User Profile Manager

In Bricscad you can customize the settings that control your drawing environment, which can then be saved in a user profile. You can create multiple user profiles, e.g. a profile to run Bricscad with a white background and a limited set of toolbars and another profile with no command bar and all toolbars and snap settings needed to draw comfortably in 3D. User profiles can also be used when multiple users share the same computer and each user likes to create his personal drawing environment.

User profiles can be saved to a file, which can then be imported on a different computer. This allows you to copy your settings to a new computer or to install the same settings on multiple computers.

If you use a third party applications on top of Bricscad, you might want to create a user profile to use with each of these applications.

The User Profile Manager is a standalone tool that lists the existing profiles and provides all the tools needed to Load, Create, Set Current, Copy, Rename, Delete, Export and Import user profiles.

Content of a user profile

User profiles save many settings that control the drawing environment. Once you start Bricscad using a user profile, it automatically tracks and stores changes that you make to your drawing environment.

Configuration settings: all settings listed in the Settings dialog and which are saved in the registry ().
Plot settings in Model Space.
Settings in dialog windows, e.g. search options in the Settings dialog.
Project settings
Recent paths
Status bar settings
'Tip of the Day' settings
Toolbar settings

To Launch the User Profile Manager

Do one of the following:

When Bricscad is running: choose User Profile Manager in the Tools menu.
From the Windows Start menu, choose All Programs > Bricsys > Bricscad > User Profile Manager.
Double click userprofilemanager.exe in the Bricscad program folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\Bricsys\Bricscad Vx).

In the User Profile Manager dialog:

The Current Profile is marked.
Create: Creates a new profile, using default settings.
Set Current: Sets the selected profile as the current profile, which will be used the next time you start Bricscad.
Copy: Click to make a copy of the selected profile.
Delete: Click to delete the selected profile.
Export... : Click to save the selected profile to a file on your computer, disk, or network. The file is saved with an .arg extension.
Import... :Click to open a profile that has been saved to .arg file).
Start: Starts Bricscad with the selected user profile.
OK: Closes the User Profile Manager dialog
Double click a profile in the list of the available profiles to start Bricscad using this profile.

Creating user profiles

To create a new user profile:

Launch the User Profile Manager.
Click the Create button on the User Profile Manager dialog window.
The Create Profile dialog opens.
Type a name for the new profile in the Profile name field.
(option) Type a description for the new profile in the Description field.
Click the OK button to create the profile.
The new profile is added in the available profiles list.
The new profile is created using default hard-coded values for all settings.

NOTE	Use the Copy option to create a new user profile as a copy of an existing profile.

Loading a user profile

When you start Bricscad, the user profile that was current when you closed the previous Bricscad session is used.

To launch Bricscad using a specific user profile, do one of the following:

Add the /P option to the Target settings of the Bricscad shortcut.
To open the shortcut settings dialog: right click the shortcut icon on the desktop and choose Properties in the context menu.
A typical Bricscad shortcut could be "C:\Program Files\Bricsys\Bricscad Vx\bricscad.exe" /P <UserProfileName>
Launch the User Profile Manager, then either double click a user profile or select a user profile and click the Start button.

NOTE

The /P option is case insensitive.
If you load a user profile when Bricscad is already running a second instance of Bricscad is launched, at least on condition that the SINGLETON variable is OFF. This variable controls whether multiple Bricscad sessions can run simultaneously. See the Settings dialog for more information about variables and settings.
If the user profile in the argument of the /P option does not exist, the user profile is created automatically using default hard-coded values for all settings.
If the user profile name contains spaces, use double quotes: e.g. /P "background white".

Restarting Bricscad using a different user profile

Choose User Profile Manager in the Tools menu.
Select the user profile you want to start up with.
Click the Set Current button on the User Profile Manager dialog.
Close and restart Bricscad.

Managing user profiles

Once you start using user profiles, you may need to copy, rename or delete them. Copying a profile is a quick way to create a new profile based on an existing profile.

To copy a user profile:

Launch the User Profile Manager.
Select the user profile you want to copy.
Click the Copy button.
The Copy Profile dialog displays.
Type a name for the new profile in the Profile name field.
(option) Type a description for the new profile in the Description field.
Click the OK button to create the profile.

To rename a user profile:

Launch the User Profile Manager.
Select the user profile you want to rename.
Click the name of the selected user profile.
The Profile name field is active now.
Type a new name in the Profile name field.
Click outside the Profile name field.

To edit the Description field:

Select the profile you want to edit the description of.
Edit the Description field.

To delete a user profile:

Launch the User Profile Manager.
Select the user profile you want to delete.
Click the Delete button.
Click the Yes button on the confirmation box to delete the profile.

NOTE	The current profile cannot be deleted.

To export a user profile

Launch the User Profile Manager.
Select the profile you want to export in the profile list.
Click the Export button.
The Save As dialog displays.
Select a folder to save the user profile in.
(option) Edit the name of the profile in the File name field.
Click the Save button.
The file is saved with an *.arg extension.

To import a user profile

Launch the User Profile Manager.
Click the Import button.
The Open dialog displays.
Select a user profile file (*.arg).
Click the Open button.
The Import Profile dialog displays.
(option) Type a different name in the Profile name field.
(option) Edit the profile description.
Click the OK button on the Import Profile dialog.
The profile is added to the profile list.

To import a user profile from another user

When you import a user profile of another user all user dependent search paths (e. g. the local root and roamable root folders - see Bricscad User Files) still refer to the other user, as a result the folders cannot be found and error messages such as "Unable to open program parameters file: default.pgp" might pop up when you start Bricscad.

To correct this problem do the following:

Open the exported user profile (*.arg) in a text editor such as Notepad.
Replace the user name dependent references with an environment variable.

On a Windows XP computer replace C:\\Documents and Settings\\username with %USERPROFILE%.

On a Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer replace C:\\Users\\username with %USERPROFILE%.

Use the Find/Replace procedure to quickly replace all references.

Save the user profile (*.arg)
Import the user profile.
Start Bricscad using the imported profile.
The environment variable %USERPROFILE% will be replaced with:
C:\\Documents and Settings\\currentusername on a Windows XP computer.
C:\\Users\\currentusername on a Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer.

NOTE	Environment variables in profiles, using the %<variable_name>% format, are supported in V10.3.11. and higher.