Aliases in IntelliCAD

Aliases? I thought this is about IntelliCAD. And this isn't the secret service or so. I know. But aliases have to do with IntelliCAD.

If you want to start a command, then you can click on a button in one of the toolbars. But you can also type a key in the keyboard.

Suppose you want to start the Line command. You can click on the Line button in the Draw 2D toolbar. But you can also press the L key.

Press the L key and press the right mouse button. Or the Enter key. And the Line command is started. You can now draw a line or lines.

The L key. That's called an alias. It's an alias for the Line command. There are many aliases in IntelliCAD. You can have a look at them.

Click on Tools in the menu bar and on Customize in the pull down menu. The Customize dialog box opens. In it are four tabs.

Click on the Aliases tab. You'll see two list boxes. In the listbox at the left are all the aliases. In the other listbox are the commands.

Click on an alias in the list box at the left. The command that belongs to the alias will be highlighted in the list box at the right.

All the aliases are stored in the IntelliCAD program. But you can change that. Maybe you want to change an alias.

Click on the New button. The Alias edit box below the list box at the left will be activated. Here you can type the name of the new alias.

Next select a command in the list box at the right. And then lick on the Assign button. The command is now assigned to the new alias.

You can check what command is activated by using an alias. Click on the name of an alias in the list box at the left. The command is highlighted.

In the Customize dialog box you find the New button, the Delete button, and the Assign button. You know how you can use the New button and the Assign button.

The Delete button can be used to delete an alias. Select the alias in the list box at the left. Next click on the Delete button.

At the bottom of the dialog box are four more buttons. There you find the Close button, the Import button, the Export button, and the Rest button.

The Close button is clicked to close the Customize dialog box. You were doing something with aliases and now you want to go back to IntelliCAD.

Let's first talk about the Export button. You have created your own aliases. And now you want to save them in a file.

Click on the Export button. The Select Alias File dialog box opens., In it you can give the alias file a name and select a folder.

The alias file can be saved in two formats. You can save it in the ICA format or you can save it in the PGP format. That's an AutoCAD format.

This is how these files look. I only give the first five lines of each file. You can recognize the alias and the command that's connected to it.

ICA file

[IntelliCAD Custom Alias File] nAliases=247 [Alias-0] Alias=3A LocalCommand=3DARRAY GlobalCommand=_3DARRAY

PGP file

; BricsCad Generated PGP file.

3A,*3DARRAY 3DFACE,*FACE 3DLINE,*LINE

Now the Insert command. You have created your own aliases. And you have saved them in a file. Now you want to use that file.

Click on the Import button. The Select Alias File dialog box opens., You can now select your alias file. It is opened and used.

All the aliases are generated by the IntelliCAD program. They are not stored in a file. And now you have created your own aliases.

If you want to go back to the way as generated by IntelliCAD, then click on the Rest button. The aliases you created are removed.

Aliases. As you can see. It has nothing to do with the secret service. It has everything to do with nIntelliCAD.

It is in fact a feature that is also found in AutoCAD. Some users prefer to use the keyboard to start a command. True. It's quicker.


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