Autodesk, Inc. · NASDAQ:ADSK

Autodesk — Technical Presentation (2016)

74 slides from Autodesk's technical presentation, 2016

1. Slide 1: Deploy and Support AutoLISP Programs Like a Pro

   SD20507 - Deploy and Support AutoLISP Programs Like a Pro Lee Ambrosius Principal Learning Experience Designer Twitter: @LeeAmbrosius © 2016 Autodesk Join the conversation #AU2016

2. Slide 2: Where Am I and Who Should Be Here

   Where Am I and Who Should Be Here You are in session: SD20507 - Deploy and Support AutoLISP Programs Like a Pro You should know: AutoCAD 2017 (or AutoCAD 2012 and later) You should want to:  Implement custom help and improve support  Deploy custom programs with less stress © 2016 Autodesk

3. Slide 3: Who Am I?

   Who Am I? My name is Lee Ambrosius  Principal Learning Experience Designer at Autodesk  Work on the Customization, Developer, and CAD Administration documentation  Customizing and programming AutoCAD for about two decades  Author of the AutoCAD Customization Platform book series published by Wil

4. Slide 4: What You Will Learn Today

   What You Will Learn Today By the end of this session, you will know how to:  Create and implement custom help topics  Support multiple languages  Deploy programs and define plug-in bundles  Trust and digitally sign AutoLISP program files © 2016 Autodesk

5. Slide 5: Session Rules

   Session Rules A few rules for this session:  Silent your mobile phone and any other device  If you have to leave at anytime, please do so quietly  Hold questions until the end Thanks for your cooperation © 2016 Autodesk

6. Slide 6: Ready, Set, and Run…

   Ready, Set, and Run… © 2016 Autodesk

7. Slide 7: Overview

   Overview  My assumption: Everyone, or most, here already deploy and support AutoLISP programs to some extent.  My hope: Show you new approaches that can  Lead to improvements with the user experience you deliver  Make things easier for you © 2016 Autodesk

8. Slide 8: Overview

   Overview  Who knew writing custom programs was just the beginning?  After writing a custom program, you most likely wanted to share it  Sharing is commonly referred to as “deploying”  Deploying a custom program, as you most likely learned  Isn’t like sending an email  It takes courage, as ever

9. Slide 9: Overview

   Overview  Deployment is not  Linear  Same for all © 2016 Autodesk

10. Slide 10: Overview

    Overview  Deployment can be affected by:  Company size (individual, small, medium, large)  Location (local or remote)  Make-up of user base (techie vs non-techie; multinational)  Support is often initially overlooked when deploy custom programs:  Knowledge transfer and training  Deployment/in

11. Slide 11: Overview

    Overview  Training sessions (group or 1-1)  Newsletters Knowledge  Custom help that is integrated or stand-alone  Use global command & options  Locating program files Deployment  Loading custom program files  Trust locations  Test, Debug, Repeat  Patch program files Troubleshoot  Log, catc

12. Slide 12: Implement Custom Help

    Implement Custom Help © 2016 Autodesk

13. Slide 13: Implement Custom Help

    Implement Custom Help  Comes in all different sizes and shapes  Prompt and error messages  Listing of exposed commands or functions  Information about command options or expected values  Concepts topics; When would I?  Tutorials; How do I? © 2016 Autodesk

14. Slide 14: Implement Custom Help

    Implement Custom Help  Command prompts should be  Short  Conform to the AutoCAD standards  Complex and multiple options might be best broken into multiple prompts  Error messages should be  Short and informative  Long explanations should be in the help documentation and not the custom program

15. Slide 15: Implement Custom Help

    Implement Custom Help  Explanatory documentation can be  Provided online and/or offline  Integrated into the AutoCAD workflow  Comprise of  Loose web (HTML, JS, CSS) and image files  Compiled Help (CHM) files  WinHelp (HLP) files (Obsolete format)  CHM files can be created with Microsoft HTM

16. Slide 16: Implement Custom Help

    Implement Custom Help  These functions can be used to integrate help documentation in the command workflow:  HELP  SETFUNHELP  Help file format being displayed by HELP and SETFUNHELP determines whether the help is opened in:  Main product help window -or-  In its own application window © 2016

17. Slide 17: Implement Custom Help

    Implement Custom Help  Other documentation formats can be displayed with the STARTAPP function  ASCII text (TXT) file  Rich Text Format (RTF) file  Microsoft Word (DOC/DOCx) document file  Portable Document Format (PDF) file Demo: 2 - help setfunhelp and startapp.lsp © 2016 Autodesk

18. Slide 18: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages © 2016 Autodesk

19. Slide 19: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages  Global design firms and teams have their set of challenges  Time zone differences  Skillsets  Local and industry knowledge  Spoken/written language  Spoken/written language can be a barrier when supporting custom programs © 2016 Autodesk

