MycadLAYERS Aliases help learning of Commands and Aliases
Names of commands and their aliases can be one of the biggest problems facing both CAD users and programmers. Autocad has something like 700 commands and a similar number of system variables and as the programs become more sophisticated with time this number keeps growing. Many of the names are quite long and complex BAUTHORPALETTECLOSE others quite simple COPY.
Although no more than about twenty commands are used regularly, one hundred from time to time and the rest rarely if at all nevertheless the problem is how to identify and issue these commands to the program. Learning the commands is the best option but AutoCAD’s Command MENUS have become the standard solution with both graphic and text input options but both suffer from the problems of user distraction, search, recognition and selection.
Originally direct text entry at the command line was the only method of input. Most advanced users believe that it is still the best method; particularly since the introduction of short command aliases. It is the ONLY method that provides every command.
If one accepts command aliases as the way forward then the next problem that arises is how to create aliases for in excess of 1500 commands including system variables now treated by Autocad as regular commands.
Autocad and other CAD programs provide lists of aliases but these rarely cover all commands (quite reasonably so when one considers potential frequency of use). The problem with some AutoCAD aliases is that they evolved over time and being largely abbreviations of the commands are unstructured, frequently quite long, confusing and often provide little or no advantage over the full command word.
MycadKEYS has been deliberately designed to manage almost every command (including system variables) in a structured and logical way never using more than two characters for common commands or three to four for complex or rare commands. Single character aliases are reserved for the most commonly used editing commands. Occasionally will you find a MycadKEYS alias overwriting an AutoCAD alias. If there is a rare clash of aliases and you want the generic AutoCAD command, then re-type the MycadKEYS alias prefixed with a dash/hyphen or type AutoCAD’s full command name at the command prompt or, if available, select from a graphical menu.
Please note that although MycadKEYS aliases have been defined for virtually every command some aliases are not yet functional due to the large number of infrequently used commands. (work in progress). Most AutoCAD and AutoCAD like programs have not provided a full list of aliases. Undefined aliases will be written and activated upon request.
MycadKEYS assumes Command-word – Option order rather than Select OBJECTS – Command-word order. i.e. COPY-select-objects rather than SELECT- objects Copy.
The best aliases are naturally single characters but how does one create the over 900 aliases provided by MycadKEYS (or even the 650 required by AutoCAD) with an average of two and never more than three characters from 50+ keys?
Have a look at the easy reference lookup tables that display Aliases to Commands and Commands to Aliases. The list is being constantly updated as new commands appear.
The majority of commonly used commands have a MycadKEYS functional improvement such that C for Copy starts an improved version of the COPY command while –C starts the generic AutoCAD command.
Many custom MycadKEYS commands execute functions not available in generic Autocad.
There are many MycadKEYS extended commands such as EL for Erase Last such that one can type EL<enter> for Erase Last or E<enter>L to achieve the same effect.
There are also many MycadKEYS commands that do not have generic command equivalents particularly with regard to OVERLAY drafting and WORKZONES.
Most common editing commands are single character.
- C Copy
- E Erase
The majority are two characters:
- Place Line (PL) Place Arc (PA) or
- Join Fillet (JF) Join Trim (JT)
- Query Area (QA) Query Layer (QL).
Thus you can see that by inventing a few new command words for groups such as Place, Join and Query a very large number of commands can be given recognisable two character aliases. Thus one and two character aliases are available for just about every command that you will commonly use.
Some MycadKEYS commands include ccommand options such as Change Layer hence GL and this function can be extended by adding a further option such as Color hence GFC chanGe layer Field Color. (You will see what this means when you get to MycadLAYERNAMES and MycadZONES. (L for Layer is dropped for simplicity as the term Field is unique to Layers)
GFC chanGe Field Color chanGes tboth the Layer name and the Color of the layer.
So let’s have a look at the command groups and see how the aliases are generated.
