Startup options

When starting up BricsCAD® you can add arguments or switches. For example:

  • The Command line "BricsCAD.exe drawing1.dwg drawing2.dwg drawing3.dwg" starts BricsCAD® and loads the specified drawings.
  • The Command line "bricscad.exe /P MyProfile" starts BricsCAD® using the MyProfile user profile.
  • The Command line "bricscad.exe /pr LicenseLevelName" starts BricsCAD® using a specified license level.

"/P MyProfile" is called a Command line switch. Both a slash and a hyphen are accepted to precede the switch, e.g. "-P MyProfile" will work. The space is optional, e.g. "/PMyProfile" will also work, and the switch character is case insensitive, e.g. "-p MyProfile" also works.

Switch Description
/P [userProfileName]

Starting without the /P option, BricsCAD® uses the current profile (= the most recently used profile) which is not necessarily the Default profile.

If the user profile specified with the /P option doesn't exist at startup, a new empty user profile will be created with that name.

If the /P argument is an .arg file, the .arg file is used to initialize the profile settings on the first run (See the section Starting BricsCAD with a specific user profile in the User profiles article).

/pr [LicenseLevelName]

Starting without the /pr option, BricsCAD® uses the current license level.

Valid strings are: "lite", "pro", "bim", "mechanical" and "ultimate". They are case insensitive.

A valid /pr argument will set the RUNASLEVEL system variable for the current session.

For example, "C:\Program Files\Bricsys\BricsCAD V23 en_US\bricscad.exe" /pr lite launches BricsCAD® in the Lite license level.

Note: You can start BricsCAD® Shape using /pr shape.
/B [scriptFileName.scr] (*)

Runs a script (*.scr) or lisp (*.lsp) at startup.

Opens all the file types that can be dragged and dropped in the application main frame window.

If you pass filenames without a parameter, they are opened as if they had been passed with /B. Therefore, bricscad.exe mylisp.lsp is identical to bricscad.exe /B mylisp.lsp, and bricscad.exe my.dwg is identical to bricscad.exe /B my.dwg.

/L Suppresses the startup splash screen.
/LD [application.arx/brx/drx/lsp/dll] (*) Loads an application on startup and on every new or opened drawing depending on the file extension. If the file extension is .lsp/.des/.mnl, it is treated as a lisp file and loaded in every drawing. Other file types are loaded only once at startup.
/Safemode

Prevents all third party plug-in code, enablers and user lisp files from loading in the current session. Starting in a clean environment can prevent potential crash causes.

See the troubleshooting article How to start BricsCAD in Safe Mode, without any applications?.

/S [path] Redefines the SRCHPATH system variable. e.g. BricsCAD.exe /S C:\BricsCAD\
/T [TemplateFileName] Creates a new drawing based on the template drawing specified.
/regserver

/unregserver

(Windows-only)

Registers/unregisters BricsCAD's COM interfaces.
/Automation

(Windows-only)

Starts BricsCAD® Shapewithout displaying the main frame window (with hidden UI).

This switch is intended for use by COM automation, but it can also be useful for batch processing tasks that don't use COM.

Automation switch could be used together with other switches.

Example of loading a script file:

<BricsCAD .exe path> /automation /B <path>/scriptFileName.scr

The loaded script must finally close the application when it has completed.

Note:
  • Switch arguments containing spaces should be enclosed by double quotes, e.g. /P "My user profile".
  • Switches can be combined, for example /P MyProfile /L /S C:\BricsCAD\ starts BricsCAD® using the MyProfile user profile without the splash screen and sets the SRCHPATH system variable to C:\BricsCAD\
  • Switch parameters that require arguments must be followed by a valid argument to have any effect.
  • (*) Switches /B and /LD enable all sorts of files to be loaded, some may be not expected. For example, .cui, .dsd, .txt, .pdf types are also processed.
  • If GETSTARTED = ON when you launch BricsCAD®, the BricsCAD Launcher dialog box appears, which lets you choose the workspace.

Besides these switches, BricsCAD® supports file names as Command line arguments.

Supported file types are:

  • DWG: to load a drawing
  • DXF: to load a drawing
  • SCR: to load a script
  • LSP: to load a LISP program
  • DLL: to load an ADS/SDS or DRX/ARX program
  • SLD: to load a slide file
  • MNU: to load a menu file
  • CUI: to load a menu file