From Cheap Tricks, Nov 96 Issue Published By: Shu Associates, Inc. 120 Trenton St., Melrose, MA 02176-3714 (617)662-0020 (FAX Same)

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We ourselves tried to blame this problem on our new Logitech TrackMarble until we discovered that this tiny grid phenomenon happens whenever we shell out to DOS (CTRL-F12) or when we use the Print-a-Plot Pro utility. The work around when this happens is to exit DataCAD completely, then re-enter DataCAD. If you have it up and running in Win95, you can ALT-TAB out to a DOS prompt or to Print-a-Plot Pro to avoid this weird grid problem.(Note: this bug has been corrected with DataCAD 7.10.)

REFRESH HIDES LINES: I find it hard to draft when I refresh and many of the lines from my active layer get covered up by lines from other layers. What can I do?

For a quick fix, TAB forward one layer to set a new active layer, REFRESH, then SHIFT-TAB back to your old active layer. For a more permanent fix, go to DISPLAY, then LYRORDER, and you can choose to have your active layer refreshed first, last, or have the layers refreshed in their sequential order.

MULTI-PLOT: I get frustrated when I want to slightly re-position the location of a plotting “detail” because as soon as I pick that detail's name to reposition the view, the current location completely disappears. Any fix?

Try placing your plotting detail as if it is a completely new plot view (i.e. give it a different name when prompted from MltLyout.) Now superimpose this view over the top of the old layout view to make your small adjustment. When finished (and named), then delete the previous plotting detail’s name and refresh, and your fine adjustment should be complete. (Also, if you do not name a plotting detail it will not be saved, so you can simply re-place your plot view using the "non-named" view as a guide.)

DWG TRANSFER: I just tried using the updated DWG export file (from www.datacad.com or from the Cheap Tricks Ware Winter 96-97 Listing) and received the message “DCAD_ROOT environment not defined, out of memory.” How do I get past that message?

From Bob Schwein (DataCAD LLC): ‘If you are getting the “DataCAD Environment Variable DCAD_ROOT is not declared......” error message when attempting to write a DWG file from within a DataCAD drawing, you need to add the following “SET” statement (see also Aug 96 for more on environmental variables) to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file or, better yet, to the beginning of your RUNDCAD.BAT file: