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Open Design Center to Specific Folders
Tip# 3403 By Leonid Nemirovsky On 19-Apr-2010
4
Rated By 3 users
Categories : Misc. Palettes
Software type : AutoCAD 2011
Rename File To : No Files to download.
A tip and code to have AutoCAD's Design Center open where you choose.

Frequent tipster Leonid Nemirovsky sends us a tip and some code to help open AutoCAD's Design Center palette in a particular folder and avoid browsing to the drawing you're looking for.

The command ADCNavigate starts the Design Center and asks you to enter the preferred folder location. Furthermore, you can create a very simple macro (see code below) to have Design Center open exactly where you want it to. For example, if you have a drawing called MYBLOCKS.DWG with specific electric symbols blocks in:

       P:MY_FOLDERMY_LOCATION

The code will look like this (notice the extra "" in the code):

(defun c:acn()
(command "adcnavigate" "P:MY_FOLDERMY_LOCATIONMYBLOCKS.DWG)")
(princ)
)
 

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Patrol: Design Center is a very useful tool. It can help you import styles, blocks, linetypes, and more from one drawing into another. You can open it by pressing Ctrl+3, or by entering the command Len shares with us here. Note that in his tip, the code needs to have to slash marks (). That's because in LISP, the slash mark has a specific meaning; typing it in this way lets AutoCAD know that you are looking for a subfolder.

 

Average Rating:
4


User comments
Comment by Anonymous
Posted on 2010-04-19 16:21:42
doesn't work in mine. :( I'm runnning AutoCAD 2010 x64 in Win7x64 and have had other problems with DC, too.
Comment by Clark,Phil
Posted on 2010-04-19 16:32:34
It's always been my understanding that you should use either forward slash (/) or 2 back slashes (\) in folder paths. It doesn't appear to work as shown. Does the extra parenthesis before the closing quote have any affect on this or is that a typo?
Comment by nemirovsky,len
Posted on 2010-04-20 09:12:46
It is a typo, I am afraid mine :( should read P:MY_FOLDERMY_LOCATION first apperance and in the code (defun c:acn() (command "adcnavigate" "P:/MY_FOLDERMY_LOCATIONMYBLOCKS.DWG)") (princ) )
Comment by Wooten,Billy
Posted on 2010-04-20 14:23:59
I made a slight modification to Len's routine. This Lisp file opens Design Center in the folder of the current drawing. I'm using rel. 2009 (defun c:acn() (command "adcnavigate" (getvar "DWGPREFIX")) (princ) ) Billy Wooten
Comment by Anderson,Jim
Posted on 2010-04-22 04:39:04
Great idea, but can it be converted to an non-LISP version for AutoCAD LT?