Ribbons and Tool Palettes

A reader asks:

I bought your ebook "Tailoring AutoCAD 2010 CUI." Great information and very clear. I am using AutoCAD Architecture 2010. I have some custom tool palettes with tools that I would like to get into the Ribbon.

I can't seem to find a way to link the tools from the host drawing into the Ribbon. Do you know of a way to do this? 

     - JSB

I am unfamiliar with Architecture, but your question fascinated me. I had never thought of this situation. I tried it out in AutoCAD 2010, and found it is not possible. Tools from the Tools palette cannot be placed in the Ribbon. Perhaps this is the reason that the Tools palette has its own customization command (Customize); it is independent of CUI.

  The only thing you could do is to customize the Workspace so that the appropriate Tools palette appears when you start AutoCAD and/or Architecture. To do this:

1. Start CUI command.

2. Open Workspaces node.

3. Open an existing workspace, or create a new one.

4. Over in the Workspace Contents area, open the Palettes node.

5. Open the Tools Palette node.

6. Down in the Properties section, click the Default Group droplist, and then choose the name of a Tools palette group.

To customize Tools palette groups, use the Customize command. It lets you group individual tabs (aka palettes) by named groups.

 

Comments

[Norm C.]

To my knowledge, Microsoft licences freely the Ribbon, but with strict guidelines, and one of them is no customization.

It is not possible either to add tools to the Ribbon in Solid Edge and Solidworks. Worse, in SE, the only place you can add tools is the Quick Access Toolbar. You can't add tool palettes anymore...

[RobiNZ]

AFAIK this isn't possible in 2010. We have most our content and all custom tools palette based.
The whole Content Browser/palette/tools structure is not CUI based (dates back to ADT 2004) and is based on a mix of local and, potentially, network based files.

In some ways it's better than the CUI as the same Content Browser, Palettes and tools (all xml files) can be used in any version from 2004+, at the same time. Try that with a CUI :)

[David Koch]

It is possible in AutoCAD Architecture 2010. Use the AECRIBBONTOOL command to reference any tool palette tool in the current workspace. (That is how the ootb tools that reference ribbon tools work.)

More here:
http://architects-desktop.blogspot.com/2009/06/autocad-architecture-2010-ui-changes.html