CHAPTER 2

CALLING TOOLS

AIMS OF THIS CHAPTER

The contents of this chapter aim to describe the various methods of calling
tools.

METHODS OF CALLING TOOLS

Tools can be brought into operation (called) using one of the following
methods:

1. Clicking on the tool’s icon in its panel in the ribbon. Fig. 2.1 shows the
Polyline tool being selected from the Draw panel.
Fig. 2.1 Selecting the tool’s name from a panel in the ribbon

2. Entering the name of the tool at the keyboard, followed by Enter or

selecting it from the drop-down menu in the command line.
3. Selecting one of the recent commands, found on the shortcut menu as
shown in Fig. 2.2. The shortcut menu is opened by a click on the right
mouse button anywhere in the drawing area.

Fig. 2.2 Click on Polyline in the Draw drop-down menu

EXAMPLES OF THE METHODS OF CALLING

TOOLS
In the examples that follow, what appears on screen when a tool is called
after setting the variable in this manner is shown when drawing the same
simple outline using the Polyline tool using each of the three methods of
calling tools.

FROM A PANEL IN THE RIBBON OR FROM A DROP-DOWN

MENU
1. Click on the Polyline icon in the Home/Draw panel (Fig. 2.1). The
command line shows:
PLINE Specify start point: and a prompt appears on screen.
At the keyboard enter 105,30 followed by a right-click. The
figures appear in the boxes of the prompt (Fig. 2.3).

Fig. 2.3 What appears when Polyline is selected from the Draw panel

2. If the two figures at the right of the prompt showing an x,y position on
screen are suitable, left-click. If they are not suitable, enter x,y figures
over those in the prompt and right-click. The prompt shown in Fig. 2.4
appears. Enter w and right-click.

Fig. 2.4 The command line showing prompts

3. The prompt shown in Fig. 2.5 appears. Enter 1 in the Width box and
right-click.

Fig. 2.5 Enter 1 as the desired width of the polyline and right-click

4. The prompt shown in Fig. 2.6 appears. Enter 1 in the Width box and
right-click.
Fig. 2.6 Enter 1 as the desired starting width of the polyline and right-click

The next prompt appears (Fig. 2.7). Enter @200,0 and right-click.

Fig. 2.7 The next prompt appears. Enter @200,0 and right-click

6. The next prompt appears (Fig. 2.8). Enter @0,-130 and right-click.

Fig. 2.8 The next prompt appears. Enter @0,-130 and right-click

7. The next prompt appears (Fig. 2.9). Enter @-200,0 and right-click.

Fig. 2.9 The next prompt appears. Enter @-200,0 and right-click

8. The same prompt appears. Enter c (Close) and right-click. The outline
(Fig. 2.10) appears.
Fig. 2.10 The required outline appears

NOTE
As the prompts appear one after the other on screen, so prompts appear at
the command line as indicated in Fig. 2.11.

Fig. 2.11 A prompt at the command line

ENTERING THE NAME OR ABBREVIATION ANYWHERE

ON SCREEN
1. Enter pline (or its abbreviation pl) at the keyboard. If pline is used,
Fig. 2.12 appears. If pl is used, Fig. 2.13 appears.
Note that the prompt is repeated in the command line in both
examples. Note also that the drop-down menu includes other
commands beginning with PLINE in Fig. 2.12 and PL in Fig. 2.13.
Fig. 2.12 The drop-down menu appearing when pline is entered

Fig. 2.13 The drop-down menu appearing when pl is entered

2. In the drop-down menu, left-click PLINE (or PL) and the first prompt
shown in Fig. 2.14 appears at the command line. Click in the command
line and enter 30,200, followed by a right-click. Make entries at the
command line as shown in the sequence in Fig. 2.14, with a right-click
following each entry.

Fig. 2.14 The sequence of prompts and responses followed by right-clicks

NOTE
 Instead of entering x,y coordinates in the prompts or at the command
line, they can simply be entered at the keyboard, when prompts such as
those shown in Figs 2.3–2.9 will appear for each entry. The x,y
coordinates entered at the keyboard will appear in the prompts, but not at
the command line.

