MSCAD Tablet Menu

Many of our customers have been asking for a tablet menu for MSCAD. We are pleased to offer one and below are the instructions on how to load the menu, plot out the tablet drawing, and configure everything so it works as you expect.

Before you can run any of the following steps, you must have already loaded the correct and current WINTAB driver for your digitizing tablet to allow it to work as a pointing device in Windows and in MSCAD.

Step 1) Download and save the files.

From our web-site, download the Tablet Menu files (see link immediately below). You will need to use either WinZip or Pkunzip to unzip the files. We recommend that you save them in the C:\MSCAD2002\COMMON directory on your computer. This way we all know where the files are and we all have them the same in case assistance is required.

Download the Tablet Menu files here. (zip format - unzip and continue...)

STEP 2) Plot the Tablet Drawing for use with your digitizing tablet.

Open the drawing called TABLET-2002.FLX. It should looks something like this:

Next you need to plot the drawing. Pick the print button in the top left corner of the screen or go to the File menu to the Print command. On the option bar pick the EXTENTS option, to grab the entire drawing.

Next you will see the standard print/plot dialogue box. Here are a few things to set before plotting;

• Units: Inch
• Scale: 1 inch on paper = 1 drawing unit
• Scale: Scaled or Poster (depends upon the size of your paper.)
• Configure: Set every colour to 0.02 for optimum line width. Also ensure the Use Line Width Settings option is turned on.

We recommend plotting in black and white but if you choose to plot in colour then feel free to do so. The tablet drawing is split into several different regions based upon colour.

Once plotted, be sure to attach it to your digitizing tablet.

Step 3) Loading and configuring the tablet menu.

To load the tablet menu you type the command TABLET. Load the tablet menu called MSCAD2002.MNT by picking on it and then picking the open button. We recommend that you save the MSCAD2002.MNT file in your C:\MSCAD2002\COMMON directory but you may place it in another location of your choice.

Once loaded, the tablet menu will be available until you exit the program. You will need to reload the tablet menu each time you start the program unless you load it automatically via the INI file (described later in this document in Step 4).

To use the tablet you need to configure it so it knows how many menu areas there are and where they are located. To do this we type the command TABCONFIG. This only needs to be done once, not every time you start the program.

When you run the TABCONFIG command you will see the above dialogue box.

We supply you with the tablet menu but this allows you to configure the tablet so you know where the commands will appear. There can be up to 8 different menu sections - we only use 2 in our menu. On the left pick the WINDOW, #1 and #2 options. Also pick the Identify button at the top left and finally the Start Configuration button. Now with the puck on the tablet, pick the lower left corner of the screen window, then the top right corner. You should see the numbers in the dialogue box change as you move your puck around. Now do the same with window #1 and Window #2. There are small rings or donuts at the correct location in the Tablet drawing at the locations to pick. Once you have defined all three locations you can pick the OK button. This information is now saved permanently into the MSCAD31.INI file so you will not have to redefine any of this unless you have changes or move the tablet drawing.

STEP 4) Automatic loading of the tablet menu.

To activate the tablet automatically every time you start MSCAD you need to open the following file for editing purposes.

C:\WINDOWS\MSCAD2002.INI

When you do you will see a long list of options - scroll down until you can see the portion shown below.

TabMenuFile=

TabAutoStart=0

PdMenuFile=C:\MSCAD2002\common\FEET.MNU

[Tablet]

TabWindow=4722,288,10516,5111

TabSection_1=654,5209,10493,10196

TabSection_2=675,102,4599,5104

TabSection_3=0,0,0,0

TabSection_4=0,0,0,0

TabSection_5=0,0,0,0

TabSection_6=0,0,0,0

TabSection_7=0,0,0,0

TabSection_8=0,0,0,0

Change the following two lines in the MSCAD2002.INI file to read as follows:

TabMenuFile=C:\MSCAD2002\COMMON\MSCAD2002.MNT

TabAutoStart=1

The first of the two lines tell MSCAD which tablet menu to load and the second line tell MSCAD to automatically load it each time you start the program.

The rest of the lines in this section should show you the same numbers you set in the TABCONFIG command above because they are stored here for safe keeping and so you don't have to run the TABCONFIG command each time you run MSCAD.

Have fun with the new method of picking commands.

Glen W. Cameron, C.E.T.

Technical Support Manager