The following lists describe the changes that have been made to the ARRIS++ Enhanced Menus since the previous release (version 8.3 - spin 104, release 01), on May 5, 2005. Note that there are links in the following material pointing to more detailed information contained in the main documentation.
This changelog is divided into the following sections:
COMMAND | DESCRIPTION |
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IND REF | Set a new reference point using the current reference point and an intermediate double-reference point |
ERASE DB PT | Delete individual database point(s) |
ERASE DB PTS | Delete all database points within a fenced area |
MOVE DB PT | Move individual database point(s) |
MOVE DB PTS | Move all database points within a fenced area |
WALL PTS | Display all wall construction points with small red squares. |
DATA PTS | Mark all database point locations with a temporary 'X' |
SHOW PTS | Toggle on/off the marking of all database point locations with a persistent 'X' |
WK PT PLACE | Place a WORK POINT on the drawing |
WK PT DELETE | Erase individual WORK POINTS from the drawing |
WK PT DEL AREA | Erase all WORK POINTS within a fenced area |
VIS PT PLACE | Place a new visible point on the drawing using the current parameter settings |
VIS PT QUERY | Query an existing visible point and display its parameters in a pop-up menu |
VIS PT DELETE | Erase an existing visible point from the drawing |
VIS PT MOVE | Move an existing visible point on the drawing |
VIS PT COPY | Copy an existing visible point on the drawing |
VIS PT CHG LAY | Change the layer of an existing visible point on the drawing |
VIS PT REMAKE | Remake an existing visible point using the current parameter values |
VIS PT MK INVS | Make an existing visible point invisible |
NOTE: Those commands marked with a * require that the ARRIS++ optional sigmac library be installed.
The following table lists general modifications and enhancements that have been made to the ARRIS++ menu system documentation.
The user's manual was fully updated to reflect all changes incorporated in this release. |
The NOTES section in the txustart documentation has been updated to include a working example of a procedure for setting parameters in plug-in modules. |
The following table lists changes and additions made to the ARRIS++ menu system.
MAIN MENUS: |
Main Menu Modifications
Each of the revised main menus seen above has been redesigned to provide four additional buttons which can be used to launch new tools within ARRIS. This was accomplished by replacing the GEOMETRY and NOTATION section labels with thin separators and reducing the size of the application labels. All previously existing buttons remain in their original locations. Three of the new boxes are reserved for future use while the forth has been assigned to the new POINTS application sub-menu which is discussed in detain below. |
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DIMENSION: |
Manual Leader Line Dimensioning
Manual Leader Line Button As the button image indicates, the dimension leader line once had the ability to have a dimension or text string associated with it. This feature was removed from ARRIS many years ago, but fortunately, it has now been restored. When this feature is activated, the command will ask for the three points that define the leader line and then will prompt:
At this point, any alpha-numeric text string to associate with the leader may be entered, or by simply pressing <CR> the leader line will be placed with no accompanying text. If -MEASURE- is selected, then the command will prompt:
First measure point: Here, any two points on the drawing may be selected and the measured distance between them will be included with the leader. Additionally, if the mouse is positioned near an existing line on the drawing and F5 is pressed, the length of that line will be measured and included. If <CR> is entered, the prompt will change to:
and a value will be read from the keyboard and treated as a numeric distance for inclusion with the leader line. The command then repeats. This restored functionality is controlled by an option which is set on the ARRIS++ OPTIONS menu. For backwards compatibility, if this option is set to NO, then the leader will continue to function as a simple pointer. Setting the option to YES will activate all of the measurement capabilities described above. See the OPTIONS section below for more information. |
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Manual Dimensioning
Manual Dimensioning Prompt A significant improvement has been made to the prompting capability for manual dimensioning. Previous, the enhancements provided by Steve Garman were built into the command and could not be changed. This limitation has now been lifted and the manual prompt options are now table-driven, allowing a firm to specify a set of office standards, or any individual user to set personal preferences for dimensioning. Manual dimension mode is selected when the TX MODE button on the status menu is set to manual. When placing dimensions in this mode, the default prompt now appear as shown above. If <CR> is entered or the default assoc: option is selected, the current dimension string will be made associative. If the manual: option is selected, then the distance shown will be entered as fixed text and the dimension string will not be associative. If any of the subsequent option: choices are selected, the specified value will be used. In addition, any other desired dimension text or string may be entered from the keyboard (and the current CAPS mode will be honored). As the message line indicates, If &l (ampersand-ell) appears in the string, it will be replaced by an associative dimension value. Also, a ^ (caret) may be used to indicate that the trailing information is to appear on a second line below the preceding text.
