You can add frequently used Mechanical APDL functions or macros to the Mechanical APDL toolbar (creating macros is covered starting in APDL as a Macro Language). You do this by defining abbreviations. An abbreviation is an alias (up to eight characters long) for a Mechanical APDL command, GUI function name, or macro name. For example, MATPROP might be an abbreviation for a macro that lists material properties, SAVE_DB is an abbreviation for the SAVE command, and QUIT is an abbreviation for the Fnc_/EXIT function (which launches the Exit from Mechanical APDL dialog box). APDL commands that can be used to define abbreviations are listed in Chapter 2 of the Command Reference.
The Mechanical APDL program provides two ways to use abbreviations. You can issue the abbreviation (and execute the macro, command, etc. that it performs) by typing it at the beginning of a command line. If you are using the Mechanical APDL GUI, you can also execute the macro or command by pressing the appropriate button on the Mechanical APDL toolbar.
The toolbar shown in Figure 2.1: Toolbar contains buttons that correspond to existing abbreviations.
While some abbreviations, such as SAVE_DB, are predefined, the abbreviations the toolbar contains and the functions they execute are up to you. A single toolbar can hold up to 100 abbreviations (you can "nest" toolbars to extend this number). You can redefine or delete abbreviations at will; however, abbreviations are not automatically saved and must be explicitly saved to a file and reloaded for each Mechanical APDL session.