Another feature added to Autoloader in AutoCAD 2013 is support for adding Toolpalette support paths. Here’s how …
Create your Tool palette
Start the TOOLPALETTES command in AutoCAD.
Right click on the tool palettes control bar, and select New Palette.
Give the new Palette a name and drag your content onto it. Here’s one I created called ‘Stephen’s Palette’.
Copy the Tool palette to your .bundle
Check the Tool Palettes File Locations folder on your OPTIONS dialog –> Files tab. The default will be something like %appdata%\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2013 - English\R19.0\enu\Support\ToolPalette\Palettes.
Open that folder and look for the tool palette you just created.The file name will be <PaletteName>_<GUID>.atc, so the one I just created is called ‘Stephen's Palette_10E78C8E-A3D5-40DF-A284-2A61AC4E0E90.atc’
Move the ATC file into your bundle and delete palette from your Tool palettes window by right clicking on the control bar again. You might as well close down AutoCAD too, so it doesn’t try to load your bundle while you’re editing it.
Add the ToolPalettePath to PackageContents.xml
Your XML will look something like this – the ToolPalettePath highlighted in bold is the location within the bundle of the ATC file(s):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ApplicationPackage SchemaVersion="1.0" AutodeskProduct="AutoCAD" Name="ToolPaletteTest" Description="Sample showing Tool Palette filepath support" AppVersion="1.0.0" ProductType="Application" AppNameSpace="appstore.exchange.autodesk.com" Author="Stephen Preston" ProductCode="{52C2A8B7-A32D-4369-AE6C-76FEC5531243}" UpgradeCode="{A13F2CDA-43FE-41E4-BD0C-558AD7973E86}">
<CompanyDetails Name="ADN" Email="[email protected]" />
<Components>
<RuntimeRequirements OS="Win64|Win32" Platform="AutoCAD*" SeriesMin="R19.0" SeriesMax="R19.0" ToolPalettePath="./Contents/"/>
</Components>
</ApplicationPackage>
Test
Move your bundle to %appdata%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins.
Launch AutoCAD. Your Toolpalette is now loaded:
Go to the options dialog and your search path has been added: