Keystroke Macros

[ambrozac]

The below is information received from Rob Fisher (ChiefCanada.com), that I think most will find very useful. I followed this information, with some changes, and will post my results below.

The introduction of hotkey assignments for CA commands now allows us to create keystroke macros for automating tasks in CA. While mouse/keystroke macros were possible before X1.4, mouse position macros (recording of mouse x,y co-ordinates) are less than ideal if there is a change in window size/position or any toolbar editing.
A good example of automation would be switching to an electrical “environment” (for lack of a better word). To switch to this environment one would usually perform the following steps:

A. Switch active layerset to electrical
B. Switch current CAD layer to electrical
C. Switch text default layer to electrical or electrical labels
D. Switch dimension defaults layer to electrical

By invoking the above macro one could switch to the electrical environment with one hotkey or 1 mouse click, saving a bunch of clicks. Now how do we build this macro? Well there are a variety of methods. The easiest way is with a macro program . These programs include recorders so you don’t have to do any scripting (programming). The macro is assigned to a hotkey of your choice. I’m not a real fan of hotkeys that involve more than 1 key at a time so I use a gaming keyboard that has 18 programable keys on the left side. The keyboard (Logitech G15) also includes a recorder. I have also experimented with “Macro Toolbar” http://pitrinec.com/toolsworks.htm (shareware). This program allows macros to be recorded then assigned to a custom toolbar. I have placed this toolbar on the left side of my screen and have assigned not only CA macros but general macros and shortcuts as well. It does not interfere with CA and is no different than running any other program concurrently with CA. Autohotkey is another popular macro program which is open source and free and includes a macro recorder.

Now getting back to that macro,
The keystroke macro for this operation would look like:

A
1.Ctrl/Shft L (my hotkey for Layerset Management)
2. 6 Tabs (Tab to active layerset dropdown)
3. E (Select electrical)
4. Enter (OK)

B
1.Ctrl/Shft C (my hotkey for Current CAD Layer)
2. D (Default CAD Layer)
3. Enter (OK)

C
1.Ctrl/Shft D (my hotkey for Defaults)
2. Down (3 times)
3. T (text,callouts)
4. Right Arrow (Expand)
5. Down Arrow (Text)
6. Enter (Text Defaults)
7. Ctrl/Tab 3 times (Line Style Tab)
8. E (Electrical)
9. Enter

D
1. Ctrl/Shft A (hotkey dim def)
2. CTRL/TAB 3 TIMES (FONT TAB)
3. Tab
4. E (electrical layer)
5. Enter