Download: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=7248For installation instructions see the reademe included. You need the latest DFHack version to use this (the one that comes with the LazyNewbPack is out of date).
New: Also added functionality that allows constructions to be placed with “rectangular selection”, i.e. select the first corner then the last one, the way designations work, instead of using umhk keys. It allows unlimited sized selections and is able to automatically skip tiles that cannot be used for construction.See full post further down: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=119369.msg3895056#msg3895056
I've written a plugin for DFHack that should hopefully make building constructions (walls, floors, fortifications, etc) a little bit easier by saving you from having to trawl through long lists of materials each time you place one.
Firstly, it moves the last used material for a given construction type to the top of the list, if there are any left. So if you build a wall with chalk blocks, the next time you place a wall the chalk blocks will be at the top of the list, regardless of distance (it only does this in "grouped" mode, as individual item lists could be huge). This should mean you can place most constructions without having to search for your preferred material type.
The plugin remembers the last used material of each construction type independently, as you may want different kinds for walls, floors, tracks, etc.
That will work without any user intervention, but I've added some extra functionality to automate the building some more.
When selecting materials you will see an extra option at the bottom as seen here:
Pressing 'a' while highlighting any material will enable that material for "auto select" for this construction type. You can enable multiple materials as autoselect. Now the next time you place this type of construction, the plugin will automatically choose materials for you from the kinds you enabled. If there is enough to satisfy the whole placement, you won't be prompted with the material screen - the construction will be placed and you will be back in the construction menu as if you did it manually. If there isn't enough, you will end up in the material selection screen as normal, but as many materials from your list as exists will have already been selected for you.
When choosing the construction type, you will see a couple of options:
As you can see, "autoselect materials" is enabled by default. Use 'a' here to toggle this off if you need to temporarily disable the material autoselection, or if you need to go to the material selection screen so you can toggle some materials on or off, e.g. when you have new materials that can be used.
The other option (auto type selection, off by default) can be toggled on with 't'. I added this because I found that when I build floors or walls, sometimes I will build several at once and it's annoying to always return to the main construction menu and have to reselect "Wall" or "Floor" again. If you toggle this option on, instead of returning you to the main construction menu after selecting materials, it returns you to where you were, so if you were building floors you'll be taken back to floor construction... and you can Esc twice to cancel. If you use this along with several autoselect enabled materials, you should be able to place complex constructions more conveniently.