20. Slide 20: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages  These items affect the support for multiple languages  Prompt strings, keywords, and error messages  Dialog boxes implemented using DCL  COMMAND function and scripts  Commands defined with the DEFUN and VLAX-ADD-CMD functions  Macros in a loaded CUI/CUIx file  Help

21. Slide 21: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages  Users have a better experience when using custom programs localized in their native language  Prompts, error messages, and documentation can be localized using  Machine translation  Manually by a linguistic  Various ways to store and display localized strings can var

22. Slide 22: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages  Need to identify the product language which is done via the product key  Product key is  Stored in the Windows Registry  Obtained with the VLAX-PRODUCT-KEY function  Last three letters of the product key identify product language © 2016 Autodesk

23. Slide 23: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages ;; AutoCAD 2017 – English (vlax-product-key) "Software\\Autodesk\\AutoCAD\\R21.0\\ACAD-0001:409" ;; AutoCAD 2017 – French (vlax-product-key) "Software\\Autodesk\\AutoCAD\\R21.0\\ACAD-0001:40C“ Demo: 3 - localize text string example.lsp © 2016 Autodesk

24. Slide 24: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages  Commands have two names  Local  Global  Global command names are  Same as the English language commands  Access by prefixing a command name with an (_) underscore  Use with the COMMAND function, scripts, and command macros  Use GETCNAME function to identify a glob

25. Slide 25: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages ;; AutoCAD 2017 – English Command: (getcname "LINE") "_LINE" Command: (getcname "LIGNE") nil ;; AutoCAD 2017 – French Commande: (getcname "LINE") nil Commande: (getcname "LIGNE") "_LINE" © 2016 Autodesk

26. Slide 26: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages  DEFUN function defines commands with the same local and global name  VLAX-ADD-CMD function can be used to define commands with the different local and global name  Commands defined with VLAX-ADD-CMD can be used with the COMMAND function Demo: 3 - defun and vlax-add-cmd

27. Slide 27: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages  Similar to command names, options have global names  Same as the English language option names  Access by prefixing an option name with an (_) underscore  Use with the COMMAND function, scripts, and command macros  Options of standard AutoCAD commands support global

28. Slide 28: Support Multiple Languages

    Support Multiple Languages ;; English keywords example (initget "Blue White Red Green _Blue White Red Green") (getkword "\nSpecify color [Blue/White/Red/Green]: ") ;; French keywords example (initget "blEu blAnc Rouge Vert _Blue White Red Green") (getkword "\nSpécifiez la couleur [blEu/blAnc/Rouge/V

29. Slide 29: Deploy and Load AutoLISP Program Files

    Deploy and Load AutoLISP Program Files © 2016 Autodesk

30. Slide 30: Deploy AutoLISP Program Files

    Deploy AutoLISP Program Files  When deploying custom program files, consider the following:  Where will the custom programs be stored and loaded from?  Local  Network  Who will be using the custom programs?  Internal  External  What is the expertise level of the users?  Techie  Basic compu

31. Slide 31: Deploy AutoLISP Program Files

    Deploy AutoLISP Program Files  Custom programs can be deployed by:  Manually copying files to a drive  Local  Network  Automating the copying of files  Group policies or script  Synchronizing with Box, DropBox, Google Drive  Custom installer © 2016 Autodesk

32. Slide 32: Load AutoLISP Program Files

    Load AutoLISP Program Files  Custom programs can be loaded into AutoCAD:  Manually with the APPLOAD command  Automatically using the/a  Startup Suite in the APPLOAD command  acad.lsp and acaddoc.lsp files  LSP Files node in a CUI/CUIx file  MNL file with the same name as a loaded CUI/CUIx fil

33. Slide 33: Specify Support File Search Paths

    Specify Support File Search Paths © 2016 Autodesk

34. Slide 34: Specify Support File Search Paths

    Specify Support File Search Paths  Used to help AutoCAD locate program and resource files  Can be specified with the  Options dialog box  ACAD environment variable  SupportPath property of the AcadPreferencesFiles object in the AutoCAD ActiveX library  AutoCAD installation deployment  Plug-in

35. Slide 35: Specify Support File Search Paths

    Specify Support File Search Paths ;; Usage (appendSupportPath "c:\\my programs") (defun appendSupportPath (folderName / curACADPaths) (if (vl-file-directory-p folderName) (progn (setq curACADPaths (getenv "ACAD")) (setenv "ACAD" (strcat curACADPaths folderName ";")) ) ) ) Demo: 5 - support paths.lsp