ENTERING THE TOOL’S NAME OR ABBREVIATION IN THE

COMMAND PALETTE
The same series of prompts appear on screen as for the first example.

NOTES
1. No matter which tool is used, the sequence of prompts and the
replies to those prompts can be seen in the command palette by
dragging the top edge of the command palette upwards and
exposing the list, as shown in Fig. 2.15. Note that the prompts
shown in the palette are not exactly the same as the prompts entered
at the command line or in prompts appearing on screen.

Fig. 2.15 The contents of the command palette after the series of prompts and
responses has been made

2. It is sequences such as those shown in the previous pages of this

chapter that will be used throughout this book to describe the
constructions involved. They will be shown as follows:
PLINE Specify start point: enter 130,200 right-click
 Specify next point or [Arc Close Halfwidth Length Undo
Width] enter w (Width) right-click
Specify starting width <0>: enter 1 right-click
and so on until the end of the sequence is reached.
In some of the sequences, the terms enter and right-click will not be
shown.
4. Abbreviations for most of the tools and commands can be found in
Appendix A: List of Tools.
5. Note that, in the prompts sequences shown in this book, the name of
the command will not be shown preceding every prompt line, except
that for the first line when the command name will be shown.
6. The first figure in the x,y numbers shows the number of units to the
next point in the x direction, the second figure shows the number of
units in the y direction.
7. If the x figure is negative, the number of units will be horizontally to
the left. If the x figure is positive, the number of units will be
horizontally to the right.
8. If the y figure is negative, the number of units will be vertically
downwards. If the y figure is positive, the number of units will be
vertically upwards.
9. To stop a command that has been started from proceeding further, or
to stop a command in use, press the Esc key of the keyboard.
10. There are two buttons in the status bar that will need to be set ON
for the prompts in the AutoCAD window shown in the illustrations
Figs 2.3–2.9 to appear. The prompts differ slightly with either of the
two buttons being set ON, as shown in Fig. 2.20 below.
11. The Polar Tracking button can also be toggled on/off by pressing
the F10 key, and the Dynamic Input can be toggled by pressing the
F12 key. The Dynamic Input button must be added to the status bar
using the Configure menu (Fig. 2.18).
Fig. 2.16 The Polar Tracking button in the status bar

Fig. 2.17 The prompt appearing at the start of a pline with Polar Tracking on

Fig. 2.18 The Dynamic Input button in the status bar

Fig. 2.19 The second prompt appearing when Dynamic Input is on

Fig. 2.20 A comparison between the two buttons being off and the two buttons being
on

Fig. 2.21 The prompts appearing when Dynamic Input is set ON

REVISION NOTES
1. There are four main methods of “calling” tools. These are:
• Clicking on the tool’s icon in a panel in the Ribbon.
• Selecting the tool’s name from a drop-down menu.
• Entering the tool’s name at the keyboard.
• Entering an abbreviation for the tool’s name at the
keyboard. Tool abbreviations can be found in Appendix A:
 List of Tools (page 401).
2. Each entry of a tool’s name or the response to a prompt
appears in a prompt box in the AutoCAD window.
3. Entries to prompts are entered at the keyboard and appear in
the box or boxes to the right of the prompt.
4. To continue to the next prompt in the series of prompts
associated with a tool, right-click or press the Return button of
the keyboard.
5. Entries can be made at the keyboard.

EXERCISES

1. Construct the polyline outline given in Fig. 2.22.

Fig. 2.22 Exercise 1

2. Construct the polyline outline given in Fig. 2.23. The figures

along the plines are the lengths of the plines in coordinate
units.
3. Construct the polyline outline given in Fig. 2.24. There are a
sufficient number of x,y coordinate figures shown to allow the
whole outline to be constructed.
Fig. 2.23 Exercise 2

4.

Fig. 2.24 Exercise 3

Fig. 2.25 shows a polyline outline of width = 4. Construct the

given outline, working out the missing x,y coordinates.
Fig. 2.25 Exercise 4