Notes on the philosophy of CUI

[RobertB]

You need to define workspaces (via the CUI editor) to reliably display the items you want displayed.

[mcoffman]

Ok, I'll look into that. How would workspaces affect the display of recent files in the File menu? Isn't that part of the File menu by default? Doesn't the workspace only define whether or not the File menu is displayed and where? Also, could you please define Verticals? I've been seeing that term in use on this forum and I'm not sure what it's refering to. I'm not quite sure what you mean by using a different user.cui for each vertical. If you mean each seat and/or user station has it's own local custom user.cui then of course, that would make sense. I'm only using ACAD '06 so if you're referring to using the same CUI across several different types of ACAD then that is not the case of what's going on here.

Thank you,
MC

[mcoffman]

You will not be able to use the same user.cui file for each vertical. You will need separate cui files that rely on vertical-only cui files. Getting rid of the unresolved items is a whole other issue. You will probably need to rebuild the workspaces to getrid of them.

Ok, I think I understand what you're saying now. I can't have an enterprise.cui refering to the ACAD.cui then use that same cui on everyone elses workstation? Do I need to set each person up with an enterprise.cui that refers to their own local acad.cui? I was under the impression that when a cui was set up to have the acad.cui as a partial under it using the user login pathing that the path would reference the local user location of the ACAD.cui regardless of which computer it was loaded to.

MC

[jpaulsen]

I got a response from Autodesk Subscription Support regarding the unresolved errors.

"The error is caused when a Workspace refers to elements that are stored in Partial CUI files that are attached to an Enterprise CUI.

We apologize that there is no workaround for this issue. Although it does not help you today, I just received word today that the issue has been fixed in AutoCAD 2007."

[RobertB]

Ok, I'll look into that. How would workspaces affect the display of recent files in the File menu? Isn't that part of the File menu by default? Doesn't the workspace only define whether or not the File menu is displayed and where? Also, could you please define Verticals? I've been seeing that term in use on this forum and I'm not sure what it's refering to. I'm not quite sure what you mean by using a different user.cui for each vertical. If you mean each seat and/or user station has it's own local custom user.cui then of course, that would make sense. I'm only using ACAD '06 so if you're referring to using the same CUI across several different types of ACAD then that is not the case of what's going on here.

I don't know how it affects the MRU list. I doubt workspaces have any effect, as the File menu is just a menu element.

Verticals is the term used to generically describe any of the software packages based on AutoCAD, e.g. ADT, LDD, ABS.

What I was getting at is that if you need to support Acad.cui and then also ADT.cui, you will need a CustomAcad. cui and a separate CustomADT.cui for the main cui file, one to support vanilla AutoCAD, and one for ADT.

[RobertB]

Ok, I think I understand what you're saying now. I can't have an enterprise.cui refering to the ACAD.cui then use that same cui on everyone elses workstation?

No, that's not true. In our office we have the following structure:

Main
Custom.cui (local to workstation)

Enterprise
MW.cui (shared network location)
Acad.cui (partial, local to workstation)
AcETMain.cui (partial, local to workstation)

I was under the impression that when a cui was set up to have the acad.cui as a partial under it using the user login pathing that the path would reference the local user location of the ACAD.cui regardless of which computer it was loaded to.

Note that the local files are on the support path. The enterprise cui file is storing the location of the partials without path information due to that fact.

[RobertB]

I got a response from Autodesk Subscription Support regarding the unresolved errors.

"The error is caused when a Workspace refers to elements that are stored in Partial CUI files that are attached to an Enterprise CUI.

We apologize that there is no workaround for this issue. Although it does not help you today, I just received word today that the issue has been fixed in AutoCAD 2007."

That is a bit misleading... the unresolved items will only happen if the workspaces get confused. I have plenty of workspaces that refer to elements in partial cui files attached to my enterprise cui file. But I am not mixing verticals, either!

[mcoffman]

Hmmm, sounds like I'll need to do some more experimenting with cui setups to see what happens.

I'm only using AutoCAD 2006 so mixing verticals is not an issue here. I'll try out some more things and see what happens. Thanks for your time and I'll post my results.

MC

[krushert]

Okay I am newbie with setting & using the CUI. So I have bunch of questions. Currently I (not the remaining 7 Seats) made the jump from ADT 2005 to ADT 2007. I want to get a jump on any changes that Autodesk has made that will throw my users into tizzy. I and another person have (or HAD) modified the mnu file and such such. So most of my users just turn on and off tool bars as they see fit and only three of us have hot keys.

Questions:
1.) There is talk of having a Office Menus (enterprise.CUI) eventually. So I would like to Have my users Save there customization to the User.CUI file so therefore I when Do set up a Office.CUI I wont mess with the users. How do I tell ACAD to save to the User.CUI?

2.) Is there a 101 Document for messing with CUI? I have never had good luck with Autocad's Help menu.


3.) This seems alot for my use.

What I was getting at is that if you need to support Acad.cui and then also ADT.cui, you will need a CustomAcad. cui and a separate CustomADT.cui for the main cui file, one to support vanilla AutoCAD, and one for ADT.

We only probaly use 40 precent of ADT. We actually use ADT and vanilla ACAD at the same time. For example , I have pull downs from both platforms. Do I need all the CUI's when I go with the office.cui?


4.) Are you guys working off a Network license?

No, that's not true. In our office we have the following structure:

Main
Custom.cui (local to workstation)

Enterprise
MW.cui (shared network location)
Acad.cui (partial, local to workstation)
AcETMain.cui (partial, local to workstation)

Note that the local files are on the support path. The enterprise cui file is storing the location of the partials without path information due to that fact.

Mostly likely we will be deploying a Single Seat Single License for each seat though I am trying to convince them to go the Multiple Seat Single License. Will this affect the how the CUI is set up? I believe not but unsure.

Thanks. BTW: great thread on the philosophy of CUI. I understand the "why" I just need to know the "how"

[Mike.Perry]

<SNIP>

2.) Is there a 101 Document for messing with CUI? I have never had good luck with Autocad's Help menu.

<SNIP>

Hi

Assuming you have worked your way through all the information found within this thread.

Take a look at this thread ( CUI and workspace videos from Autodesk ).

Have a good one, Mike