What do you use Action Recorder for?

[bearden383]

Maybe the action recorder will inspire us to the next level of code, scr, etc.

respectfully,
Mike

Maybe Action Recorder is like the candy cigarettes of ACAD programming. Next you will want to do a couple more things and realize Action Recorder doesn't give you the same buzz as it used to. Be careful or you may end up addicted to lisp/scr like the rest of us.

[darthyoga]

The AR is invaluable when Im doing 50-100 rev updates to drawings that are all fairly similar (Loop Diagrams) I like LSP but have yet to master it and scripts take way to long to put together. That said Im pretty junior when it come to that sort if stuff.
The AR works for me and I use it quite a bit.

PS I thought it was useless when it came out but there have been improvements and it is editable now.

[ericallenstiles]

I am a Lisp programmer and I have found that the Action Recorder can be useful. I have found it best when you need to do something over and over again. I had 86 drawing that I needed to edit the legend. The legend being slightly different in all the drawings otherwise I would have just cut and pasted or created a block. With that in mind I created a couple of recordings and added some user input to my recordings where needed. I have to say it was quick and it probably took me a quarter of the time to edit those legends that it normally would have. I would not use the action recorder to create a program. It's only good for repetition where you may have a slight difference in the repetition. Otherwise you could use a script. I think it is a tool that will get used, it just won't get used a lot. So it's best to take sometime to get to know it so that you will realize when it's a good time to use it or not.

[jaberwok]

... it's best to take some time to get to know it so that you will realize when it's a good time to use it or not.

Always good advice.

[dg.210644]

I have several macros and yes, they're excellent for shorter, repetitive tasks. One just freezes all layers except the active one, one thaws all layers, one for putting callouts with text on plans, one that adds words under dimension lines, one that moves a dimension off the dimension line and places a leader line. Anything that can shorten the number of mouse clicks or typed Autocad commands is worth making into a macro. They're simple to make and if they had more editing capability, I'd use them even more.

[MBROWN.160848]

I use it to install rungs on my new drawings. All you do is enter the rung count when prompted, and all your rungs will be inserted almost instantly. We always place our rungs in the same position, so the recorder just automates it. It cuts down inserting rungs form about a minute per page to about 5 seconds per page.

[Dan-Albert]

I, contrary to most of the replies, do use Action Recorder. I create AutoCAD drawings for the manufacturing of fish hooks. Most items have several end layouts. First are the layouts for marketing, shown to customers, then are the detailed drawings for manufacturing, and then drawings for Q. C. and a set for our packagers and finally a set for future catalog graphics. In practice, the manufacturing department requires hooks with a "reverse" offset be drawn with the shank on one side of the hook, and those with a "kirbed" offset drawn on the opposite. All was well and good until marketing insisted the catalog drawings all have the shank on the same side, regardless. In order to not have to create separate drawings, I have learned to flip the view port UCS 180° on the y axis and 90° on the z axis. When there is a set of up to 20 sizes, it is a very time consuming process to open each viewport and rotate each hook drawing so the plate is acceptable. A simple recorded macro created in Action Recorder works quite well. Now I just enter "rc" (Rotate for Catalog) and one viewport is given the needed UCS plan view and moved to the next viewport. I simply tap the space bar until they are all rotated. Then it is only a matter of orienting the space of each viewport with zoom to 1 to 1 scale and ALINGSPACE. I haven't figured out how to automate that much yet, but I probably will one day.

Another Action I have developed is for changing a layout from a barbed hook to a non-barbed hook. These are views of the same drawing with lines representing the barb on one layer and lines representing a non-barbed hook on another layer. On each layout for manufacturing there are 2 representations of the hook drawing, a 1 to 1 for laying a sample on the drawing, and a dimensioned 5 to 1 for use on a comparator. If a barbed hook is now going to have a non-barbed version, I copy the layout,change the title block to reflect the non-barbed specification, and type "nb" for a macro to go into each viewport and turn on the non-barb layer and turn off the barbed layer. This macro adjusts 3 viewports, as that is common. The layouts showing all the sizes gets the same treatment, I copy the layout and runn the "nb" macro until all the barbed hooks are now shown as non-barbed hooks.

These are only two examples. It would be nice if the feature were editable. One can delete some commands, but when I wanted to reverse the command to change a non-barbed drawing to a barbed drawing, I had to start from scratch. I thought I could copy the macro, which I could, and change the names of the layers turned on and off. No ability to do so.

I think any often repeated task that is not too complicated, is candidate for Action Recorder.

[Liamnacuac]

Back about a hundred years ago, I used Bentley's Pwerdraft, and it had a simple Basic recorder that seemed similar to Action Rcorder. Te difference is that with the Basic Recorder, you would push Record, it would then record all commands you selected or typed, and when you were done you pushed the stop button. Then you saved it where you wanted to, and when you played it........it worked.

There was something called Hurricane that was like that as well..

[jlara.182874]

Wow! I am not sure if I can understand everyone's lack of appreciation for the Action recorder, but I find it very helpful as a CAD/BIM Manager to maintain my office standards. I use it for several reasons, but one main reason, file exiting.
I always encourage my staff to keep their files neat and clean. Which means upon exiting the drawing, zoom extents, purge, -purge (registered applications), audit and close. So instead of my users having to perform five different commands to exit a drawing, I created an action file and saved it on a shared server. Now it is sooooooo easy for them to keep their files tidy.
Remember it doesn't need to be so complicated, just select the record button and work through the commands. Then name your file and save it to a server location where all users can access it. You can edit the saved action file through the Action Tree (Manage panel, Action Recorder tab, black pull down arrow).
I hope this gives you a better sense of how you can benefit from the Action recorder.
(version 2010)

[curtisj]

I've used it for a few things but the most success was in laying out curvlinear parking lots. It would take an existing stall marking block, and use the measure command to lay them perpendicular to the edge of the bay at the specified interval. Simple but saves a ton of user entry time at the keyboard.

I can see how this would be a great intro to new users, keep it up. I also see, being an old user, the limitations and I am also frustrated by them. Things like using the Recorder to set up a new standard drawing, migrating an old drawing to a new standard or other repetitive tasks - it just falls short.