Road Library (set a block up before inserting it)

What it does

The command opens the project's block library and inserts one of its items into the drawing.

The catalogue is built from two project roots — the library folder and the pavement-legend folder. Each sub-folder of those roots becomes a Categoria (category), and each .dwg file inside it becomes an Item. There is no list built into the program: what you see is what is in the project's folders.

Once an item is chosen, the form decides three things before the insertion:

1. Where the point comes from — a clicked point projected onto the alignment, the clicked point as it is, the midpoint of a selected line, or the endpoint of a curve.
2. Where it is pushed to — the Offset moves it perpendicular to the alignment and the Deslocamento (shift) moves the station forward or back along it.
3. How it is rotated — aligned with the alignment's tangent or horizontal, plus the extra rotation you typed.

Only then is the block loaded from the library (if it is not already in the drawing) and inserted, with the chosen scale. The command line confirms: Inserted. (handle 2A7F).

The form stays open between insertions: it hides during the clicks and comes back afterwards.

Workflow

1. Run CAPCAD_DEVICE_INSERT (or type BV). The "Dwg Library" form opens beside the drawing.
2. Choose the Categoria (5) and the Item (8). Use the search box (6) to filter by name and the 2D / 3D / All buttons (9 to 11) to separate the variants. The thumbnail appears on the right.
3. Choose the insertion mode in the Inserção frame (20 to 30).
4. Set Offset (33), Deslocamento (40), Rotation (44) and Scale (47). The pt button (36) measures the offset by clicking a point in the drawing.
5. Click Inserir em eixo ativo (16) — or double-click the item in the list. The form hides; the command line asks for the alignment and then for the point.
6. Repeat for the next item: the form stays open and the values stay where they were.

The form

Numbers are the same in both pictures on this page. The form has two tabs: Main (the catalogue and the insertion options) and Options/Utils (shortcuts to related commands and library tools).

The form is only half translated: its title and several captions are already in English (Dwg Library, Main, Options/Utils, Step, Rotation, Scale, Reset, Update, Accept, Read-only, In block and the second tab's buttons), while the rest is Portuguese in every language. Portuguese captions are quoted below as the software shows them, with a gloss. The screenshots were captured in a Portuguese session; the control numbering is the same in both editions.

Tab "Main". The lists are empty outside the CAD: they are filled from the folders of the active project's library.

Tab "Options/Utils": shortcuts to related commands, library tools and the action box (48).

Top (both tabs)

Tab 1: Main. Catalogue

The white box above the link is the preview: the thumbnail stored inside the item's own .dwg.

Tab 1: Main. Insert and links

Tab 1: Main. Inserção (insertion) frame

Tab 1: Main. Opções alinhamento (alignment options) frame

Tab 1: Main. Action and scale

Tab 2: Options/Utils

The buttons on this tab get no number because the form gives them no internal name.

The green notes in the middle of the tab are the form's own text, and they are the rules for building a library: there must be no duplicate block names across the folders; a block must not contain an inner block of the same name; the cfg.xml file inside each folder sets the configuration of that folder's items; and an .area file with the same name beside the block supplies the value to use in quantity take-offs.

The command-line version

-CAPCAD_DEVICE_INSERT performs the same insertion without a form, in four questions:

1. Block name: — the block name. The last name inserted successfully is offered between <>; Enter accepts the suggestion.
2. Point (or type a station): — the reference point.
3. Lado offset or [Left/Right/Detect]: — which side to offset to. Enter = Detect.
4. Valor numérico para afastamento do eixo ou [Detectar]: — the offset. Empty, or any answer beginning with D, means detect: the offset becomes the distance from the clicked point itself to the alignment (and, with the side on Detect, the side comes from there too).

The alignment is asked for right after the point. In this version the rotation is always orthogonal to the alignment, and the station comes from the clicked point projected onto it. With no alignment: No alignment — cannot place.

How the options combine

The figures below were produced by the command's own engine on an alignment with a curve, with the clicked point always in the same place (the grey dot). Each arrow is the item, in its real position and rotation.

Offset 0, 4 to the right and 4 to the left, in "clicked point onto the alignment" mode: the clicked point drops to the alignment and the item is offset perpendicular to the tangent at that station.

Shift 0, +8 and −8, with offset 3: the station is moved forward or back along the alignment before the offset is applied, and the rotation follows the tangent at the new point.

The rotations. "paralela" is what the form gives with Rotacionar on; "livre (0°)" is what it gives with Rotacionar off. "ortogonal" is what the command-line version uses.

Remembered between sessions

Almost everything that is not a list. When the form closes, the check boxes, radio buttons, text boxes and combo boxes are written to the user preferences and restored the next time it opens: the insertion mode, Rotacionar, the 2D/3D/All filters, the search text, Offset, Shift, Rotation, Step, Action, Scale and the item name at the top. The category and item lists are not saved: they are rebuilt from the project's folders on every opening.

The command-line version separately keeps the last block name inserted successfully.

Notes

• A negative offset lands on the same side as a positive one. An offset of −4 lands in the same place as +4, so the ± button (37) and the pt measurement (36), which writes negative values for the left side, do not take the item to the other side of the alignment. To place it there, select the alignment the other way round, or move the block afterwards.
• The item list opens filtered to 3D. The default filter is 3D, which only shows names ending in -3D. In a library with no three-dimensional twins the list looks empty; click All (11).
• The alignment is always asked for. The Ativo / Selecionar buttons (31, 32) are not used by this version: the command asks for the alignment at every insertion. If you do not want to measure from an alignment, answer with Esc — the item is then inserted at the clicked point, with no offset and no rotation from the tangent.
• The layer is not changed. The item is inserted on the drawing's current layer. Set the layer before inserting, or use the action commands afterwards.
• A block the library cannot find. The insertion fails silently in the drawing and the command line writes Block <name> could not be inserted. (command-line version) or Host failed to insert. (form). Check that the .dwg is in one of the project's library folders.
• Not available in this version: 2D com 3D / 2D sem 3D (12, 13), gerar img. (15), Read-only (25), Habilita seleção múltipla (27), Substituir bloco (28), Recriar (30), ℓ (35), Detectar (39), Detectar ±90 ao clicar (45), Ação (46, 48) and, on the Options/Utils tab, Sincronizar bloco com biblioteca, Folders configuration..., Prepare blocks images... and Trocar ação.
• The shortcuts BV and II are defined in CapCad's acad.pgp. If they do not open the form in your installation, type the full command name.