like a Circle toolbar with preset diameters, a Text toolbar with preset heights or an Offset toolbar with your common distances. Your only limits are your imagination and your screen size. Enjoy.
Catch the Movie
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