How to read blogs

I read my blogs using Bloglines. I use a notifier to tell me when new items are published on some of the blogs I have in my blogroll. It places a small icon on the task bar. I only have notification for some of the blogs, otherwise it would pop up every minute. Other blog readers are RSS Bandit and SharpReader.

Blogroll

This blog space is only used for my public blogroll. http://www.bloglines.com/blog/JTBWorld

Make MSN Deskbar smaller

This is a tip how to make MSN Deskbar smaller on the taskbar. Open up regedit (if you don't know how to modify the Windows Registry, be careful!) and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSN Apps\DB. Add a DWORD value with the name "Buttons" and change the value of "Buttons" to "1". Then restart the Deskbar by hiding and showing it - the Deskbar is now just a text box. To access the options and other settings that now are hidden you can get them on the MSN toolbar in Internet Explorer.

RobiNZ Blog: Understanding and Reading a Blog -- John C. Dvorak

Since so many are new to blogs. RobiNZ Blog: Understanding and Reading a Blog -- John C. Dvorak Thanks for the link Robin. /Jimmy

A Practical Usage of eTransmit

Here is an article "A Practical Usage of eTransmit" that was published in the International CAD Council Newsletter for November.

Quick plotting in AutoCAD using the previous plot settings

In AutoCAD you might have noticed that you can plot using the last or previous settings you plotted with. In the Plot dialog box and the Page setup name drop down box there is the entry Previous Plot.  If you want to plot quite many drawings with the same setting it takes some seconds to open the Plot dialog box and select this option. To make this quicker you can use any of the following tips:
1) Create a Toolbar button and add this code to it: ^C^C(command "-plot" "no" "" "previous plot" "" "" "" "");
2) Add a new Tool on the Tool Palette and add the above code to it.
3) Create a quick command for it named PP by using the following code:
(defun c:pp ()
  (command "-plot" "no" "" "previous plot" "" "" "" "")
  (princ)
)
This code can be added to any of your automatically loaded lisp files. For example acaddoc.lsp

Now use it like this. Plot one drawing using the Plot command and set the settings like you want. Then for the rest of the drawings use any of the 3 above tips.

MSN Toolbar Suite is great

I've run MSN Toolbar Suite now for a while and it's great! Index your computer and find most everything that you're looking for within a second. http://toolbar.msn.com Check out how to make desktop shortcuts.

New Autodesk Subscription Benefits

Subscription is getting better.
Flexible Use of Previous Versions of Autodesk Software
Subscription Center End User Allocation - If you have 100 network licenses you previously could only invite 100 users, now you can invite 3 users per license to access web support and e-learning.
AutoCAD LT on Subscription - Now even for those with less than 50 licenses.
Read more here.

AutoCAD 2005 Webcasts Archive

Webcasts on the following subjects can be found here. Customizing Tool Palettes in AutoCAD 2005 Creating Tables in AutoCAD 2005 Managing Sheets in AutoCAD 2005 Utilizing Fields in AutoCAD 2005

Convert DWF to DWG

Did you know that you can convert from DWF to DWG using Autodesk DWF Viewer and AutoCAD?

In the DWG Viewer zoom into the area you want to convert and select Copy from the Edit menu (in DWF Composer select Copy Drawing).


Then in AutoCAD run Paste Special from the Edit menu and select the option AutoCAD Entities.


You will end up with AutoCAD objects like 2D Polylines and text with colors retained. One some tests I did I found out that some True Type fonts where converted correctly when others did just show up question marks or other characters.


If the text was really small when viewed in the viewer it just ended up as a rectangular box. To get them as text you have to zoom in closer to the text within the viewer before copying.


Other observations where that the font names where named like" WMF-SansSerif Bold4eeb5e80" and the like. You will also loose in precision depending on the settings used when publishing the DWF.


Conclusion is that it's not a good conversion but could be useful sometimes.

Programming Language Popularity: The TCP Index for November, 2004

Programming Language Popularity: The TCP Index for November, 2004 (Visual) Basic is at the 4:th position and LISP at the 16:th.

Hide field background in AutoCAD

Fields are more and more used and you might have noticed that there is a grey background on them. If you want to hide this background you can use the FIELDDISPLAY system variable and set it to 0. The variable has the initial value of 1 that means that the grey background is displayed.