36. Slide 36: Trust Executable Locations

    Trust Executable Locations © 2016 Autodesk

37. Slide 37: Trust Executable Locations

    Trust Executable Locations  Used to identify the locations in which AutoCAD can safely load program (executable) files  Feature initially added in AutoCAD 2013 SP1  Some of the program files AutoCAD considers executables are:  LSP, FAS, VLX, MNL  ARX, DBX, CRX  DVB  .NET assemblies © 2016 Aut

38. Slide 38: Trust Executable Locations

    Trust Executable Locations  Added initially in AutoCAD 2013 SP1  Default trusted folders and subfolders on Windows  C:\Program Files\  C:\Program Files (x86)\  Default trusted folders and subfolders on Mac  ~\Applications\  Locations should be read-only © 2016 Autodesk

39. Slide 39: Trust Executable Locations

    Trust Executable Locations  Locations can be specified with the  Options dialog box  TRUSTEDPATHS system variable  AutoCAD installation deployment  SECURELOAD system variable affects the use of trusted locations  Recommended to not change the default value © 2016 Autodesk

40. Slide 40: Trust Executable Locations

    Trust Executable Locations  User is warned when a file is loaded outside a trusted location © 2016 Autodesk

41. Slide 41: Trust Executable Locations

    Trust Executable Locations ;; Usage (appendTrustedLocation "C:\\My Programs\\LSPs") ;; Usage (appendTrustedLocation "C:\\My Programs\\LSPs\\..") (defun appendTrustedLocation (folderName / curTrustedPaths) (setq curTrustedPaths (getvar "trustedpaths")) ... ) Demo: 6 - trusted locations.lsp © 2016 Aut

42. Slide 42: Compile and Protect AutoLISP Files

    Compile and Protect AutoLISP Files © 2016 Autodesk

43. Slide 43: Compile and Protect AutoLISP Files

    Compile and Protect AutoLISP Files  AutoLISP program files don’t need to be compiled  Compiling or protecting AutoLISP program files does deter people from modifying and copying the source code, but not the file itself  Program files can be protected using these utilities:  Kelvinate (kelvinate.

44. Slide 44: Compile and Protect AutoLISP Files

    Compile and Protect AutoLISP Files  It is recommended to not use Kelvinate and Protect; they are legacy utilities that are not as good as the Visual LISP IDE  Visual LISP IDE can compile a program file into two formats:  VLX – Can contain one or more program and resource files in a single compile

45. Slide 45: Digitally Sign AutoLISP Program Files

    Digitally Sign AutoLISP Program Files © 2016 Autodesk

46. Slide 46: Digitally Sign AutoLISP Program Files

    Digitally Sign AutoLISP Program Files  Digitally signing AutoLISP program files help the user know that the files came from a reputable vendor  A digitally signed file doesn’t necessary mean the file is safe  To digitally sign a file, you need a/the:  Digital certificate from a Certificate Autho

47. Slide 47: Digitally Sign AutoLISP Program Files

    Digitally Sign AutoLISP Program Files  Not all digital certificates are created equal  Most developers use Code Signing Certificates  Some use Personal Authentication Certificate  Some of the common CAs are:  DocuSign  Comodo  GlobalSign  IdenTrust © 2016 Autodesk

48. Slide 48: Digitally Sign AutoLISP Program Files

    Digitally Sign AutoLISP Program Files  A digitally signed file can be identified in Windows Explorer or File Explorer © 2016 Autodesk

49. Slide 49: Digitally Sign AutoLISP Program Files

    Digitally Sign AutoLISP Program Files  Properties of a digital signature can be viewed by right-clicking a file and choosing Properties © 2016 Autodesk

50. Slide 50: Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs

    Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs © 2016 Autodesk

51. Slide 51: Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs

    Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs  Plug-in bundles:  Provide a consistent way to deploy and load LSP files  A file and folder structure that contains an XML file named PackageContents.xml  PackageContents.xml is  Placed in the root folder of a bundle  Describes the files in the bundl

52. Slide 52: Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs

    Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs  Plug-in bundles can help:  Control the files that should be loaded by product release  Limit the operating systems the custom programs can be loaded  Support multiple languages  Specify support file search and tool palette paths  Implement custom he

53. Slide 53: Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs

    Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs  Example structure of a bundle named GardenPath: Gardenpath.bundle |-> DCL |-> gpdialog.dcl |-> LSP |-> ddgpmain.lsp |-> gpdraw.lsp |-> gp-io.lsp |-> gpmain.lsp |-> utils.lsp |-> PackageContents.xml © 2016 Autodesk

54. Slide 54: Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs

    Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs  Basic example of a PackageContents.xml file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ApplicationPackage SchemaVersion="1.0" AppVersion="1.0" Name="AU2016 IT20496-L" Description="AU2016 Example for session IT20496-L." Author="HyperPics, LLC" ProductCode="

55. Slide 55: Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs

    Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs <CompanyDetails Name="HyperPics, LLC" Url="http://www.hyperpics.com" /> <Components Description="Windows and Mac OS operating systems"> <RuntimeRequirements OS="Win32|Win64|Mac" SeriesMin="R19.0" Platform="AutoCAD*" /> © 2016 Autodesk