For example there is a whole bunch of commands related to Text so they are grouped under T thus just about every command related to Text can be initiated with a two character command alias. e.g. TJ Text Justify
Command: T <enter> delivers
‘/Auto/Bounds/Dtext/brK/Case/File/Ht/Incr/Just/Ldr/Mtxt/Rot/Spell/$tyle/Upd/sWap/=settings/<<ldr/no-ldr
3D objects: e.g. 3DB 3DBox
Box/Cone/Cylinder/Mesh/Poly/Sphere/Helix/Polysolid/Pface/Region/Rulesurf/Solid/Tabsurf
A Sample Collection of Aliases
Object creation
Block, Circle, Dim, Ellipse, Hatch, L Line, Node, Polyline, Text
Modify
Array, Copy, Divide, Erase, Mirror, Move, Measure, Offset, Rotate, Trim
Workspace
Ortho, Snap, Grid, Snapbase, UCS, Grips, Preferences, Dwgprops, Layer, Ltscale, Lineweight, Zoom
Drawing aids
Osnap, Select,
Viewing aids:
Zoom, RTZoom, Pan, RTPan, View, Dview, Vports, Mview, Layer, Vplayer, Plan,
Redraw(all), Regen(all). Mspace, Pspace, Ltscale, Psltscale, Tilemode
Utility functions:
Open, New, Plot, Exit, Save/autosave, Undo, U, Redo, Cancel, Oops, Purge, Help.
Properties:
Layername, Color, Linetype, Elev, Thickness, No-plot, Width
Queries:
List, Area, ID, Dist, Status
Workspace & Menus:
CUI, Sheetset, Customize, Toolbar, Showpalettes, Wssave, Menuload
File commands:
Open, Attach, Dxfin, Olelinks
Drawing commands:
Use a command prefix P for Place i.e. PA Place Arc, PL Place Line, PP Place Polyline,
The command alias P by itself initiates a Place command with options thus:
?/<<Qikik/3d/Arc/Bdry/Circ/Donut/Elipse/Face/Helix/sKetch/Line/Mline/Node/Offset/pGon/Pline/sYmbol/Rect/revcloUd/Surf-or-Solid/Trace/Wiggle/Xline/Zigzag/ALTMENU:>
You will notice a number of additional options to those provided by generic AutoCAD such as <<Qikpik; an Autolisp function that will draw a selected object possessing the same properties of Color Layer etc.
You will also notice when you start to draw something a prompt different from the generic AutoCAD prompt thus:
PL <enter> or other MycadKEYS draw command produces an extended range of OSNAPS.
Command: PL <enter> produces:
OSNAPS…Along/Cen/noD/End/From/Gmid/Home/Int/Jmid/Kwik/parL/Mid/Nea/Per/Qua/inS/Tan/Vert/Xval/Yval/Zval/|ine
From point: <repeat>/[done]/<<point/OSNAP/kwiksnap>> NON:
Some of the OSNAP options are additional to the Standard AutoCAD options. For example Gmid seeks the General midpoint between two further specified points while Jmid seeks the midpoint between the ends of two lines.
A plethora of commands such as VIEW, VPORTS, MVIEW, VPOINT, DDVPOINT and WORKSPACE itself together with concepts such as MycadHELPER’s WorkZONEs make it difficult to both understand and remember the command words and what they do. Whether you use MycadHELPER, or not, it is worth reading the menu items relating to WorkZONES that distinguish between the drawing environment WORKSPACE and the intended resultant Production Drawings WORKZONES to be plotted.
MycadKEYS helps to resolve these issues by creating alaises using mnemonics (acronyms) that are more closely related to the command functions. Supporting notes indicate the function of the commands. MycadKEYS is a good way to learn the commands and remember the aliases.
A plethora of commands such as VIEW, VPORTS, MVIEW, VPOINT, DDVPOINT and WORKSPACE itself together with concepts such as MycadHELPER’s WorkZONEs make it difficult to both understand and remember the command words and what they do. Whether you use MycadHELPER, or not, it is worth reading the menu items relating to WorkZONES that distinguish between the drawing environment WORKSPACE and the intended resultant Production Drawings WORKZONES to be plotted.
MycadKEYS helps to resolve these issues by creating alaises using mnemonics (acronyms) that are more closely related to the command functions. Supporting notes indicate the function of the commands. MycadKEYS is a good way to learn the commands and remember the aliases.
WORKSPACE related commands a problem
A plethora of commands such as VIEW, VPORTS, MVIEW, VPOINT, DDVPOINT and WORKSPACE itself together with concepts such as MycadHELPER’s WorkZONEs make it difficult to both understand and remember the command words and what they do. Whether you use MycadHELPER, or not, it is worth reading the menu items relating to WorkZONES that distinguish between the drawing environment WORKSPACE and the intended resultant Production Drawings WORKZONES to be plotted.
