Conversation with a Customizer

I interviewed Jesse Wheat – a long term customizer and good friend. Jesse has been customizing CAD since “way back”. He works in the Civil Engineering sector for DMJM Harris | AECOM. He has created many tools over the years that have saved countless hours for the end users.

CADD Manager Journal: How long have you been customizing CAD?

Jesse Wheat: I have customizing CAD since the first day I started learning it. I can’t understand why a few fight against customizing their software. How else can you have CAD work for you and not you work for it. A small program that saves me time can also save the company money.

CMJ: What tools do you use for customization?

JW: Any tool I can but for me with AutoCAD I mainly use (now-a-days) Lisp.

CMJ: How do you determine what needs to be customized?

JW: This is a simple question. No CAD package does everything you want and need it to do. Anytime I find that the CAD system doesn’t have what I need, I take steps to customize it – using whatever I have available.

CMJ: Do you grab stuff off the internet? If so – what sites do you like?

JW: The very first thing I do when I find I need anything is to look on the internet. A lot of times I can find what I need or something close and go from there. Many years ago I started going to http://www.afralisp.net/ . There was a lot on that site. That is where I started… but today there are so many other sites that now I first go to GOOGLE and just ask for what I need and go from there.

CMJ: When you customize something, how do you plan out your work?

JW: First let me define customize and the way I look at it. I don’t create any custom tools that I don’t find useful in terms for saving me time and helping me work faster. If I find that I do a string of commands all the time in the same pattern I will create something to run those step for me. This not only saves me time and money, but it reduces mistakes.

In planning a program of any size I first try to really understand my goal. I then start building a simple structure and testing each and every step. Once I have control of what I want the outcome to be, I start testing and adding more steps and/or parts as I find I need them.

CMJ: Why aren’t AutoCAD commands good enough?

JW: AutoCAD developers cannot and should not try to think of everything and every possible way a user can use AutoCAD. There isn’t enough time to do that level of programming. AutoCAD in general has a lot of good idea which just haven’t been fully thought out. They layout a great platform from which others (like myself) build and while one command is nice, stringing a few together just makes it GREAT…!!!

CMJ: What do you customize? (tool palettes, command line, pulldowns…)

JW: Again by the term customize, I take it you are asking… what do I create or add to the existing AutoCAD commands. I add tools that AutoCAD does not have. I create palettes for standard company symbols, I add quick keys so that I don’t need to open any palettes and keep my drawing area clear. Lastly, I try to NOT create pulldowns because I found that they are harder for the user to remember where the commands are and hard for me to upgrade to the next version.

CMJ: Do you ever want to give up when you have a tough problem?

JW: Giving up is no fun and that is the way I look at any problem I face. It is not the end of the world if I can not solve it right away. I have found it better for me to take it slow. Taking my time helps me better understand the problem and better understand what works and what will not work. I like finding a better and faster way to do my work and this makes it fun for me. Give up? What is that…?

CMJ: What kinds of tools have you created?

JW: I have created many tools through my years of working with CAD. To answer your question a little better, I have created tools which help me and others do there job easier, better, faster and with less mistakes. I have created tools that handle the mundane and annoying settings that most users forget to set and automate the standards into my routines.

CMJ: What do you say to those who have never tried to create custom tools? Try it? Don’t start now?

JW: First, start small. Find one small and easy thing you can add that makes it easier for you to do your job. Once you have done this you will find the answers to the question “should you”. Programming or creating custom tools isn’t for everyone and only you will know if it’s for you. If you find it to be fun then you are hooked.

CMJ: How much time do you put into customizing?

JW: Personally it varies. It can be 10 minutes to a few days depending on the size and what I’m trying to do. Now-a-days it is very little time I spend doing customization.

CMJ: Do you like the new CUI?

JW: NO! and I don’t do any menus stuff anymore. I do use the tool palettes because is it easy to do and if you want to try customizing, you should start with tool palettes.

CMJ: How much support time do custom tools require after you deploy them?

JW: Minutes a week if that. I find if you have done nice work you don’t need to mess with them anymore. (until the new version comes out…)

CMJ: In the future… What changes would you like to see in the customization process?

JW: This is a very hard question to answer because I need to think too far ahead. Creating the tool palettes was a great start in making custom tools and hope they (AutoCAD) continues working to expand on them. I do have one big request and that is that I wish AutoCAD would make it easier for programmer like myself to find the Lisp and/or VBA code hooks I need. Finding the correct code to talk to AutoCAD takes me the longest to do.