56. Slide 56: Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs

    Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs <ComponentEntry Description="Your custom file" AppName="AU2016Examples" Version="1.0" ModuleName="./au2016.lsp"> </ComponentEntry> </Components> </ApplicationPackage> © 2016 Autodesk

57. Slide 57: Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs

    Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs  Access the AutoCAD Online Help system for more information on the PackageContents.xml file.  Note: The ProductCode value (GUID) must be unique for each bundle. - http://www.guidgenerator.com/  A bundle is deployed by copying all the files and folders o

58. Slide 58: Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs

    Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs Trusted and recommended locations  Windows 7 and later: %PROGRAMFILES%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins %PROGRAMFILES(x86) %\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins  Mac OS X: ~/Applications/Autodesk/ApplicationAddins © 2016 Autodesk

59. Slide 59: Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs

    Build Plug-in Bundles for AutoLISP Programs Other supported locations, but they are not trusted by default  Windows 7 and later: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins %APPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins  Mac OS X: ~/Autodesk/ApplicationAddins Demo: SD20507.bundle SD20507 - Advanced.bundl

60. Slide 60: Troubleshoot and Debug AutoLISP Files

    Troubleshoot and Debug AutoLISP Files © 2016 Autodesk

61. Slide 61: Basic Debugging

    Basic Debugging  Core AutoLISP does not provide specific debugging functions  During execution these functions can display information  ALERT  PRINC  PROMPT © 2016 Autodesk

62. Slide 62: Basic Debugging

    Basic Debugging  In addition to PRINC, these functions can write values/messages out to a file  PRIN1  PRINT Demo: 10 - debug - basic.lsp 10 - debug - custom.lsp © 2016 Autodesk

63. Slide 63: Tracing Functions

    Tracing Functions  Core AutoLISP provides a few functions to monitor the usage of a function  TRACE  UNTRACE  When tracing is enabled, you can see:  The values passed to the function  Results from the function © 2016 Autodesk

64. Slide 64: Tracing Functions

    Tracing Functions  Results of tracing a function named OddOrEven Demo: 10 - trace and untrace.lsp © 2016 Autodesk

65. Slide 65: Catching Errors

    Catching Errors  Errors are common in programming, it is how you handle them that is key  Error handlers should be designed to handle the errors you cannot recover from  IF and COND functions when used with operators are an important part of performing conditional tests, but are not always enough

66. Slide 66: Catching Errors

    Catching Errors  These functions are used to catch an error that might be caused by a function after it is evaluated  VL-CATCH-ALL-APPLY  VL-CATCH-ALL-ERROR-P  VL-CATCH-ALL-ERROR-MESSAGE Demo: 10 - catch error.lsp © 2016 Autodesk

67. Slide 67: Defining Custom Error Handlers

    Defining Custom Error Handlers  Custom error handlers are essential to a great user experience and are often under utilized  These functions are used to implement custom error handlers  *ERROR*  *PUSH-ERROR-USING-COMMAND*  *PUSH-ERROR-USING-STACK*  *POP-ERROR-MODE* © 2016 Autodesk

68. Slide 68: Defining Custom Error Handlers

    Defining Custom Error Handlers  The exit and quit functions can be called from your AutoLISP program to force it to return to the Command prompt  VLX projects with separate namespaces can return a message or value from the VLX error handler to the *error* handler using:  VL-EXIT-WITH-ERROR  VL-E

69. Slide 69: Grouping and Rolling Back Changes

    Grouping and Rolling Back Changes  The UNDO command allows the grouping of multiple calls to COMMAND function into a single operation  Without groupings, each command is undone one at a time if the U command is used by the user  All operations that recorded as part of an Undo record are rolled ba

70. Slide 70: Grouping and Rolling Back Changes

    Grouping and Rolling Back Changes  Use the following options of the UNDO command to begin and end a grouping  BEgin  End Demo: 10 - undo grouping.lsp © 2016 Autodesk

71. Slide 71: Final Thoughts and Questions

    Final Thoughts and Questions © 2016 Autodesk

72. Slide 72: Final Thoughts and Questions

    Final Thoughts and Questions Scripting and programming can:  Enhance productivity  Improve or introduce new workflows Programming has many similarities to the rabbit hole in Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Both:  Are virtually endless  Hold many mysteries waiting to be discovere

73. Slide 73: Closing Remarks

    Closing Remarks Thanks for choosing this session. Don’t forget to complete this session’s online evaluation. If you have any further questions, contact me via: email: lee.ambrosius@autodesk.com twitter: @leeAmbrosius © 2016 Autodesk

74. Slide 74: Autodesk trademark notice

    Autodesk is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specific

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