WorkSPACE and WorkZONE command aliases start with “W” e.g.
| WD | Workspace Dynamic | DVIEW | Manages camera settings |
| WH+ | Workspace Hidden line ON | ||
| WR | WorkZONE Resolve | Shows layers for plotting a ZONE |
WorkSPACE is controlled by Layer visibility for editing
| LR | Layer Resolve – Shows layers that will be used in a WorkZONE |
| LR- | Layer Resolve minus |
| LR+ | Layer Resolve plus |
| LRP | Layer Resolve Previous |
A selection of command aliases:
| PA | Area | QA | Array | A | attedit | @ | Block | B | |
| Blockname | QB | Boundary | PB | breaK | K | Circle | PC | Copy | C |
| change | G | Dim | D | Dist | QD | Donut | PD | Draworder | VO |
| Ellipse | PE | Erase | E | explode | * | extend | JE | pFace | PF |
| Files | F | fillet | J | change | G | group | & | Help | ? |
| ID | QP | Insert | I | Join | J | Break | K | Layer | Y |
| Leader | TL | Length | QL | Line | PL | Linetype | | | list | QO |
| Layer | L | Mirror | / | Plan | VL | reverse | \ | Massprop | QM |
| Mline | PM | Move | M | Mtext | TM | mspace | F12 | mvieW | W |
| rename | N | Offset | PO | Design C. | < | Osnap | O | pan | Z |
| Place | P | Pline | PP | Point | PNode | polyGon | PG | pspace | F12 |
| Query | Q | Dist | QD | Qwikdraw | PQ | Ray | PXR | Rectang | PR |
| redraw | F4 | regenall | F5 | action… | > | Rotate | R | reName | N |
| scale | % | sKetch | PK | Solid | S | stretch | ¬ ~ | $tyle | $ |
| Text | T | tilemode | F11 | Time | QH | Trace | PT | Trim | JT |
| Units | =U | UCS | U | Undo | – | View | V | Vpoint | VP |
| vpLayer | WY | vports | W | Window | W | Xline | PX | Xref | X |
| Layer | L | Zoom | Z |
Non-alpha aliases:
| ~ | stretch | ¬ | stretch | % | scale | / | mirror | \ | reverse |
| * | explode | > | action… | < | design c. | $ | $tyle | & | group |
| = | settings | 3 | 3D | | | |inetype | ^ | select | { | custom |
| # | cal | + | render | – | undo | @ | attedit |
A selection of Layer aliases:
Many commands have both left and right pick option for normal or nested objects.
| -L | Layer AutoCAD dialog | L | Layer MycadKEYS | LD | MycadKEYS Dialog |
| L<< | Layer set normal | L.>> | Layer OFF nested | L+ | Layer ON |
| L+X | Layer ON eXcl. | L+* | Layer ON all unfrozen | L= | Layer ON |
| L=P | Layer ON Previous | L#orL3 | Layer ON all unfrozen | L- | Layer OFF |
| L-X | Layer OFF eXcl. | L.<< | Layer OFF normal | L.>> | Layer OFF nested |
| L-* | Layer OFF all | L? | Layer list | L?A | Layer list Alphabetically |
| L?C | Layer list Chrono. | L0 | Layer ON THAW SET 0 | L*orL8 | Layer THAW and ON all |
| LC | Layer Color | LC*N | Layer Color all by Name | LD | Layer Dialog (UILAYERS) |
| LE | Layer SET dEfpnts | LF | Layer Freeze | LFX. | Layer Freeze eXcl. |
| LF* | Layer Freeze all | LGorF7 | Layer length | LH | Layer Highlight (Hide all but) |
| L| | Layer Linetype | LL | Layer Lock | LL*N | later Line-type *all by Name |
| LM | Layer Make | LN | Layer New | LP | Layer Plot |
| LP+ | Layer Plot ON | LP- | Layer Plot OFF | LR | Layer Resolve |
| LR+ | Layer Resolve add | LR- | Layer Resolve remove | LS | Layer Set |
| LS | Layer Set Previous | LT | Layer Thaw | LT* | Layer Thaw all |
| LTP | Layer Thaw Previous | LU | Layer Unlock | LU* | Layer Unlock *all |
A selection of chanGe aliases:
| G. | chanGe AutoCAD version | G. | chanGe ACADUI version |
| GFO. | chanGe Field Object | GFC. | chanGe Field Color |
| GFL. | chanGe Field Line-type | GFS. | chanGe Field Status |
| GFD | chanGe Field Drawing-type | GFD+ | chanGe Field Drawing-type +add |
| GFD- | chanGe Field Drawing-type –remove | GFV | chanGe Field View |
| GFI | chanGe Field I.D. | GY | chanGe Layer |
| GC | chanGe Color – DOES NOT ADJUST LAYER NAME | GC*Y | chanGe Color all byLayer |
| G| | chanGe |inetype – DOES NOT ADJUST LAYER NAME | G|*Y | chanGe Line-type all byLayer |