BCiTool News. First Edition! 9-Aug-2004

Contents

• Welcome to BCiTool News
• BCiTool_GM v1.1 - General Macros
• BCiTool_XI v1.1 - TC-X Settings editor
• Your BCiTool News Settings

Welcome to BCiTool News.

Welcome to BCiTool News. I will be writing one of these whenever I release a new or updated product, and occasionally when there is general news that may be of interest. Being a first edition, it's more than likely that there will be some problems with the system. So if you have any thoughts on it please let me know by just replying to this email.

In this edition the main news are the BCiTool_GM and BCiTool_XI updates. If you use these products, both upgades are recomended, and they're free!

In the near future I hope to release a couple more updates, then it's heads down on a new project. These can take a little while though because this is still a spare time job for me.

Until next time.

David Bell

BCiTool_GM v1.1 - General Macros for TurboCAD - 9 August 2004

This update includes a small bug-fix and adds a new pair of tools.

Changes

Fixes a bug in BCiTool_GM that prevented it working with TC Pro V7. It now works in all versions from V7 onwards, but due to a limitation in the SDK there is no Undo in V7. Undo works properly from V8 onwards.

Adds a new pair of tools to help select graphics in complex drawings. Select By Near Cursor Next/Previous are designed as replacements for Select By Order/ReverseOrder (usually F6/F7 on your keyboard) and work in a similar way, except they only cycle through graphics that are near the cursor. So all you do is put the cursor near the graphic you want and start hitting F6/F7 until you get the one you want. If the cursor is in open space with no near graphics is reverts to the old F6/F7 behaviour and cycles through all graphics.

Downloading BCiTool_GM

The lastest version is available at http://www.BCiTool.com/?GeneralMacros.htm. It is free.

BCiTool_XI v1.1 - Settings Editor for TC-X - 7 August 2004

With the release of  TurboCAD V10.1, further changes have been made to the way it stores it user settings. So I have released a small update to my XMLINI application to keep it up to date. This update was uploaded to the TurboCAD forums some time ago, but I have only just finished the docs!

Changes to TC and response in XI

Enhancements to the TC Explorer pallet.

Considerable improvements have been made to the TC Explorer pallet, so now many settings can be changed directly from within TC. However XMLINI still has a few tricks that TC doesn't, so as a general rule, you should try with TC Explorer first, and if that doesn't work fall back to XMLINI (if that doesn't work, give up). XMLINI also allows bulk changes to be made with a single Insert command, and it has comprehensive Backup/Restore and Undo/Redo functions.

Location of the settings file.

The TC 10.1 settings file has been moved, so XMLINI has to be updated to reflect this. Unfortuneately it is no longer possible to put in a default that works for most people - it's different for each computer, so you have do it yourself. Instructions for doing so are in the Install section of the revised manual that comes in the package.

Additional XMLINI Enhancements

• A new Backup button has been added that backs up the current state of the settings file (in addition to the automatic backup of the initial state of the settings made by XMLINI in each setting). Backups remain on for disk drive indefinitely.
• Within-session backup files are tidied up a bit better than previously.

Aquiring the latest version of BCiTool_XI

The lastest version is available at www.BCiTool.com/?INI_Utility.htm. It is free.