ARRIS++ Enhanced Menus Package  from CJSA LLC

Built upon 14 years of real-world experience, ARRIS++ is an indispensable addition to the ARRIS toolkit and an essential companion to ARRISplus.

Expert InfoCAD Corporation and CJSA LLC have worked closely together to create a set of fully integrated products that overcome many ARRIS limitations while significantly increasing productivity.

ARRIS++ Productivity Enhancements:

The primary goal for ARRIS++ has been to create an improved graphical user interface (GUI) that would significantly increase user productivity. This has been accomplished by:



• Unifying the interface to make it more attractive and easier to navigate visually.
  
  
• Standardizing the interface to make its operation more consistent and predictable.
  
  
• Correcting existing deficiencies and adding new functionality.
  
  
• Providing users with increased capabilities for customizing the interface to their personal requirements.
  
  
• Honoring the existing ARRIS layout style to the greatest extent possible to minimize difficulty in learning to use the new features.

Overview of ARRIS++ Features:

The ARRIS++ Enhanced Menu Package contains hundreds of improvements distributed across the entire ARRIS system. A small sampling includes:



Integrated Main Menus: The original DRAW and ARCHITECT main menus have been merged, eliminating the need to toggle back and forth to locate typical drawing commands. Due to the redesign of the menus, a third plug-in module (DETAILS in this example) can be used concurrent with the ARCHITECT module. All main menus share a common GEOMETRY and NOTATION section making it much easier to locate a particular tool. Additional menu boxes were created, allowing new application toolkits to be added such as the POINTS tools associated with the new button seen here. Tools from sub-menus, such as the Architect parametric routines seen here, have been moved from secondary menus and placed in a primary location for easier access. The current ARCHITECT CATALOG name is constantly displayed.





Improved Toolbar Menu:

The menu now supports permanent Z-Height, Caps Mode and Toolbar Style boxes. The toolbar may be easily switched between a 20, 40, 80, 26, 29, 44 or 46 box style to accommodate different needs and screen sizes. Two toolbar styles are active concurrently, doubling the number of custom commands which may be assigned to the toolbar. A database of over 800 commands is available for immediate placement on the toolbar.





New Features:

A number of new features have been added to ARRIS to support day-to-day drawing tasks and make the user more productive. Some of these new tools include: A system for managing pen/color mapping, illustrated above. A system for automatically displaying viewport outlines while working in a full-screen viewport. An improved set of tools for accessing recent documents. A signifigantly enhanced pattern boundary editor. The addition of menu indicator lights to inform the user about the status of ARRIS. A new command for drawing revision-clouds. A new command for drawing break-lines. New utilities to display layers and pens. An automated system for recording and executing macro command sequences within ARRIS. A tool to display and set repeated item origin offsets. A graphical tool used to explore the structure of existing ARRIS menus. Improved support for the expanded color menu seen below.





Improved Documentation:

All features of ARRIS++ are fully documented in a comprehensive manual that is available at any time from within ARRIS by clicking on the appropriate button on the QUERY pull-down menu. A revised copy of the ARRIS Menus: User Interface Manual is provided and accessible from within ARRIS. This programmer's guide fully documents the steps required to create and manage custom menus within ARRIS. If ARRISplus is installed, its manual is available from within ARRIS. Detailed on-line help has been added for all revised menus within ARRIS and may be accessed by selecting any menu box using F2. Reliable, context-sensitive help make the training of new ARRIS users much easier and provides an opportunity for experienced users to quickly learn new features when needed without having to search through the manual.





Increased Flexibility:

The addition of a new ARRIS++ OPTIONS menu provides the user with the ability to customize a number of major new features to their personal preferences.





Other Enhancements:

• Many bugs in existing ARRIS sigmacs have been fixed to allow the commands to operate properly.
  
  
• A number of existing ARRIS commands have been enhanced with new functionality.
  
  
• An optional sigmac library provides new convenience routines to make working with ARRIS even easier.
  
  
• Various menus and commands now provide better feedback, eliminating previous sources of confusion.

ARRISplus Support:

When ARRIS++ is installed, each of the ARRISplus tools is seemlessly integrated into the enhanced ARRIS menu system in a way that is convenient and natural to the work-flow. All On-line Documentation is available within ARRIS from the revised QUERY pull-down menu. The Interactive Spelling Checker has been added to the TEXT menus. The Keynote Specification tools are available from the DETAILS main menu. The Complex Entity Repair Layer tools have been fully integrated into the general ARRIS editing menus and may also be accessed from the TEXT, PATTERNS and ZONES pop-up tool menus. The RI Library Editor is located on the REPEATED ITEMS menus. The Pattern and Zone Geometry Editors are found on the PATTERNS and ZONES menus respectively. In addition, each of the ARRISplus menus has been reimplemented within ARRIS++ to provide consistency in appearance, expanded functionality, complete on-line help, and full right-click customization capability for all menu buttons. While ARRIS++ and ARRISplus have each been designed to work independently should the other module be unavailable, the ARRIS user will realize maximum benefits when both packages are installed, allowing the full interaction between them to be realized. For more specific information on the integration between these two packages, see ARRISplus Support on the ARRIS++ web site.

For Additional Information:

This overview just skims the highlights. There are many additional benefits to be realized from using ARRIS++. For a complete description visit the web site or contact us at:

CJSA   LLC 7000 E Mercer Way Mercer Island, WA  98040 USA Phone:  206.232.3338 FAX:    206.232.4301 Email:   arris++@cjsa.com WWW:   cjsa.home.comcast.net/aplus/