Keeping your drawing and other associated files in separate directories makes it easier to perform basic file maintenance.
The scenario described in this topic is based on the sample directory structure described in About File Organization, but you can expand or alter it to meet your needs.
You can set up the /AcadJobs or /AcltJobs directory to contain your drawing subdirectories. The drawing subdirectories can contain other subdirectories that hold related support files for a particular drawing type or job. The /AcadJobs/Job1/Support directory can contain blocks and customized files specific to the drawing files in /AcadJobs/Job1. Specifying support (with no path prefix) in the Support path adds the support directory within the current directory to the Support path.
To make sure that the required drawing directory is the current directory when you start, and that all files and subdirectories in that directory are easily accessible, you can create a program icon or a desktop shortcut that specifies the correct working directory for each job. This functionality works only if you set the REMEMBERFOLDERS system variable to 0.
You can use a batch program to create new job directories automatically. The following batch program verifies that a specified directory exists, sets that directory to be current, and then runs the application.
@echo off C: if exist \AcadJobs\Jobs\%1 goto RUNACAD echo. echo *** Creating \AcadJobs\Jobs\%1 echo *** Press Ctrl+C to cancel. echo. pause mkdir \AcadJobs\Jobs\%1 :RUNACAD cd \AcadJobs\Jobs\%1 start “C:\Program Files\Autodesk\<product name>\acad.exe”
Using an ASCII text editor (such as Notepad), save the batch program to a file named acad.bat or acadlt.bat as appropriate. Be sure to change the drive and directory names to match those on your system.
Place this file in a directory that is on your system search path (for example, C:\winnt). You can run this batch program using the Run command from Windows, or by double-clicking the file in File Explorer. If you saved the file as acad.bat, use the following syntax:
acad jobname
where jobname is the name of the job directory to make current.
#!/bin/sh
prj="$1"
#Switch to the project folder and start the application
function startApp() {
cd /AcadJobs/Jobs/$prj
echo "Starting the Application"
"/Applications/Autodesk/<product name>/<product name>.app/Contents/MacOS/<product name>"
}
#Clear Terminal and check for the existence of the folder
clear
cd .
if [ -d /AcadJobs/Jobs/$prj ]
then
startApp
fi
#Prompt to create folder
echo .
echo Creating /AcadJobs/Jobs/$prj
echo 'Press Y to continue (or A to abort)'
echo .
cont="True"
answer=""while [ "$cont" = "True" ]
do
read -n1 -t10 answer
echo
if [ "$answer" = "y" ] || [ "$answer" = "Y" ] || [ "$answer" = "a" ] || [ "$answer" = "A" ]
then
cont="False"
fi
done
#Check to see if the user requested to abort or continue
if [ "$answer" = "a" ] || [ "$answer" = "A" ]
then
exit 1
else
mkdir -p /AcadJobs/Jobs/$prj
fi
#Switch to the project folder and start the application
startApp
Using an ASCII text editor (such as TextEdit), save the batch program to a file named acad.sh or acadlt.sh. Be sure to change the drive and directory names to match those on your system.
Place this file in your home directory or a shared location that is on your system. You can run this shell script program using the Terminal window in /Applications/Utilities on the drive the operating system is installed. If you saved the file as acad.sh or acadlt.sh, use the following syntax:
./acad.sh jobname or ./acadlt.sh jobname
where jobname is the name of the job directory to make current.