Create a Shortcut Menu

Shortcut menus are displayed at or near the location of your cursor when you right-click on the pointing device. The shortcut menu and the options it provides depend on the location of the cursor and other conditions, such as whether an object is selected or a command is in progress.

Context-sensitive shortcut menus display menu options that are relative to the current command or the selected object when you right-click.

Shortcut Menu Aliases

Shortcut menus are referenced by their aliases and are used in specific situations. In the Customize User Interface (CUI) Editor, the alias names must follow the proper naming conventions. For example, the shortcut menu named “Default Menu” displays the following information in the Aliases section of the Properties pane:

POP501, CMDEFAULT

CMDEFAULT is one of the reserved aliases that the program looks for in specific situations. In this case, the shortcut menu assigned the alias CMDEFAULT is displayed if no objects are selected and no command is in progress when you right-click over the drawing window.

Aliases for context-sensitive shortcut menus must be numbered between POP500 and POP999, with the exception of the Object Snap menu which uses an alias of POP0. The following aliases are reserved for use by the program:

Program aliases for shortcut menus
Alias	Description
GRIPS	Defines the Hot Grip shortcut menu. (Right-click the drawing area while a grip on an object is selected.)
CMDEFAULT	Defines the Default mode shortcut menu. (Right-click the drawing area while no command is active and no objects are selected.)
CMEDIT	Defines the Edit mode shortcut menu. (Right-click the drawing area while one or more objects are selected, no grips are selected, and no command is active.)
CMCOMMAND	Defines the Command mode menu. (Right-click the drawing area while a command is active.) In addition to the content of the CMCOMMAND menu, the command’s options (keywords within the square brackets) are inserted into this menu.
SNAP	Defines the Object Snap menu. (Shift+right-click the drawing area.)

Object Specific Shortcut Menus

The CMEDIT and CMCOMMAND shortcut menus can be made context-sensitive. In addition to the content of the CMEDIT menu, the appropriate object menu (if it exists) is inserted into this menu when one or more of a specific object type are selected. Object menus use either of the following naming conventions:

OBJECT_objectname

OBJECTS_objectname

If a single object is selected, the OBJECT_objectname menu is used, and if more than one of the same object type is selected, the OBJECTS_objectname menu is used. If no OBJECT_objectname is available, the program uses the OBJECTS_objectname menu (if it exists).

The object name used for the alias is the drawing interchange format (DXF^™) name of the object in most cases except for inserted objects. The following table shows the object names that are specific to inserted objects (blocks, dynamic blocks, and xrefs).

Object names specific to insert objects
Object Name	Description
ATTBLOCKREF	Block reference with attributes
ATTDYNBLOCKREF	Dynamic block reference with attributes
BLOCKREF	Block reference without attributes
DYNBLOCKREF	Dynamic block reference without attributes
XREF	External reference (xref)

For example, to support an object-specific shortcut menu for one or more selected block references, you would create or modify a shortcut menu and change its properties to those in the following table. The important property to change is Aliases, which would need to modified to include the alias OBJECTS_BLOCKREF.

Properties for the Block Reference Objects shortcut menu
Properties pane item	Description	Example
Name	String that is only used in the CUI Editor and is not displayed in the user interface.	Block Objects Menu
Description	Text used to describe the element; does not appear in the user interface.	Shortcut menu for block objects
Aliases	Specifies the aliases for the shortcut menu. Click the […] button to open the Aliases dialog box. Each alias in the CUIx file should be unique and it is used to reference the shortcut menu programmatically.	POP512,OBJECTS_BLOCKREF
Element ID	Tag that uniquely identifies a shortcut menu.	PM_0021

Command Specific Shortcut Menus

Like the CMEDIT menu, the CMCOMMAND menu can contain context-sensitive commands. Menus named COMMAND_commandname control which commands are appended to the CMCOMMAND menu when a command is active. The text of commandname can be any valid AutoCAD command, including custom-defined or third-party commands.

In many cases, you can enter a hyphen before a command to suppress the display of a dialog box and display prompts for the command instead. To create a context-sensitive menu for a command that displays prompts instead of a dialog box (such as -INSERT), you need to name the menu COMMAND_-INSERT.

See Also

To create a shortcut menu (Procedure)
To add a command to a shortcut menu (Procedure)
To change the caption of a menu item on a shortcut menu (Procedure)

Procedure

To create a shortcut menu

Do one of the following:

To create a standard shortcut menu
1. Click Manage tab Customization panel User Interface. At the Command prompt, enter cui.
2. In the Customize User Interface Editor, Customize tab, in the Customizations In <file name> pane, right-click Shortcut Menus. Click New Shortcut Menu.
  
