Cui Group Name

I am updating my ebook, Tailoring AutoCAD CUI 2010, and came across a ribbon button property that isn't documented by Autodesk: Group Name, under the Appearance section.

I couldn't find an explanation for in with the help files provided by Autodesk with AutoCAD 2010. I googled for it, but only found references to another kind of Cui-related "group" -- partial CUI files loaded with the CuiLoad command. A few moments worth of tinkering found that Cui's Group Name is not related to the names of Cui groups.

I reread the Cui dialog box's description for Group Name:

Specifies the group name for the command when grouping is enabled for a drop-down.

It appeared to be related to drop-downs, Autodesk's new name for flyouts. I searched through the Cui file to see if Autodesk used this Group Name feature anywhere. It didn't appear to.

Then I found that flyouts (sorry, drop-downs) have a different property for groups: Grouping can be Yes or No. The dialog box's description for this option is:

Specifies whether commands under a drop-down are grouped together using their assigned group name (Yes or No).

Things that make you go, "Hmmm..." I knew that buttons in flyouts are listed by the order in which they appear in the Cui file. I wondered if Grouping grouped the buttons by user-defined names specified by Group Name.

I randomly assigned the names "jim" and "bob" to the buttons in the Circle flyout, and then tested it. My hunch was right, as the following figure illustrates:

The grouping option allows you to segregate flyout buttons into user-named groups.

There is no way to specify the order of the user-defined names. Because I gave the first button the group name of "jim," jim got listed first.

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As for Tailoring AutoCAD CUI 2010, I hope to have it ready for purchase by early next week.

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[Tony Tanzillo]

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