ADT: Restrict access to PSDs

Do you need to restrict the access to PSD's (Property Set Definition) in ADT? With the hidden command AecPropertySetAccess you can make a PSD visible or hidden, writeable or read only.

ADT: Restrict access to PSD's

Do you need to restrict the access to PSD's (Property Set Definition) in ADT? With the hidden command AecPropertySetAccess you can make a PSD visible or hidden, writeable or read only.

IE vs Firefox

Here is an interesting interview I've read with a Microsoft Windows Executive about this.
Part 1
Part 2

PS. I'm using Avant Browser with IE 6 SP2 when I write this. I'm quite satisfied with it. I've also started to try Firefox at home. What do you use?

ADT Update Space Tips

Here is a ADT tips how to create a tool on the tool palette to quickly update a space if the boundaries have been changed.

• Start the CUSTOMIZE command.
• Select the Commands tab.
• Select the User defined category.
• Drag and drop the User Defined Button to the palette.
• Close the Customize dialog box.
• Right click on the new tool and select properties.
• As Command string enter: ^C^C(command "SPACEAUTOGENERATE" "UP" (setq p (getpoint)) p "" "")

Now all you have to do to update the space is to click on the tool and then click on the space.

DWF Composer SP1 released

DWF Composer has been around for a while and now the first service pack is released. One for DWF Composer and another one for DWG Viewer.

Pedit on steroids

I've updated this lisp that is useful if you want to quickly join lines, arcs and polylines into a polyline including a fuzz distance.

http://www.jtbworld.com/lisp/pljoinfuzz.htm

Technorati: AutoCAD

Create a data link file (UDL) using code

Have you ever wondered how create a data link file (UDL) using code? Here is a sample using VB.NET:

Private Sub CreateUDL()
  Dim sStr As String
  Dim bStr() As Byte

  FileOpen(1, "c:\temp.udl", OpenMode.Binary, OpenAccess.Write)

  FilePut(1, CByte(&HFFS), 1)
  FilePut(1, CByte(&HFES), 2)

  sStr = "[oledb]" & vbCrLf
  bStr = System.Text.UnicodeEncoding.Unicode.GetBytes(sStr)
  FilePut(1, bStr)

  sStr = "; Everything after this line is an OLE DB initstring" & vbCrLf
  bStr = System.Text.UnicodeEncoding.Unicode.GetBytes(sStr)
  FilePut(1, bStr)

  ' Access Database
  ' sStr = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" & _
  '        "C:\accessDB.mdb;Persist Security Info=False"

  ' SQL Server connection
  ' sStr = "Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;" & _
           "Persist Security Info=False;" & _
           "Initial Catalog=GB1114;Data Source=EMTNT15"

  ' ODBC data
  sStr = "Provider=MSDASQL.1;Persist Security Info=False;Data Source=GB1114"
  bStr = System.Text.UnicodeEncoding.Unicode.GetBytes(sStr)
  FilePut(1, bStr)

  FileClose(1)
End Sub

Here is one using VB or VBA:

' Sample that shows how to create a data link file (UDL) using VB or VBA.
Sub Main()
    Dim bStr() As Byte

    Open "c:\temp.udl" For Binary Access Write As 1

    Put #1, 1, CByte(&HFF)
    Put #1, 2, CByte(&HFE)

    bStr = "[oledb]" & vbCrLf
    Put #1, , bStr

    bStr = "; Everything after this line is an OLE DB initstring" & vbCrLf
    Put #1, , bStr

    ' Access Database
    ' bStr = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\accessDB.mdb;" & _
             "Persist Security Info=False"

    ' SQL Server connection
    ' bStr = "Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;" & _
             "Persist Security Info=False;" & _
             "Initial Catalog=GB1114;Data Source=EMTNT15"

    ' ODBC data
    bStr = "Provider=MSDASQL.1;Persist Security Info=False;Data Source=GB1114"
    Put #1, , bStr

    Close #1
End Sub

Technorati: VB.NET, VB, VBA

Welcome to my blog

I will cover things I hope you will find interesting like code samples, tips & trix, news and other stuff related to CAD, engineering, software development and more.

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Best regards Jimmy Bergmark www.jtbworld.com