LT2011 New (and older forgotten) Commands: Part 3

Here is the third of a series of blog entries on commands (click for Part1 and Part2), variables, and other AutoCAD/LT abilities that are either new or just not often used, presented in a list format with a brief description of each. Each command listed in hyperlinked to LT2011's online help file for you to explore and increase your abilities wtihin the program. Note: these commands also apply to any AutoCAD 2011 variant and most may be found in earlier versions.

Layers/Viewports:

• LAYERSTATESAVE: (hidden command) quickly save a new layer state or replacing an existing layer state with a minimalist interface that only allows a layer state name and description.
• LAYLOCKFADECTL: Controls the amount of fading for objects on locked layers.
• SHOWLAYERUSAGE: Displays icons in the Layer Properties Manager to indicate whether layers are in use.
• VPLAYEROVERRIDES: Indicates if there are any layers with viewport (VP) property overrides for the current layout viewport.
• VPLAYEROVERRIDESMODE: Controls whether layer property overrides for layout viewports are displayed and plotted.
• VPROTATEASSOC: Controls whether the view within a viewport is rotated with the viewport when the viewport is rotated.

Plotting/Publishing:

• AUTODWFPUBLISH: Controls whether DWF (Design Web Format) files are created automatically when you save or close drawing (DWG) files.
• PUBLISHALLSHEETS: Specifies whether to load the contents of the active document or of all open documents in the Publish dialog box.
• AUTOMATICPUB: Controls whether electronic files (DWF/PDF) are created automatically when you save or close drawing (DWG) files.
• BACKGROUNDPLOT: Controls whether background plotting is turned on or off for plotting and publishing.
• LTSCALE: Sets the global linetype scale factor.
• PSLTSCALE: Controls the linetype scaling of objects displayed in paper space viewports.
• MSLTSCALE: Scales linetypes displayed on the model tab by the scale representation.
• CELTSCALE: Sets the current object linetype scaling factor.

Text/Mtext/Dimensions:

• CENTERMT: Controls how grips stretch multiline text that is centered horizontally.
• DIMTXTDIRECTION: Specifies the reading direction of the dimension text.
• TEXTFILL: Controls the filling of TrueType fonts while plotting.
• HIDETEXT: Specifies whether text objects created by the TEXT or MTEXT command are processed during a HIDE command.
• CANNOSCALE: Sets the name of the current annotation scale for the current space.
• CANNOSCALEVALUE: Returns the value of the current annotation scale.
• ANNOALLVISIBLE: Hides or displays annotative objects that do not support the current annotation scale.
• ANNOAUTOSCALE: Updates annotative objects to support the annotation scale when the annotation scale is changed.
• ANNOTATIVEDWG: Specifies whether or not the drawing will behave as an annotative block when inserted into another drawing.
• DIMPOST: Specifies a text prefix or suffix (or both) to the dimension measurement.
• DIMAPOST: Specifies a text prefix or suffix (or both) to the alternate dimension measurement for all types of dimensions except angular.
• DIMGAP: Sets the distance around the dimension text when the dimension line breaks to accommodate dimension text.
• DIMRND: Rounds all dimensioning distances to the specified value.
• DIMTFILL: Controls the background of dimension text.

The future Part 4 of the series will expand into more variable categories: do you have a favorite to share? ◦

LT2011 New (and older forgotten) Commands: Part 3