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Essential Guide to Toolpalettes (Video)

Tool palettes provide instant access to a complete inventory of AutoCAD Architecture toolset tools—such as walls, doors, and windows—in one consistent user interface.
Highly visual, tool palettes include previews of styles.
You can create custom tool palettes that address your specific design needs.

The basic information about tool palettes can be found in the Autodesk knowledge base

Specifically for creating tool palettes with tsl functions the following information could be used.

Create a new Tool palette category

First step is to go to the Content Browser.

Right click on blank area & select Add Catalog.

Select the option Create a new catalog and fill in your catalogue name.
Click OK and your catalog has been created.

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You need to browse before typing the name otherwise it doesn‘t creating a directory.

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A new created catalog hsbcad has been made

Select the new catalog hsbcad.
Select the folder (bottom left corner) and create a new category.

In this example we have created 2 catalogs named hsbWalls and tsl

Create Tool palette in category

Now double click on your new catalog hsbcad to go into the catalog.
The next step is to create a new palette in the selected catalog.
To do this click on the grey sheet icon in the bottom left of your screen.

Click the most right grey sheet icon to create a new palette

Fill in the name and description for your new palette

Now if you go back one step and hover over the catalog you get the option to add the catalogue to Tool Palette.

Result of adding the tsl Tool palette

Drag and drop functions on tool palette

When you right click on the tool palette and select properties.
If you want to edit the tool palette you need to turn Refresh from off

For putting hsb or AutoCAD functions on the tool palette, you need to type cui.
This will open the Customize User Interface

You can drag and drop functions on the tool palette. To put a new tool palette to your “Content Browser”, drag and drop the palette in the “Content Browser”

Create new tsl in tool palette (Video)

To put new functions in an existing palette in the Content Browser, drag and drop the function into the palette in the Content Browser.
To put a tsl on a Tool palette you need to use the macro search in the existing paletts.

Select the Command Tool with Properties.

Hover over the text Command Tool with Properties and then select the Add to Tool Palette.

Right click on new tool and select properties.

In the command string you need to fill in the lisp line explained.

Fill in the information required:
The lisp command ^c^c hsb_ScriptInsert can be used to customize a toolbar.
When executing the autocad command.

(Hsb_ScriptInsert "aa" 0 "key")
(Hsb_ScriptInsert "aa" )
(Hsb_ScriptInsert "aa" "key")
(Hsb_ScriptInsert "aa" 0)

An instance of the TSL named "aa" is added with the option 0. The option 0 means multiple instances can be inserted. If the option is 1, only one instance will be inserted at a time.
The 0/1 is optional.

The second string value in the argument list is recognized and will be send to the script as _kExecuteKey. The "key" is optional.

If the script named "aa" does not exist at that time, an attempt is made to load the script from the file system.
If the complete file path was specified as argument, that file will be loaded.
If not found, the install folders of hsbcad are searched.
Then the Company/Tsl folder is searched, including its sub folders.

The general settings are not used for tsl insertion.
To change the picture, you need to right click and select change picture.
Now you can browse to the correct picture.
This picture is copied to the toolpalette map and changed to a png file.
To get the new function in the existing palette in the “Content Browser”, drag and drop from the tool palette in AutoCAD to the tool palette in the “Content Browser”.
This will also copy the picture.

Using Design Center to create a Tool palette

Open the design center from your Ribbon. (Insert\Content\Design Center)

Locate the drawing you are in, in the Tree View and right click on the drawing name.
From the shortcut menu Create Tool Palette.
This action should have automatically created a new Tool palette named after your drawing and populated it with all the blocks contained in the drawing.

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