  The new shortcut menu (named ShortcutMenu1) is placed at the bottom of the Menus tree.
3. Do one of the following:
  - Enter a new name over the default name ShortcutMenu1.
  - Right-click ShortcutMenu1. Click Rename. Enter a new shortcut menu name.
  - Click ShortcutMenu1, wait, and click again over the shortcut menu’s name to edit its name in-place.
4. In the Properties pane, Description box, optionally enter a description for the shortcut menu.
5. In the Aliases box, click the […] button.
6. In the Aliases dialog box, press Enter so you are on a new line. Enter additional aliases for the menu, and after each one, press Enter. An alias is automatically assigned, and defaults to the next available POP number, based on the number of shortcut menus already loaded in the program.
7. In the Command List pane, drag the command that you want to add to the location just below the shortcut menu in the Customizations In <file name> pane.
8. Continue adding commands until the new shortcut menu is complete.
9. Click Apply.
To create a command shortcut menu
In order for the commands on the shortcut menu to appear when a command is active, make sure to use the alias COMMAND_commandname. For example, if you want the commands on the shortcut menu to appear when using the LINE command use the alias COMMAND_LINE. The commands from the shortcut menu will appear at the bottom of the shortcut menu with the alias CMCOMMAND when it is displayed.
1. Click Manage tab Customization panel User Interface. At the Command prompt, enter cui.
2. In the Customize User Interface Editor, Customize tab, in the Customizations In <file name> pane, right-click Shortcut Menus. Click New Shortcut Menu.
  
  The new shortcut menu (named ShortcutMenu1) is placed at the bottom of the Menus tree.
3. Do one of the following:
  - Enter a new name over the default name ShortcutMenu1.
  - Right-click ShortcutMenu1. Click Rename. Enter a new shortcut menu name.
  - Click ShortcutMenu1, wait, and click again over the shortcut menu’s name to edit its name in-place.
4. In the Properties pane, Description box, optionally enter a description for the shortcut menu.
5. In the Aliases box, click the […] button.
6. In the Aliases dialog box, press Enter so you are on a new line. Enter additional aliases for the menu, and after each one, press Enter. An alias is automatically assigned, and defaults to the next available POP number, based on the number of shortcut menus already loaded in the program.
7. In the Command List pane, drag the command that you want to add to the location just below the shortcut menu in the Customizations In <file name> pane.
8. Continue adding commands until the new shortcut menu is complete.
9. Click Apply.
To create an object shortcut menu
In order for the commands on the shortcut menu to appear when an object or objects of the same type are selected, make sure to use the alias OBJECT_objecttype or OBJECTS_objecttype. For example, if you want the commands on the shortcut menu to appear when a LINE object is selected in the drawing, use the alias OBJECT_LINE. The commands from the shortcut menu will appear near the top of the shortcut menu with the alias CMEDIT when it is displayed.
1. Click Manage tab Customization panel User Interface. At the Command prompt, enter cui.
2. In the Customize User Interface Editor, Customize tab, in the Customizations In <file name> pane, right-click Shortcut Menus. Click New Shortcut Menu.
  
  The new shortcut menu (named ShortcutMenu1) is placed at the bottom of the Menus tree.
3. Do one of the following:
  - Enter a new name over the default name ShortcutMenu1.
  - Right-click ShortcutMenu1. Click Rename. Enter a new shortcut menu name.
  - Click ShortcutMenu1, wait, and click again over the shortcut menu’s name to edit its name in-place.
4. In the Properties pane, Description box, optionally enter a description for the shortcut menu.
5. In the Aliases box, click the […] button.
6. In the Aliases dialog box, press Enter so you are on a new line. Enter additional aliases for the menu, and after each one, press Enter. An alias is automatically assigned, and defaults to the next available POP number, based on the number of shortcut menus already loaded in the program.
  NoteIf you create a shortcut menu with the alias OBJECTS_objecttype, the commands assigned to the shortcut menu will be displayed when one or more objects are selected before right-clicking over the drawing area.
7. In the Command List pane, drag the command that you want to add to the location just below the shortcut menu in the Customizations In <file name> pane.
8. Continue adding commands until the new shortcut menu is complete.
9. Click Apply.

To add a command to a shortcut menu

To change the caption of a menu item on a shortcut menu

Quick Reference

Commands

System Variables