Topic: New menu loading problems

[Mark]

Nothing

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Acad only uses the mnu once.  From that, it generates the mns and all the rest.  From that pont on, acad only looks for the mns unless you tell it to (re)load an mnu file.

Like Daron said, an mns file is almost the same as the mnu file...just missing some garbage...

Nothing! meaning it won't load the menus or, nothing it will use the .mns?

Were you asking everyone or just Dan?

Everyone _but_ Dan.  just kidding Dan.........

[ELOQUINTET]

damnit mdub go have a cigarette oh i'm sorry the evil word   uhhh mark i don't really want what the acad.mnu offers i would like to customize it and use the mns but can i. well if i had an mns i could figure that out. seriously ummm well the mns references the mnu right but do you have to have the mnu loaded or can you just load the mns. it says mnu is a template file and mns a source file that refers to the mnu as i understand it so i would say no

dan

[M-dub]

Don't do this...It's just an example:

You can start with an MNU only (no mns, mnc or mnr).  AutoCAD loads MNU and automatically generates those ones.  After that, you COULD (although WOULDN'T or SHOULDN'T) delete the original MNU because Acad is only going to look at the mns from then on.
You should only run into problems if you have neither of the above.

[Mark]

>i would like to customize it and use the mns
Customise _your_ .mns and leave the ACAD stuff alone. That way when you upgrade/re-install ACAD all you have to do is load you custom menu and away you go. OR, if you work on another CAD station simply load your menus and go to work. Everything is right there in your menu.

[Mark]

Just for the record, I havn't used a.mnu file in my custom menu since R14. The key word here is backup if you have that it doesn't matter what you do.

[M-dub]

When I get back to Sarnia, I'll send you a copy of my partial menu.  You guys might think I'm a drooling mental midget, but my stuff works and works great!
Don't worry Dan...You'll be a pro in no time!

[Mark]

So Mike, what did you think about my little tutorial? I'd be happy to co-author the rest of it with you.

[CADaver]

damnit mdub go have a cigarette oh i'm sorry the evil word   uhhh mark i don't really want what the acad.mnu offers i would like to customize it and use the mns but can i. well if i had an mns i could figure that out. seriously ummm well the mns references the mnu right but do you have to have the mnu loaded or can you just load the mns. it says mnu is a template file and mns a source file that refers to the mnu as i understand it so i would say no

dan

Oboy, a place I can throw in to muddy-up the waters... kewl!

I use R2002 and don't know if R2004 changes things, but here's my experience as it relates to R2002:

The MNS is created when you load the MNU, as are the MNC and MNR.  From that point on editting the menu fram ACAD changes the MNS.  Those changes are NOT reflected in the MNU.  I use the MNU as sort of a backup, once the MNS is running well, I copy the MNS over the MNU.

The "Smiley Face" delimma is solved by placing the icon BMP's created by editting button faces in the same directory as the MNS.  Or creating a specific directory for those BMP's and adding that directory to the search path.

My process is this:
I load the ACAD.MNS, then MENULOAD any custom menus (mine, express, clients, whatever).  The only stuff in my custom menu is my custom toolbars and pulldowns.  

To create those, I copy-n-paste the similar toolbar out of ACAD.mns into PERSONAL.MNS and MENULOAD that into the current session.  Making sure that it is the menu current in the customize dialog box, I can click-drag-copy buttons from any open toolbar into the new one.  Or edit the buttons currently displayed on that bar.  Or insert new buttons and flyouts.

The PERSONAL.MNS can also be editted by any plain text editor (NOTEPAD, WORDPAD, EDLIN, whatever).  But you then have to re-MENULOAD the MNS file to recompile the MNC & MNR files.  If you're editting the menu through an ACAD session, the MNR & MNC files are atomatically created.

~~~~~~~~~~

A note on MNL:  The MNL is a lisp routine that loads with the MNC.  When a menu is loaded, ACAD looks araound for an MNL of the same name.  IF it finds one it loads it like a lisp routine.  Real handy for loading menu specific functions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are the waters muddy enough yet??

[ELOQUINTET]

good one mark   if this is true what you say mdub i'm wondering where my acad.mns file is. i would modify my mns if i could find the bloody thing. it's not in support i've looked a million times and just looked again in application data. any thoughts?

dan

[M-dub]

First of all, Mark.  I'd be more than willing to add to that help file!  When I get time, that is.  I just printed it out and leafed through it...Looks pretty sweet!  I wrote a real good one on partial menus on the OLD Cadalog forum, but I don't think we can get to those anymore...(Could Andrew?)

Cadaver,
You Failed...miserably!  I think you made the waters clearer!!!  Quick and to the point!  Your solution to the smilies is another option.  The only reason I like creating a dll file is because it keeps all of the bitmaps inside it instead of having all kinds of files to worry about.  The end result is the same, however.
Cheers!

[daron]

You know, to be honest, I didn't start looking into menu's until 2000. I think the mnu file is a left over from 14. I do nothing but create an %username%.mns file. The mnc and mnr are all created by acad for use by acad. I only modify my mns file. I avoid creating a menu pull-down. Who uses them anyway? Toolbars are the way to go, IMO. As far as the mnl file goes, it seems that they are good for forcing standards that shouldn't have gone wrong in the first place or if you load up on another computer and need your settings set up. Otherwise, I don't see that you'd write lisps in the mnl file. Familiarize yourself with profiles. They are a pain in the butt at first, but when you realize that they store files that are in the content suite, they can be a life saver.

Back to mnu's, I don't see a need for them.

[M-dub]

Dan,
   Is there a chance that you might have MSN Messenger?  If so, we can do an application sharing session and I can actually take over control of your pc (temporarily) and show you what to do...
SCARED?!?!  Thought so...but don't be!
   I'm wondering if for some very strange reason, your mns file is hidden and you don't have that option set up in Windows Explorer to view all files.  The reason is because YOU HAVE AN MNS!  Try doing a Find Files (from the Start menu) for "mns" instead of "acad.mns" or "whatever.mns".  If you'll remember, I told you yesterday to rename it to "acadmns.old" which means you won't find it if you're searching for *.mns

[Mark]

** mark pondering the question ** I wonder if they know that when they click on the links in my tutorial there appears a window with a screen shot of the dialog boxes

[M-dub]

And to Daron, I simply say:
"To each, their own", but I get your point...

[Mark]

>we can do an application sharing session and I can actually take over control of your pc (temporarily) and show you what to do...

Excellent idea.