QCAD.org Forum

Neither the QCad 3 "Reference Manual", nor the official book, provide a concise reference of all the commands as far as I can see. I haven't found any with a bit of Googling either. Where can I find such a thing?

Even better would be an actual usage guide written for the command line.

I know that the Reference Manual lists commands for each separate function, but it would be nice to have them in a single reference list.

Further, these function-by-function command lists make it appear that you cannot in fact create drawing using the command line alone.

Consider (picked more or less at random) "Rectangle". The documentation says

Specify the first corner of the rectangle.
Move the mouse to the second corner and click to specify the second corner of the rectangle. Alternatively you can enter the coordinate of the second corner in the command prompt. E.g. to create a rectangle with width 50 and height 25, enter the relative coordinate of the second corner as follows:
@50,25

How do you specify the first corner of the rectangle from the command line? I know what the coordinate is, using the mouse to do it is imprecise. I just want to enter the rectangle dimensions and location and be done with it. Is this possible?

Thanks

careysub wrote:Neither the QCad 3 "Reference Manual", nor the official book, provide a concise reference of all the commands as far as I can see. I haven't found any with a bit of Googling either. Where can I find such a thing?
Even better would be an actual usage guide written for the command line.
I know that the Reference Manual lists commands for each separate function, but it would be nice to have them in a single reference list.

I hear what you are saying here, I guess most CAD users nowadays tend to use the mouse (or similar) most of the time and CAD software has for the most part delivered more and more newer versions with the 'click and go' concept as the main priority to keep most customers happy! QCAD like most other CAD programs does offer the shortcut command on a 'tool by tool basis' as you say by using the reference manual and of course when you hover the mouse over a potential tool to use the shortcut commands will show up. I come from a background of only using the command line for drafting but I guess over time even I have adopted a blend between using the command line and using the mouse (or in my case a trackball often also).
But I do agree with you a concise reference list of the command line shortcut keys would indeed be very useful to have and I'm sure will be provided in time, thank you for raising this concern,please use the bug-tracker (also used for logging feature requests) so that this doesn't get lost in space somewhere.

http://www.ribbonsoft.com/bugtracker/

careysub wrote:Further, these function-by-function command lists make it appear that you cannot in fact create drawing using the command line alone.

Consider (picked more or less at random) "Rectangle". The documentation says


Specify the first corner of the rectangle.
Move the mouse to the second corner and click to specify the second corner of the rectangle. Alternatively you can enter the coordinate of the second corner in the command prompt. E.g. to create a rectangle with width 50 and height 25, enter the relative coordinate of the second corner as follows:
@50,2

How do you specify the first corner of the rectangle from the command line? I know what the coordinate is, using the mouse to do it is imprecise. I just want to enter the rectangle dimensions and location and be done with it. Is this possible?

Thanks

Yes you can create an entire drawing by only using the command line, which is why I agree that we need a list of commands.

To draw your rectangle;

1. If not already in the command line, first tap the space bar this will put you in.
2. Enter RE.
3.Follow the prompts in the status bar -'First corner' - enter your coordinate e.g. 50,50 (absolute coordinate, relative from origin 0,0 or you could enter a relative coordinate position, relative to the last coordinate point used -e.g @50,50). Press enter to execute the command.
4. Second corner - enter the coordinate position e.g 100,100 or a relative coordinate like @200,200. Press enter to execute the command.

Thanks.

How to use the command line in this manner needs to be well integrated into the documentation, including the official book.

Hi everybody,

Clive wrote:... a concise reference list of the command line shortcut keys would indeed be very useful to have and I'm sure will be provided in time

careysub wrote:How to use the command line in this manner needs to be well integrated into the documentation, including the official book.

Till then you could use the "Shortcuts and Commands" List as a kind of reference (Menu: Edit/Application Preferences/General/Shortcuts and commands).
The beauty on this is that it has a Filter engine and the commands are even changeable.

careysub wrote:How to use the command line in this manner needs to be well integrated into the documentation, including the official book.

Coordinate entry through the command line is indeed covered in chapter 7, "Coordinates". Please pay also attention to the section "Notes for Advanced Users".

andrew wrote:

careysub wrote:How to use the command line in this manner needs to be well integrated into the documentation, including the official book.

Coordinate entry through the command line is indeed covered in chapter 7, "Coordinates". Please pay also attention to the section "Notes for Advanced Users".

If by "covered" you mean "mentioned", then yes, otherwise not really.

The entire coverage of the command line in this section is this:

"If you prefer to work with the command line of QCAD for entering coordinates, you can show
the command line by choosing the menu View - Command Line. You can then enter coordinates
in the command line instead of using the coordinate snap tool. The format how you have to
enter coordinates is the same as described above, without any brackets: x,y for absolute Cartesian
coordinates, @x,y for relative Cartesian coordinates, radius<angle for absolute polar coordinates
and @radius<angle for relative polar coordinates.
If this format is not accepted, you might have configured an alternative format in the application
preferences (see Edit - Application Preferences - General - Coordinate Format)."

The remaining part of the "Notes for Advanced Users" only talks about coordinate entry on the options toolbar, using the tool tiles.

Hi careysub

You are talking about using the command line for everything, not just entering coordinate points - correct?

Like I said before a comphrehensive guide to this does not exist as of yet. People I know do soley use the command line in CAD programs to start and create an entire drawing just by only using the command line, but these people started using CAD software when this was frankly the only way to get your drafting done!

If you are proficient with using the keyboard when drafting it is indeed much quicker in my opinion than using a mouse/or other device, so I do understand what you are asking about here. For now the only thing I recommend doing is compiling a list yourself and by using the 'Shortcuts and Commands' options that Husky is referring to, this way you could set up and customize your own keyboard 'hot keys'.

Unfortunately unless the mouse or trackball type input devices become extinct, using the keyboard soley for drafting will not be at the top of the list for most users so creating your own list maybe the best option for now.

In addition, when using QCAD you will always be prompted in the status bar what your next input move should be!

I would also like to have a command line reference. Before I retired, thereby having no way to VPN back to the office to use AutoCad, I found that it was often simpler to use certain commands on the command line rather than drilling down thru menus. I would like to see an appendix in Mustun's book An Introduction to Computer-Aided Design giving the command, Menu location, very brief discription, icon for command, page No., and also under Help > commands & shortcuts in the QCAD program the same thing, except of course the page number. I plan on making my own list, except for the icons.

LouG wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:24 am

... giving the command, Menu location, very brief discription, icon for command, page No., and also under Help > commands & shortcuts in the QCAD program the same thing, except of course the page number. I plan on making my own list, except for the icons.

Interesting - sounds to me you will come up with something what is much better than that what we already have. In that case it would be nice if you share the result ...

https://qcad.org/archives/shortcuts/shortcuts_en.pdf
https://qcad.org/doc/qcad/latest/reference/en/

... and please keep it then updated at about the same time when a new QCAD updates is released.