The assoc: and manual: prompt options are always
presented, but the remaining option: strings may be
customized as can be seen in the following example:
To customize a set of prompts, first copy the default prompt file located at $ARRIS/ap/cjsa.vn/cjmenus.ap/cj_mandim.tx and place it in either STD:config.dir/cj_mandim.tx for office-wide modifications or in USR:config.dir/cj_mandim.tx for individual changes. Next, edit the file and follow the instructions included there. Up to twelve different prompts may be specified (anything over twelve will be ignored). Once the modified file has been saved ARRIS will begin using the new customized prompts. Here is the cj_mandim.tx file that produced the customized prompt seen above:
Note that when searching for the cj_mandim.tx file, the user's config.dir is examined first. If the file is not found in that location, then the standards directory is checked. If no customization file is found, then the built-in default prompts will be used. |
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OPTIONS: |
ARRIS++ Options Menu
ARRIS++ OPTIONS Menu A new option was added to control the behavior of the manual leader line located on the DIMENSIONS overwrite menu.
If this option is set to NO, then the manual leader line to operate as it has in recent versions of ARRIS, acting as a simple pointer. However, setting this option to YES reactivates the old original behavior of allowing text, dimensions or dimensioned measurements to be associated with the leader line. For more information, see the DIMENSION section above. |
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POINTS: |
Points Toolkit
Standard Point Symbols:
To avoid being distracted by unnecessary information, the left
side of the POINTS status menu usually appear as follows:
The default parameters for typical invisible points are shown here. If a non-standard parameter value is set, it will be displayed on a bright red background to warn of this condition, as seen for the rotation parameter in the following image.
If you really know what you are doing, it is possible to change
any of these standard point symbol parameters by clicking on the
appropriate box. For example, selecting the SYMBOL box
results in the following prompt:
Note the warning message accompanying the prompt. This is a reminder that this is an unusual operation and should be performed with care. The typical use for this menu is to check and reset the point symbol parameters back to their default setting should they somehow be changed. Each parameter can be reset to its default value by right-clicking on the desired box while all of the parameters can be immediately reset in one step by selecting the RESET button. The point symbol parameters will continue to be displayed until the HIDE button is selected, returning this portion of the status menu back to its original display mode. Reference Points:REFERENCE POINTS Partial Overwrite Menu This section of the overwrite menu contains functions for managing reference points as follows:
* The ARRIS++ Optional Sigmac Library must be loaded to be able to use these mnemonic commands. Example: Using the ARRIS++ INDIRECT REFERENCE command
Database Points:DATABASE POINTS Partial Overwrite Menu This section of the overwrite menu contains functions for managing database points. This includes visible points as well as the standard invisible points associated with entities.
* The ARRIS++ Optional Sigmac Library must be loaded to be able to use these mnemonic commands. Temporary Points:TEMPORARY POINTS Partial Overwrite Menu This section of the overwrite menu contains functions for managing temporary points as follows:
* The ARRIS++ Optional Sigmac Library must be loaded to be able to use these mnemonic commands. Work Points:WORK POINTS Partial Overwrite Menu This section of the overwrite menu contains functions for managing Work Points. These are special ARRIS++ non-plotting points that can be used for a variety of purposes. For example, they can be used as construction aids, reference markets or place-holders for other work. They are often used to mark a permanent reference or double-reference point during a complex drawing construction. Since they are non-plotting, they may be left on the drawing if desired or erased at a later time.
* The ARRIS++ Optional Sigmac Library must be loaded to be able to use these mnemonic commands. Work Points always have the following characteristics:
Clicking on the SET-UP button displays the VISIBLE POINT SET-UP menu which allows the visible point parameters to be selected. Choose a symbol, a size and a rotation value. If the desired size and/or rotation is not displayed, select the OTHER button and enter the desired value. The selected parameters values will be displayed on the right side of the status menu.
* The ARRIS++ Optional Sigmac Library must be loaded to be able to use these mnemonic commands.
QUERY:
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Query Distance
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Query DISTANCE Menu A new entry for AREA (X*Y) has been added to the DISTANCE menu. This displays the rectangular area defined by the two input points as projected onto the X-Y plane. In other words, any Z-axis component is ignored for the purpose of this calculation. If the two input points happen to fall along either the X or the Y-axis, then there is no rectangular area to calculate and the message <NO RECTANGULAR AREA> will be displayed to indicate this fact.
RIs:
|
RI Status Menu
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Partial RI Status Menu The 2D/3D button was enhanced to update the display of the RIs in the REPEATED ITEM SELECT menu if it is currently displayed. Previously, the menu would simply be erased from the screen. However, this means that existing RIs on the drawing will not be updated if the display mode is changed while the SELECT menu is on the screen. This can easily be addressed by right-clicking on the 2D/3D box at any time to get the screen to update. Existing Sigmac Bug Fixes:The following table lists fixes that have been applied to existing sigmacs to correct problems and bugs.
Existing Sigmac Enhancements:The following table lists revisions that have been made to existing sigmacs in order to provide some expanded or new capability beyond that offered by the original command.
New ARRIS++ Sigmacs:
Optional ARRIS++ Sigmacs:
Note: The :rioff optional ARRIS++ mnemonic sigmac has been eliminated as it is no longer applicable. The RI ORIGIN OFFSET menu has been integrated into the repeated item status menu and no longer requires a separate command to launch it. |